Last modified: . Originally posted: By Sophia DeSantis
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Homemade vegan gnocchi is easily made in 30 minutes! This 6 ingredient recipe is pillowy soft and melts in your mouth. Bonus, it's also gluten free!
This gnocchi recipe uses potatoes as a base to get that perfect fluffy texture. You can also pan fry them after to get the crisp around the edges. Pair with your favorite sauce for an incredible meal!
This post was originally published on September 17, 2020.
This is probably my family's favorite meal. We love to top it with fresh tomato marinara, vegan Alfredo sauce or vegan bolognese!
Ingredients
Making your own vegan gnocchi is not as hard as you may think, so don't be intimidated! It's a great way to control the ingredients, keeping things on the healthier side. Plus, it's a fun activity to get the kids involved in- they've had practice with Play-Doh I'm sure!
This recipe for sweet potato gnocchi uses a handful of healthy plant based ingredients:
- Sweet Potato - this particular recipe uses sweet potatoes for added flavor, however practically any potato will work. Russet potatoes are commonly used, as well as yukon golds. Cook and skin the potato, then use a potato masher, potato ricer, or fork to mash it up.
- Gluten-free flour - a blend of almond flour, brown rice flour, and tapioca starch stand in place of the all purpose flour.
- Garlic powder - this adds some extra flavor, you can leave it out if you prefer, or try other seasonings such as fresh herbs.
- Salt
How To Make Sweet Potato Gnocchi
The process for making vegan gluten free gnocchi is the same as the classic recipe, just with different ingredients! Here are the steps to take:
- Mix all ingredients until you get a nice ball of dough.
- Divide the dough and roll into long pieces.
- Cut into 1 inch pieces.
- Give the gnocchi some texture by pressing with a fork, or use a gnocchi board.
- Boil the dumplings in a large pot of water, and pull them out with a slotted spoon when they begin to float.
- Sauté if you want to add that awesome crisp, optional but amazing.
- Top and serve!
Sweet Potato Gnocchi Sauce
One of the reasons gnocchi is so wonderful is because it's so versatile! You can use almost any sauce for gnocchi. Try this recipe with any of the following vegan and gluten free sauces:
- Vegan Puttanesca Sauce
- Fresh Tomato Sauce
- Spinach Tomato Pasta Sauce
- Vegan Bolognese
- Sharp White Cheese Sauce
- Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce
- Vegetable Pasta Sauce
- Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce
- Vegan Basil Pesto
- Or make a gnocchi soup!
Preparation Tips
- If the dough is too sticky to handle while rolling it out you can knead in extra flour.
- Baking vs boiling: baking the potatoes is the best way to cook potatoes for gnocchi.
- Boiling could introduce too much moisture to the potato which can affect the dough consistency.
- Plus, after baking it's easy to peel the skin away!
- If the fork flattens the gnocchi dough too much, simply pinch the sides to plump it back up.
- Sautéing isn't necessary, but it does give a nice crispy texture on the outside while preserving the soft inside.
- If you prefer softer gnocchi, simply boil then mix with your sauce.
- Boil the dumplings just until they begin to float.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
- Prepare the vegan sweet potato gnocchi ahead of time for an easy weeknight dinner by boiling and then storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve.
- Store leftover gnocchi in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- It's best to freeze gnocchi before it's cooked.
- Place the shaped dough on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze until solid.
- Then transfer to an airtight freezer safe container and freeze for up to 6 weeks.
- To cook, carefully place the frozen gnocchi directly in boiling water and boil until they float.
- The best way to reheat gnocchi is by sautéing in a pan with oil, then tossing in warm sauce!
- You can also reheat in a microwave safe dish at 30 second intervals until desired temperature is achieved.
Common Questions
What is gnocchi?
Gnocchi is an Italian pasta shaped into dumplings, traditionally made from potatoes, flour, and egg. This recipe is vegan and gluten-free, so there is no egg, and I've used gluten free flours.
Can you freeze gnocchi?
Yes! Gnocchi can be frozen for up to 6 weeks, see above for the best method.
Is potato gnocchi healthier than pasta?
Essentially, yes. Gnocchi gets much of its substance from potatoes instead of flour. Plus, since this gluten-free gnocchi recipe contains all whole food ingredients, it's healthier than your standard pasta.
More Vegan Pasta Recipes
If you enjoy this sweet potato gnocchi recipe, check out these other plant based recipes:
- Easy Vegan Vegetable Lasagna (Gluten Free)
- Vegan Alfredo Sauce Recipe
- Vegan Greek Pastit*io Recipe
- The Best Vegetable Bolognese Sauce
Vegan Gnocchi Recipe (Gluten Free)
Sophia DeSantis
Homemade vegan gnocchi is easily made in 30 minutes! This 6 ingredient recipe is pillowy soft and melts in your mouth. Bonus, it's also gluten free!
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Shop Ingredients
Prep Time 25 minutes mins
Cook Time 5 minutes mins
Total Time 30 minutes mins
Course 30 Minutes or Less, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4
Calories 169 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked sweet potato , or regular potato
- ½ cup fine grained almond flour
- ¼ cup brown rice flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Shop Ingredients on Jupiter
Instructions
Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix with your hands until you get a nice ball of dough.
Break the dough into 4 equal parts.
Roll out each part into long pieces about ½ to ¾ inch thick. If your potato is on the wetter side you may need to add a little extra flour so it doesn’t stick. If it’s on the dry side, you can wet your hands and massage the dough until it is the perfect moisture. I didn’t need to roll with flour to prevent sticking as my dough was perfect in moisture.
Cut each one in 1 inch pieces.
Using a fork press down to get the lined texture on the top. You will need to pinch the piece back into a thicker shape as the fork will flatten it a bit.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Carefully drop gnocchi into the pot.
When they are ready, they will rise to the top. This takes about 5 minutes or so. Using a slotted spoon get out the gnocchi that float up and place on a plate.
If you want to get a crisper outer edge, sauté the gnocchi in a pan with a touch of oil, but this is fully optional.
Serve with sauce or topping of choice!
Notes
- You can cook your potato in the microwave, oven or boil it. If you boil it keep in mind that it will be more wet and you may get too wet of a dough so you will need more flour. I recommend oven or microwave.
- I tested this with regular potato, white sweet potato and orange sweet potato with great results.
- If you want to make this nut free, I tried it using sorghum flour and got a pretty good result. The taste was a little different as was the texture, but an option for a nut free version
- This makes about 58 gnocchi.
Tips to prep ahead:
- Have your potato cooked and ready to use.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Calories: 169kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 4gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 149mgPotassium: 141mgFiber: 3gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 4717IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 39mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
JD
Hands down one of my favorite recipes. I love gnocchi more than anything!
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Ricki
What a fabulous recipe! Just printed it out and can't wait to try!!
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veggiesdontbite
Thank you SO much Ricki! Gnocchi is one of my hubby's favorite foods! Hope you like it!
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Katie B
Could you use corn meal instead of the almond meal or regular AP flour?
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veggiesdontbite
Hi Katie! I actually wouldn't use cornmeal. It won't give you the right texture. But you could use an AP flour. You can also use another flour like sorghum if you wanted to keep it gluten free. Sorghum is what I used to try another version and it worked well. It's very similar to an AP whole wheat type flour. Let me know what you tried and how it worked! Thanks so much for being here!
Reply
See Also15-Minute Coney Sauce Recipe
Penelope
Hi! it looks fantastic and delicious too. The only problem is that i am living in Greece and i am not sure i can find the almond meal and the arrowroot powder . Do you have any alternative to suggest me? Thank you!
Reply
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much! And hello to Greece! I am first generation here. Both my parents were born and raised there 🙂 So as far as alternatives, you can use many things. I have tried sorghum flour in place of the almond with good results, but you really could use many different flours depending on whether you care for it to be gluten free. Arrowroot powder is a starch, versus the flour you sub for the almond meal. So instead of arrowroot you could use corn starch, potato starch, tapioca starch....any starch should work you just need to make sure it is a starch versus a flour. Is you keep the flour to starch ratio the same (2 to 1 as is in the recipe) you should come out with good results. I have only tried sorghum as I said though, so I can't be for sure. Let me know what you use and how it comes out! And let me know if you have any other questions, I am always here to help! Thanks for following!
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Penelope
Thank you so much for the reply and the alternatives!!! i'll see what i can find here and i will let you know!!! Ευχαριστώ και πάλι 🙂
veggiesdontbite
You are welcome! Let me know what you come up with and how it works. Parakalo!!
Penelope
Hi Sophie and congratulation for your new member of your family! as we say here "Να σου ζήσει!"
So finally i try the recipe! I found almond flour and i used corn starch so i had no problem. i try both to bake them and boiled them. The boiled gniocchi i really loved them, the texture, the flavor, everything was just fantastic! the baked one i think i over cooked them (i let them 15-18 minute in 160 celsius) because at the moment they seemed they were not ready but i was probably wrong so they end up to be like cookies... they taste good but they were like mini breadsticks! so next time i will try to cook them 10 minute and see...i am pretty sure they will be delicious as well! just one more question...i made the classical italian tomato sause for this gniocchi. in your recipe there is no olive oil on the tomato sauce right?
Thank you again for sharing these amazing recipes!!!
kissesveggiesdontbite
Thank you SO much! We are loving our new addition! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and that you found the flours. Yes, the baked version is touchy and you have to take them out as soon as you see them begin to turn brown. But glad you got the boiled version to work out! That's my husbands favorite! As for the sauce, I use a little oil (or veggie broth) to sauté the veggies but none other than that. But you can certainly drizzle a bit in if you want! It's up to you and your taste. Thanks so much for letting me know how the gnocchi worked out!
Carla
Guten Morgen! I have a quick question. It says one cup of sweet potato in the ingredients. Under directions it says clean and boil then cool and then peel. So do I cut it before boiling and then peel the chunks or boil it whole and peel it after?
I'm hoping to make this over the weekend. I love gnocchi in all it's forms, even mushy! Thanks for the delicious idea.
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veggiesdontbite
Hi Carla! Glad to hear your love gnocchi! Boil it whole and peel after, then use a cup of the peeled boiled potato. You may have a little extra left over depending on how big it is. Let me know how you like it!! Thanks for following!
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Anjali @ Vegetarian Gastronomy
This looks great Sophia! I've always wanted to try making gnocchi...will have to check out yours and Cara's recipe! The baked crispy version sounds delicious. Oh and awesome job on the redesign btw! Looking foward to the #3 news!! Hope you are hanging in there!
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veggiesdontbite
Thanks so much Anjali! Yes, I'm a sucker for different textures together so the crispy outside is awesome. But they are actually really good boiled as well. Just love the simplicity of the recipe and the flavors together. The redesign was SO much work but proud to say I did it all myself learning a ton. I still have little things here and there but it's basically done! My goal before baby came!
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Linda @ Veganosity
This looks fantastic! I make my own gnocchi too, but I've yet to use sweet potatoes. Crisping them in the oven is genius! Thanks for the idea. The fork and spoon are so cute!
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veggiesdontbite
Hi Linda! Thanks so much! Yes, love the crispy outside with the soft middle. I'm big on texture combos so it works great for me. My husband loves them just boiled though, so they are great both ways. The fork and spoon are from Aly at For Such a Time Designs! I LOVE her stuff and have a few pieces from her. Thanks for following!
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Ana @ Ana's Rocket Ship
Wow... I love gnocchi.... but this might take that to a whole new level...
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veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much Ana!! It's definitely a different take on gnocchi!
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The Vegan 8
These look yummy Sophia!! I love the crispy exteriors of the gnocchi. I have never been a fan of gnocchi because it is too raw tasting to me, but I LOVE that you baked them and gave them a crispy exterior...that may just change my mind! I love crispy potatoes...you'll have to see that is what I did to my last post for my chili...so good!!
I also love your easy tomato sauce, you know how much I love tomato sauce, lol!!Reply
veggiesdontbite
Thanks so much Brandi!! I too love the crispy and soft mix, just like your potatoes! I am very picky with gnocchi because I have had too many mushy kinds and I just can't stomach it. But even Cara's original recipe that inspired these had pretty great texture even though they were boiled. But the crispy outer part is such a great texture that I can't stop eating them! The boys just pop them in their mouth like candy. Lol! And yes, the tomato sauce is SO easy. I thought you'd like that one! I've been doing it for years so I'm glad I finally found something it went with really well so I could post it! A much more fresh approach to sauce but perfect for spring and summer!
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Elizabeth
Hi, could you use coconut flour instead of the almond meal? Thank you!
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veggiesdontbite
Hi Elizabeth! Coconut flour is a little tricky because it usually needs a lot more liquid when you bake with it. But you can always try it and see how it reacts in something like this. Just make sure you are subbing it for the almond flour not the arrowroot since its a flour not a starch. Let me know how it turns out!
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Carolina
This looks amazing!! Can't wait to try it. One question- is there anything I could substitute the arrowroot powder for? What is arrowroot powder used for? Sorry for my ignorance...
Thank you for such a wonderful blog with amazing recipes and inspiration!Reply
veggiesdontbite
Hi Carolina! Thanks SO much! No ignorance at all! Arrowroot is a starch and thickener and can be subbed with another starch like cornstarch or tapioca starch. Let me know if you give these a try! Thanks for following!
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Jo from yummyvege
Wow, these look great! I love gnocchi but I like the idea of these even more because of the healthier twist!
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veggiesdontbite
Thanks so much Jo! Yes, they are a great one and done meal because they are packed with veggies! I love making them for my kids!
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Meghan @ Rootiful
YUM! Gnocchi always appeals to me on a menu, but these look so much more flavorful and healthy! I love the idea of the crispy outside. 🙂
And I love the fork and spoon! I have been seeing them around the blogosphere and eyeing her designs! They are so cute! I love how you got a pair. 🙂
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veggiesdontbite
Thanks so much Meghan! Yes, I love the crispy with the soft but they are great soft too if you like traditional gnocchi texture. I give them to my boys plain and since they are filled with veggies I don't have to worry about them getting veggies in, great one and done meal! Let me know if you give them a try. And Aly is so awesome with her designs!! I had her custom make me a few forks and spoons and I love them all!!
Reply
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