s

s

Gluten Free Gnocchi

Back when my husband and I first became acquainted outside of art school (some people call it dating), we both participated in an ambassador program that had us painting, drawing, art appreciating, and eating throughout Italy. The culture, beauty, and history of Florence, Venice, Bologna, Siena, and Rome combined with thinking critically about art and intention…well, changed my life forever.

Of all the amazing memories that I recall of my time in Italy, one of my favorites is the first meal that we had in Florence in a tiny eatery across from our hotel. Within what felt like minutes of being seated to large rustic wooden tables covered with bubbly frizzante water, red wine, fresh baked bread, and olive oil, we were greeted with a beautiful pesto gnocchi. It was served up in gigantic flat dishes that seemed even larger than the tabletops they were placed upon. The pesto was bright green and deeply fragrant, and the gnocchi itself was tender bites of perfection. I sadly cannot remember the name of that trattoria where we feasted almost every single night, but I do remember that they served the best friggin’ gnocchi I have ever had.

So today, to bring back some savory memories, I whipped up a batch of my own gnocchi- with just a touch of pesto. And, it’s a pretty good gluten free and vegan substitute for the meal I had years ago. I mean, except that the authenticity and scenery of Florence is pretty much non-existent (unless of course you live in Florence- in which case- you probably don’t need a recipe like this at all because you are constantly surrounded by delicious balls of pasta, right? Oh, and make me your house-guest for a year or two… k?). But it works well in a pinch.

I dressed mine simply with olive oil, green beans, and nutritional yeast, and laced a thick basil pesto into the gnocchi itself… rather than serve the pesto as sauce.

Here’s how I did it:

Gnocchi ~ Vegan & Gluten Free

Ingredients:

  • 4 medium potatoes, mostly peeled, and cut into 1 inch sections
  • 1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp flaxseed meal mixed with 2 tbsp water
  • 1 cup sorghum flour
  • 1/2 cup potato starch
  • 1/4 cup sweet white rice flour

Directions:

Fill medium sized pot about half full with salted water and bring to a boil. Once water reaches a boil, carefully place chopped potatoes into the water. Wait for water to return to a boil, reduce heat slightly and cook for about 9 minutes, or until potatoes are easily mashed with a fork. Drain in colander and rinse with cold water.

In food processor, combine basil, nutritional yeast, garlic, olive oil, salt and water. Pulse until smooth.

Place potatoes and basil/nooch puree into large bowl and mash together with a potato masher until smooth and uniform. Try to get out the lumps as best you can.

Use a fork to mix in the prepared flaxseed meal and sorghum flour until stiff dough forms. Use your hands to mix in the remaining potato starch and sweet white rice flour. If your dough happens to be too wet for some reason (size, shape, etc. of potatoes can be a variable), mix in more sweet white rice flour until it resembles the gnocchi below.

Now, traditionally gnocchi is made by rolling out into long ropes and cutting the ropes into small 1 inch sections. I tried to do that and it didn’t work as I had planned, soooo… pretty much grab little sections of the dough, and squeeze firmly in your palm until compact little dumplings form. I squeezed mine pretty darned firmly and compactly to shape them and then cut off any excess with a knife. I also found it helpful to have slightly wet hands while forming the gnocchi. Indent with fork and repeat until all dough has been used.

Bring another large pot of water to boil and drop gnocchi in, about 10 at a time (depending on the size of your pot). Boil for about 1-2 minutes, or until they float. Drain and rinse quickly with cold water.

Serve with your favorite pasta sauce, or just drizzle your gnocchi with a touch of olive oil, and dust with nutritional yeast and fresh ground black pepper. The green beans make a nice addition too.

Not quite like the food of Florence, but it’ll do!

Share with friends!

32 Responses to Gluten Free Gnocchi

  1. Maggie says:

    This looks great! But I need a recipe that doesn’t have oil. Is there anything that this can be substituted for? I need it to be low fat or hopefully fat free. I was thinking maybe pumpkin puree? And that might give them a nice flavor too… what do you think?

  2. Claudia says:

    These turned out very nice. I’ve been trying different recipes for gluten free vegan gnocchi for a while and they always turned out too chewy. This recipe resulted in tender gnocchi, pretty much like the original version. My son prepared a basic tomato sauce to go with them and it all made a wonderful meal. Thank you for sharing the recipe!

  3. Mojdeh says:

    Hi there,
    I was wondering if I can sub. all purpose gluten free flour for the combination of sorghum flour, 1/2 cup potato starch and 1/4 cup sweet white rice flour?
    Thanks,
    -Mojdeh

    • allyson says:

      I haven’t tried this before, Mojdeh… but I would think it would work out well. Please let me know if you give it a try!
      <3

  4. Aiden says:

    Hi! thanks for this recipe- it looks amazing! How many people does this quantity serve?

  5. nicole says:

    i love you allyson!!!! everything on your blog is amazing and delicious. just made butternut squash gf v gnocchi tonight and it was out of this world. thank you thank you!!!!

  6. Laura W says:

    Just discovered glutenfreefeed.com & have been salivating over all of the GFDF pix. At least 2 out of every three pictures I stop to drool over has been from your site. I’m going to have to start cooking up some of your recipes ASAP! First on the list is this gnocchi!

  7. […] then I found this amazing recipe at Manifest: Vegan. All her stuff is vegan and gluten free, which is pretty sweet, and these […]

  8. […] a dairy-free version? Check out this vegan gluten free gnocchi recipe by Manifest […]

  9. Paul says:

    Gnocchi is just fun, thanks for the great post … how can we possibly resist trying this out over the weekend!

  10. fughawzi says:

    Do you think I’d be able to replace the sweet rice flour with something? Tapioca flour, maybe? I’m allergic to rice on top of celiac.

    • allyson says:

      Hmmmm.. I hate to say this… but with this recipe, I am leaning more toward “probably not”.

      Then again, I didn’t try any combo’s with Tapioca flour- so it may actually work similarly. I’ll have to give it a shot myself to see. I know before I tried a flour combo with the mochiko, they all just dissolved into the water. :(

  11. Gauri Radha गौरी राध says:

    That looks delicious :-)

  12. Jenn says:

    Beautiful. I have never been able to get gluten free gnocchi to work, it’s always just dissolved in the water once I cook it – I will have to try your version!

    • allyson says:

      Hi Jenn,

      I know the feeling! This took me a couple of tries to nail down- lots of very small, sad-looking half dissolved gnocchi in the process. :)

  13. Darn! I have everything but the sorghum flour! Anything I can sub for it? How about chickpea flour or maybe arrowroot? I am not gluten intolerant, so I guess I could use vital wheat gluten, right?

    • allyson says:

      Oh yeah, regular All Purpose wheat flour would work great with this! You probably get away with subbing all the flours out for some AP flour. :)

  14. Helen says:

    This recipe was really good. I tried it together with soup and stew

  15. Caitlin says:

    you’re magical.

  16. Is there anything better that authentic Italian food? Marvelous cuisine. This recipe looks wonderful and traditional, gluten free makes it even more perfect. A healthy gnocchi!

  17. Katrina says:

    This looks so good! Thanks for posting this awesome glutan free recipe!

  18. T says:

    Delicious! Makes me want to get to Italy ASAP.

  19. Christine says:

    This looks really good! I made gluten free (but not vegan) gnocchi a while ago and it was REALLY good! I think I’d like to try this vegan version, so thanks for sharing!

  20. Deanna says:

    So beautiful! And, what a great story, too!

  21. Oooh I am SO making this!! I bought GF gnocchi but didn’t realize it wasn’t vegan until after I bought it. I will definately try this recipe. Do you think this recipe would freeze well?

    • allyson says:

      Hi Krista,

      I feel you on the troubles of finding things that are gluten free and vegan prepackaged. Pretty darn difficult. :(

      On a positive note, I do think this would freeze well prior to boiling! :)

      ~ Allyson

  22. Vegolicious says:

    Beautiful story and wonderful recipe. I’d love for you to submit photos of this recipe to our Vegetarian food photo gallery showcasing the best vegetarian food on the web, along with a link back to your website.

  23. Meghann says:

    Oh my gosh, you have just about knocked me off of my chair. I have been craving homemade gnocchi or homemade tortellini for MONTHS and here you deliver a beautiful, simple recipe that has my mouth watering. THANK YOU!! I’m going to make this for my husband asap, he loves gnocchi even more than I, if that is even possible!

  24. this looks amazing. gnocchi is one of the things i’ve missed most since i went gluten free a few years ago. i’m certainly going to try this one out!