Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi with Spinach Sauce
Using pumpkin in the gnocchi enhances the flavor and a lovely pop of color to the dish! These pumpkin gnocchi pairs perfect with Spinach Sauce – An impressive fall Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi with Spinach Sauce dish. Plus, the whole family will enjoy helping out each other making gnocchi.
Pumpkins are Americans’ favorite. The fall season is associated with “Pumpkin Everywhere.” During this time, we can add pumpkin into any dish, whether sweet or savory. Using pumpkin in the gnocchi enhances the flavor and a lovely pop of color to the dish!
Serve this dish with Air Fryer Tofu, Vegan Garlic Bread, and Vegan Kale Salad.
Gnocchi – What Is It?
While some people think that gnocchi is a type of Italian pasta, but they are actually small, pillowy, and tender potato dumplings.
The traditional recipe comes straight from Italy, where it is often cooked in the southern regions. Gnocchi dough is made primarily of mashed potatoes, flour, semolina, potato starch, and eggs.
However, by adding pumpkin, sweet potatoes, squash, or other vegetables, you can easily change the traditional gnocchi recipe to make it vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), simpler, and more flavorful.
This pumpkin gnocchi recipe is a vegan version of traditional gnocchi. See Vegan Gnocchi Recipe
This is a perfect side dish or appetizer and is also ideal for lunch or dinner. These pumpkin gnocchi pair well with Spinach Sauce, making it an impressive and nutritious fall dinner dish.
“You will fall in love with these soft, pillowy, hearty, delicious, and absolutely comforting pumpkin gnocchi.” See Pumpkin Nutrition
Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi with Spinach Sauce Ingredients
Pumpkin Puree – use homemade pumpkin puree or 1 (15 ounces) can of pumpkin puree. You can find a variety of brands from the health food store or most majority supermarkets/. See How To Cook Pumpkin?
Gluten-Free All-purpose Flour – use any gluten-free all-purpose flour, if the dough is too sticky. then add extra flour. If your dough is too dry, add extra liquid.
Salt – I used Himalayan sea salt.
For The Spinach Sauce
Olive oil – I used extra virgin olive oil, however, you can skip the oil and saute using vegetable broth.
Onion – gives the sauce a lovely flavor.
Garlic – boost the flavor
Spinach – Fresh spinach leaves are best however you can use frozen spinach that has been thawed.
Vegetable Broth – use storebought or Homemade Vegetable Broth.
Cashews – gives a creamy texture to your sauce, you can substitute with sunflower seeds for a nut-free sauce.
Nutritional Yeast Flakes -gives a cheesy flavor to your sauce, however, you can also add or substitute with 1/2 cup vegan parmesan or grated vegan cheese. See Non-Fortified Yeast.
Salt – added to make the flavors pop.
Let’s start by preparing our gnocchi:
To Prepare The Pumpkin
1. Preheat the oven at 350°F.
2. Place the whole pumpkin in a large oven tray coated with baking paper
3. Cook the pumpkin in the oven for 35 minutes in the oven.
4. Once the pumpkin is cooked, allow it to cool down for ten minutes and peel it.
5. Remove the seeds that are inside, and place the cleaned pumpkin in a large bowl.
Prepare The Gnocchi
6. Mix the pumpkin with the canned chickpea water, and start squashing it with your hands to achieve a smooth mixture. Add the gluten-free flour mix to the pumpkin and mix well.
7. Add the salt and the pepper.
8. You should have a dough that should not be too sticky; add 1 tbsp. of potato flakes if it is still sticky. This should absorb the excess humidity in the dough.
9. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
10. Take the dough, roll it into 1 cm thick sheets, cut it into strips using a dull knife, and then cut the gnocchi out of it by cutting 1 cm dices out of the strips.
11. Now comes the tricky part: to make ridges on each gnocchi – a must for gnocchi lovers! You can omit this step on a hectic day and leave the gnocchi plain, resembling miniature pillows. If you like to have slight ridges on your gnocchi, you have two options:
Use a gnocchi board. Place the gnocchi dough on the board and press gently across the board with your thumb to make ridges on the gnocchi.
Use a fork. If you don’t have a gnocchi board, don’t worry; use fork tines to make ridges.
12. Place prepared gnocchi on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle some gluten-free flour on them to prevent them from sticking together.
To prepare the sauce:
1. Fill a pot with water and place it over high heat.
2. Bring to a boil, then add ½ tbsp. of salt to it. The salt is necessary to ensure that the green color will remain brilliant, as the salt will lock the Chlorophylle in the leaves.
3. In the meanwhile, wash the spinach leaves, then toss them in the boiling water.
4. Drain the spinach after 4 minutes, and place them in a colander to get rid of the excess water.
5. Press the spinach leaves using your hands.
6. In a nonstick saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the peeled garlic clove to it.
7. Stir fry the spinach leaves for about 2 minutes.
8. Place now the content of the pan in the blender, remove the garlic clove, and blend the spinach to get a smooth purée.
9. Toss the blended spinach again in the pan, and now you can add the Cashew Cream.
10. Boil the gnocchi in salted water until they come afloat, leave them boiling for 1 more minute from now, and drain them and toss them into the pan with the spinach sauce.
11. Now put the pan over medium heat, and add the grated vegan cheese.
12. Serve immediately, garnished with some rosemary.
“Making gnocchi is undoubtedly challenging and time-consuming, but it is well worth of effort.”
Extra tips:
1. If the mashed pumpkin mixture is less moist, use less flour. I suggest starting with less flour and gradually increasing it.
2. If you feel that the dough is sticky, add some extra flour to make it more supple and manageable. But be careful while adding the flour because once you’ve added too much, there’s no way going back!
3. Furthermore, avoid too much kneading. Let it be once everything is evenly combined. Too much kneading can also affect the final texture.
4. You can store gnocchi uncooked for later meals in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or freeze for up to one month. A small tip is to dust with flour before refrigerating. And, for freezing, spread them in a single – layer in a baking tray and put them in the freezer. Transfer to zip lock bags once firm.
0You can boil frozen gnocchi directly from the freezer; they will be as soft and delicious as freshly made.
Don’t forget to share your feedback in the comments section and rating below if you try this recipe.
Other Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
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Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi with Spinach Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten-free flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Spinach Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 12 ounces fresh spinach leaves
Cashew Cream
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cook The Pumpkin
- Preheat the oven at 350°F.
- . Place the whole pumpkin in a large oven tray coated with baking paper
- Cook the pumpkin in the oven for 35 minutes in the oven.
- Once the pumpkin is cooked, allow it to cool down for ten minutes and peel it.
- Remove the seeds that are inside, and place the cleaned pumpkin in a large bowl.
Prepare Gnocchi
- Mix the pumpkin with the canned chickpea water, and start squashing it with your hands to achieve a smooth mixture. Add the gluten-free flour mix to the pumpkin and mix well.
- Let the dough rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Take the dough, roll it into 1 cm thick sheets, cut it into strips using a dull knife, and then cut the gnocchi out of it by cutting 1 cm dices out of the strips.
- to make ridges on each gnocchi – a must for gnocchi lovers! You can omit this step on a hectic day and leave the gnocchi plain, resembling miniature pillows. If you like to have slight ridges on your gnocchi, you have two options
- Place prepared gnocchi on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle some gluten-free flour on them to prevent them from sticking together.
To Prepare Spinach with The Cashew Cream Sauce
- Fill a pot with water and place it over high heat.
- Bring to a boil, then add ½ tbsp. of salt to it. The salt is necessary to ensure that the green color will remain brilliant, as the salt will lock the Chlorophylle in the leaves.
- In the meanwhile, wash the spinach leaves, then toss them in the boiling water.
- Drain the spinach after 4 minutes, and place them in a colander to get rid of the excess water
- Press the spinach leaves using your hands.
- In a nonstick saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the peeled garlic clove to it.
- Stir fry the spinach leaves for about 2 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place vegetable broth, cashews, onion powder, garlic powder, nutritional yeast flakes in a high-speed blender and process until smooth
- Add the cashew cream with the spinach leaves and stir until thickened
- Boil the gnocchi in salted water until they come afloat, leave them boiling for 1 more minute from now, and drain them and toss them into the pan with the spinach sauce.
- Now put the pan over medium heat, and add the grated vegan cheese.
- Serve immediately, garnished with some rosemary.
Amazing vegan pumpkin Gnocchi
Amazing recipe, thank you for this
One of my favorite foods, thank you for sharing this,I will try to cook it
You’re very welcome! I’m delighted to hear that this recipe aligns with one of your favorite foods.