Hello again, friends! This week HAVE I GOT A TREAT FOR YOU. Four words: Homemade Crispy Potato Gnocchi.
Gnocchi is one of my absolute favorite ways to consume a potato - and that's saying a lot! French fries and hash browns get a lot of attention, but I personally think that gnocchi deserves a highlight too. I tried a gnocchi recipe during my Coconut Bowls Project a few weeks ago and it inspired me to make my own version, but with a WFPB spin - so here we are!
If you've never had gnocchi before, it's basically a cute little potato dumpling that is essentially eaten like pasta. Potato gnocchi is traditionally an Italian meal, and is typically made out of potato, flour, and sometimes egg. The version we are making today is going to be a whole food plant based version! We are using a whole grain flour and leaving out the egg. We are also going to roast ours to change things up and make it nice and crispy!
You can pretty much eat this gnocchi any way you want - just imagine how you would eat pasta! You can top it with pesto, marinara sauce, a vegan "cheese" sauce, or even throw it into soups. If you want to get really crazy, you can even use them as a topping on a salad. Since ours is crispy, you could even eat a handful as a snack and dip them into a sauce! The possibilities are truly endless. For this photo shoot I kept things simple and served my gnocchi with the Basil Lemon Pesto recipe that you can find in my free ebook!
This recipe is more time consuming than most of my recipes, but it's so worth it! I love making this on the weekends when I have more time on my hands, and if I have leftovers I can just freeze them and eat them later in the week! (Be sure to check out "Tips & Tricks" below for more information on how to freeze this recipe!)
LET'S GOOOOO
Ingredients
- Whole wheat pastry flour - I use Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. Contrary to what you may initially think, this is NOT the same as regular whole wheat flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is made out of a softer white wheat, while regular whole wheat flour is made out of a harder red wheat. Because it is made out of a softer wheat, the flour itself is much less dense than whole wheat flour and does a pretty decent job at mimicking all-purpose flour (which is the typical option for gnocchi). Using just whole wheat flour in gnocchi makes it very dense and the consistency just isn't quite right (trust me, I've tried!), but whole wheat pastry flour has worked for me every time. Technically the type of wheat used for this is going to give you less protein than a regular whole wheat flour would, but it is still much less processed and has more nutrition than you will find in all-purpose flour. It's the perfect option to keep things more wholesome but also get a fluffy gnocchi!
- Yukon gold potatoes - I tried this recipe with both yukon gold and with russet potatoes. They both worked, but I was much happier with the results when I used the yukon gold! The texture was a bit smoother, the dough was easier to work with, and it brought a slightly more "rich" flavor to the gnocchi. However, if you are in a pinch and want to use russets, they do work! Just keep in mind that when you initially bake your potatoes for this recipe, russets will likely take a longer time since they tend to be larger.
How to Make The Best Gnocchi
This one is more complicated than most of my recipes, but I promise it's worth it! Here's the simplified version, keep scrolling for the full recipe!
- Bake your potatoes in the oven
- Allow your potatoes to cool
- Peel your potatoes
- Mash your potatoes
- Incrementally combine potatoes with flour to make your dough
- Roll and cut your dough into gnocchi dumplings
- Boil your gnocchi
- Roast your gnocchi
- Serve!
Tips & Tricks
- Want your gnocchi to be super fluffy? You can get fluffy gnocchi by being sure not to go overboard with your flour! You'll notice that this recipe has a range when it comes to how much flour to use (¾ - 1 ½ cups). This is because it will largely depend on the exact amount of potato you use. Be sure to assess your dough as you incrementally add the flour, and stop once you are able to roll a small ball of dough in your hands without it sticking.
- Impatient when it comes to cooking the gnocchi? If you don't care about your gnocchi being crispy, you can skip the roasting step and just eat it after boiling it! In this form it is a very different texture - it's more sticky and soft. I personally think that the roasting step is 100% worth it because it really levels up the gnocchi, but it's totally edible after being boiled if you want to shorten the cooking process!
- Lots of extra gnocchi that you don't want to cook up right away? This recipe can be frozen very easily! Once you have formed your gnocchi dumplings, place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and set them in the freezer. Wait until they are completely frozen (I usually let them freeze overnight), and then transfer to an airtight bag. Place the bag back in the freezer and now you have gnocchi on hand for whenever the mood strikes! When it comes time to cook it just pull the gnocchi straight out of the freezer and cook them as you normally would.
- I recommend serving your gnocchi any way that you would normally serve pasta! Just keep in mind that gnocchi is typically more filling, so don't fill up your bowl TOO high! I love serving it with pesto. You could also roast some veggies in the oven at the same time that you are roasting the gnocchi and serve the veggies along with it!
Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Homemade Crispy Potato Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 4 medium/large yukon gold potatoes
- ¾ - 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour* - plus extra for flouring your surface
Instructions
- Bake the potatoes: Preheat your oven to 400. Pierce each potato with a fork a few times and place your potatoes on a baking sheet lined with foil. Once your oven is preheated, pop your potatoes in the oven and allow to bake for 55-65 minutes, flipping the potatoes at the 30 minute mark so that they cook more evenly. Your potatoes are done when the skins are slightly wrinkled and you can very easily pierce through the entire potato with a fork.
- Allow potatoes to cool: Set your baked potatoes to the side and allow them to cool enough to be handled. I usually walk away and leave them for about an hour!
- Peel the potatoes: Once your potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half and peel off the skins. The skins should peel off relatively easily, but if you're having trouble peeling them then you could instead use a spoon to scoop out as much flesh as you can. Discard the skins and place all the flesh in a bowl.
- Mash the potatoes: Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes! You want to mash them just enough so that they are relatively smooth and have a consistent texture (no large "chunks", but a few very small chunks shouldn't be a problem).
- Make your dough: To combine your potatoes and flour, add flour ¼ cup at a time. Each time you add ¼ cup, mix until the potato and flour are combined cohesively. I like to use my KitchenAid stand mixer for this part, but you can also do it by hand. Once your ¼ cup is combined, add the next ¼ cup and continue this pattern. Once you've added about ¾ cup total, assess your dough to decide if you need to keep going. You want to be able to roll a small piece of dough in your hands without it feeling too sticky. If your dough is still sticky, add another ¼ cup and continue the process until it is no longer sticky!
- Roll and cut your gnocchi: Lightly flour a surface to roll out your dough. Separate the dough into about 4 large balls. Working with one of the balls at a time, roll it with your hands on your floured surface so that you create a long snake, about a ½ inch in diameter. Using a pizza cutter or a knife, cut the long snake into 1 inch long pieces. Place your pieces off to the side on a floured surface (I like to just line them up on a baking sheet or cutting board), making sure that there is space between them so they don't get stuck together. *OPTIONAL: if you would like to add ridges to your gnocchi and make them look a little more traditional, you could do that now by rolling each gnocchi down the back side of the tines of a fork. If you'd like a visual, here's a video showing the method! This is mostly just for looks, and I prefer to keep things simple and skip this step!
- Boil your gnocchi: Preheat your oven to 400 and allow it to preheat while you boil your gnocchi. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil on the stove top. Working in small batches (I usually do about 10 gnocchi dumplings at a time so that they don't get overcrowded and stick together), use a slotted spoon to place some of your gnocchi dumplings into the water. Allow them to cook in the boiling water until they naturally float to the top - this means that they are done and usually only takes a minute or two! Remove them from the water and continue this process with another spoonful until you have boiled as many as you'd like. If you have extra that you aren't cooking right now, check out my "Tips & Tricks" above to learn how to freeze them!
- Roast your gnocchi: Place your boiled gnocchi on a baking sheet lined with foil (you could use the baking sheet that you used for your potatoes earlier if it's still out!). Place the baking sheet in your preheated oven and allow to cook for 10-15 minutes, until the outside reaches your desired crispiness (about 12 minutes is my sweet spot!)
- Serve your gnocchi: Allow the gnocchi to cool on the baking sheet just a couple minutes so that you can remove them without them sticking. Serve your gnocchi however you'd like! I recommend topping it with your favorite marinara or pesto sauce, and some vegan parmesan!
Happy cooking, friends! If you made this recipe don’t forget to tag me (@joyfulbalanceofficial) on facebook or instagram so I can cheer you on for your gnocchi-making ways.
Stay well!
[…] This recipe makes a pretty big batch, so get creative with how you use it throughout the next few days! Try it on simple pasta or pizza, use it as a sauce on roasted or air fried veggies, or even use it on a sandwich! It would also be delicious as a dip for a vegan grilled cheese, or on some Crispy Potato Gnocchi. […]