Easy Pumpkin Gnocchi

These homemade pumpkin gnocchi are soft and simple, but oh so yummy. They make such a great fall dinner covered in vegan sage butter.

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 45

Servings: servings

Ingredients

Gnocchi

2 ⅔ cups (300 g / 11 oz) pumpkin cubed
⅔ cups (100 g / 4 oz) starchy potato cubed
½ tsp salt
¾ cup (95 g) flour

Sage butter

2 tbsp (25 g) vegan butter
2 tsp sage densely packed

Instructions

Make the dough

Dice your peeled pumpkin and potato into cubes, and boil in a saucepan until fork tender (10-15 minutes).
Drain the pumpkin and potato and then mash until completely smooth and lump free.
Gently mix in the salt and just enough flour to form a dough. Depending on the moisture content of your ingredients, you will need to adjust the amount of flour. Handle gently and try to add only as much as you need to form it into a soft ball. At this point you can also test cook a few pieces, to see if you need to adjust the dough.

Shape & cook

Prepare a well floured board or work surface.
Divide the dough into quarters and roll with your hands into several logs about 2 cm (¾ inch) thick.
Cut them into pillowed shaped pieces. You can either cook the gnocchi like this, or give them their characteristic ridged shape.
To form ridges, lightly roll each piece over the back of a fork or use a gnocchi board.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add some of the gnocchi. Cook until they float on the surface, and set aside with a slotted spoon. Continue until all the gnocchi are cooked.

Sage butter

In a small saucepan, melt the vegan butter with the sage and cook on medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until the sage is crisp.
To serve, divide the gnocchi into portions and drizzle with sage butter and crispy sage leaves.

Notes

Gnocchi are best served fresh. They can also be frozen before cooking and cooked directly from frozen.

Top tips

Add only just enough flour to the dough for light and tender gnocchi. Adding too much flour will make the gnocchi harder and more rubbery in texture. Use the amount in the recipe as a guideline, but be prepared to add less or more.

When shaping, you can be a bit more generous with flour. Keeping the dough and surfaces gently dusted prevents the gnocchi from sticking during and after shaping.

Have a light touch. Bring the dough together gently and don’t overwork it or handle unnecessarily, as this can lead to tougher gnocchi.

If in doubt, do a quick test. Before you take the time to shape all your gnocchi, you can quickly cook a couple to see if they come out the right texture. If they don’t hold their shape, you can add a bit more flour to the dough.

Don't skip the salt in the cooking water. We've done a direct comparison: The gnocchi hold together so much better in lightly salted water. You can get a way with less flour in the dough, and thus, more flavour!

Don’t overcook. Your gnocchi are done as soon as they start to float on the surface of the water. Quickly skim them off with a slotted spoon. If you leave them in for too long, then can go mushy. Not overcrowding the pan helps too.

Nutrition

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