Savoury Dishes

Vegan Gnocchi with Pesto

I’m obsessed with how chewy the gnocchi is! Read on and find out how I made this delicious Gnocchi and Pesto recipe!

Bowl of vegan gnocchi with homemade kale and walnut pesto. Light green napkin on the side and a golden fork holding two gnocchis.
Homemade vegan gnocchi with homemade kale and walnut pesto (vegan)


Traditional gnocchi uses potato, egg and flour, but I’m here to prove to you that you can omit the egg and still be able to chewy and textured gnocchis. To make the potato gnocchis, we are going to:

  1. Cook and mash the potato
  2. Combine with flour and turmeric
  3. Add olive oil and knead into a dough
  4. Roll out dough, cut and shape the gnocchi using a fork
  5. Boil in water and toss with some homemade pesto!  
Close up shot of vegan gnocchi with pesto sauce. Surrounding the bowl is a green napkin
Close up shot of the vegan gnocchis with kale and walnut pesto

When I tested this gnocchi recipe the first time I used whole wheat flour and water, but it just didn’t turn out the way that I wanted to so I used all purpose flour and olive oil. The integrity of the gnocchi held much better and the dough was much more elasticky. I decided to add turmeric because it adds a nice yellow colour to the gnocchis. 

You can find the recipe for my Kale & Walnut Pesto here. The pesto is so versatile but I love having it with pasta or these gnocchis. Obviously, you can serve these gnocchis with your sauce of choice, but I would highly recommend trying it with homemade pesto!
Without further ado, here is my recipe for vegan Gnocchi with Pesto!

Bowl of vegan gnocchi with homemade kale and walnut pesto.

Vegan Gnocchi with Pesto

LingLing Deng
Homemade vegan gnocchi with homemade pesto. My Kale and Walnut Pesto link can be found here
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 2

Ingredients
  

  • 2 small russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • Water to cook the potatoes
  • 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour, + 2 tbps for rolling
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Sauce of choice

  • ½ recipe of my Kale & Walnut Pesto, link below
  • Or your favourite sauce

Instructions
 

  • In a medium pot, bring water to a boil. Add the cubed potatoes and cook for 10-15mins on medium heat. Drain the potato and transfer to a large bowl.
  • Mash the potato in the large bowl using a thick rolling pin or a fork. Add the flour, salt and turmeric. Mix to combine. The dough will be very coarse and crumbly.
  •  Drizzle in the olive oil and mix until a ball of dough is formed. Using your hands, knead the dough in the bowl until there are no traces of flour.
  • Flour a clean surface such as a large cutting board or a table and transfer the dough onto the surface. 
  • Working with half of the dough at a time, roll out the dough evenly until it is about 1 inch thick. Using a paring knife, cut the rolled out dough into 1 inch pieces. 
  • To make the traditional gnocchi shape, take 1 piece of cut dough and roll it down the backside of a fork. Place on a lightly floured plate. Repeat with all the pieces of dough. 
  • Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the other half of the dough.
  • To cook the gnocchi: bring a pot filled about ⅔ of the way with water to a boil and add 1 tsp of oil and a pinch of salt. Add the gnocchi and cook on medium-high for 10mins. If you want softer gnocchi, add another 2-3mins. Save ¼ cup pasta water.
  • Drain the gnocchi and transfer into a bowl or pan to toss with your favourite sauce and mix in the pasta water. Serve 🙂

Notes

  • When cooking the cubed potato, be sure not to break the cubes of potato in the boiling water, otherwise itll be hard to drain out later. On a related note, it is okay if the cooked potato is not 100% free of water. 
  • If you don’t want to spend time rolling the gnocchi pieces on the fork to create the traditional shape, you can skip that step and cook the gnocchi as chunks of dough or shape them into rounded cylinders.
  • Uncooked gnocchi can be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month. To do so, freeze the individual pieces of gnocchi on a plate until firm, then transfer to a ziplock bag and place in the freezer.
  • My Vegan Kale and Walnut Pesto can be found here
Check out my other pasta dishes:
Keyword easy, gnocchi, lunch, pasta, pesto
Tried this recipe?Leave a review and share your creation on Instagram!

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  1. Pingback: No-Cashew Alfredo Pasta (Vegan) • foodbylingling

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