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Learn how to make this 4-ingredient vegan pumpkin gnocchi with less than an hour of your time! This is a great recipe for fall dinners and is perfect for adults and kids alike! Plus, it’s a fun recipe to get the whole family involved in making.
What is Gnocchi?
If you’ve found yourself here, you probably already have a good idea of what gnocchi is, but if you’re new here, let’s break it down. Gnocchi is an Italian pasta, with the most common being potato gnocchi. It’s made with mashed potatoes, flour, and eggs, but since we are making this vegan today, you can easily skip the egg. To add some fall flair to this recipe, we are also adding some pumpkin puree to ours.
Chris’ parents were in town last week, and man, did we spend a lot of time with them in the kitchen! I come from a different cultural background than them, so I always learn so much when we spend time together. While they were here, we made eggplant rollatini, a pasta dish that inspired our sheet pan pasta with roasted red pepper sauce, and lastly, this incredible pumpkin gnocchi with a garlic sage butter sauce.
This was my first time making gnocchi and definitely not my last! I was surprised by how easy it was to make and how fun it was to roll up! I felt as excited as I did as a kid when we would make cut-out sugar cookies with my momma. Chris’ mom showed me the ropes when it comes to making gnocchi, and I hope that I do her justice with this recipe.
Ingredients Needed to Make this Pumpkin Gnocchi
- Pumpkin Puree – Adding pumpkin puree to this gnocchi helps add some festive fall flavor. Pumpkin puree is also loaded with vitamin A and has a good amount of fiber. If you don’t have pumpkin puree, you could even experiment with adding butternut squash to your gnocchi instead.
- Flour – We use all-purpose flour to make this gnocchi, but if you want to make it gluten-free, you can substitute using gluten-free flour easily. If you aren’t sure what type of flour to get, we like this one.
- Potatoes – Using russet potatoes is best for this recipe because they are dry and starchy.
- Nutmeg – This is an optional spice, but nutmeg helps add an exciting element of flavor that is enjoyable.
What About the Sage Butter Sauce?
- Vegan Butter – There are so many dairy-free butter varieties to choose from when making this sauce. We’ve found that using stick butter works and tastes better than the buttery spreads in a tub. We personally enjoy the Country Crock plant butter and Miyokos unsalted Butter the best.
- Sage – We are all about fall herbs, and fresh sage leaves are definitely one of our favorites. Sage is also super easy to grow at home and is perennial so that you can enjoy it year after year.
- Garlic – We like to mince fresh garlic for this recipe finely. The taste of fresh garlic is so much more enjoyable than the jarred minced garlic.
Equipment Needed to Make Pumpkin Gnocchi
- A fork or gnocchi board – Either tool will work to shape your gnocchi, but the gnocchi board will make them look nicer.
- Potato ricer (optional) – This helps get your potatoes nice and smooth and will leave them free of chunks. If you don’t have a potato ricer, you can use a fork or potato masher.
- A large pot of water – For boiling your gnocchi!
- Medium skillet – To sauté the gnocchi in the garlic sage butter sauce after they are cooked.
- Slotted spoon – This tool makes it really easy to remove the gnocchi from the boiling water.
Preparing Your Pumpkin Gnocchi
Once you have mixed and kneaded the dough, we have found the best way to form the gnocchi is to first form the dough into a roughly 1/2 to 1-inch tall rectangle/loaf on a floured work surface and then cut it into slices horizontally. Roll each of these slices into a rope about 1/2″ in diameter, and then cut those ropes into equal pieces to make your gnocchi!
You can either cook the gnocchi as is or create ridges on them with a fork or gnocchi board. You can do this by placing the gnocchi on the top of the fork or board and pressing it/rolling it down with your thumb. Place the gnocchi in a single layer on the cutting board and lightly dust them with flour, and set them aside. Gnocchi cooks very quickly and will float to the top of your pot when finished.
After the gnocchi is finished, we are going to quickly pan-fry it on our sage garlic butter sauce and top it with homemade vegan parmesan cheese and fresh black pepper.
Looking for more fun pumpkin recipes to make this fall? We’ve got you covered!
- Savory Pumpkin Hand Pies (Easy + Vegan)
- No Bake Pumpkin Chai Cheesecake (Vegan & Gluten-Free)
- Pumpkin Spice Pretzel Bites with Cream Cheese Dipping Sauce
- Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Tart with Oat Hazelnut Crust (Gluten-free + Oil-free)
- Vegan Pumpkin Pie Fudge (Gluten-free + Oil-free)
- One Pot Pumpkin Chili (Gluten-free + Oil-free)
- Creamy Pumpkin Pasta w/ Fried Sage (Gluten-free Option)
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
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4-Ingredient Pumpkin Gnocchi with Garlic and Sage Butter Sauce
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Description
Learn how to make this 4-ingredient vegan pumpkin gnocchi with less than an hour of your time! It a great recipe for fall dinners and is perfect for adults and kids alike! Plus, it’s a fun recipe to get the whole family involved in making.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Gnocchi
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour * (see notes)
- 1 large russet (baking) potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Optional: 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Garlic Sage Butter Sauce
- 4 tablespoons vegan butter
- 20 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
To Serve
- Black pepper
- Vegan Parmesan
Instructions
- Place the potatoes into a medium pot, cover them with 2-inches of water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until they are easily pierced with a fork, about 20-30 minutes. Drain (being sure to reserve about 1/4 cup of the starchy water) and set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Using a potato ricer on the finest setting (or a boxed grater or a potato masher), mash the potatoes until very finely broken down and smooth. Measure out 3/4 cup (packed) potatoes and save any remaining potatoes for future use.
- Flour a clean work surface and place the mashed potatoes on it. Sift on the all purpose flour and add in the pumpkin and salt. Mix everything together with floured hands until a smooth dough is formed, adding additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough is too wet or 1 tablespoon of the reserved starchy water at a time if the dough is too dry. Keep in mind that the dough should be soft and slightly sticky.
- Once the dough is smooth, knead it for 30 seconds to a minute or until soft, being sure not to overwork the dough.
- Form the dough into a roughly 1/2 to 1-inch tall rectangle/loaf and cut it into slices horizontally. Roll each of these slices into a rope about 1/2″ in diameter, and then cut those ropes into your gnocchi! You can make the gnocchi whatever size you would like, ours were about 1/2” in length. Lightly dust work surface with flour between each rope as needed.
- You can either cook the gnocchi as is or create ridges on them with a fork or gnocchi board. You can do this by placing the gnocchi on the top of the fork or board and pressing it/rolling it down with your thumb. Place the gnocchi in a single layer on a cutting board and lightly dust them with flour. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Prepare the sauce. Place a medium skillet over medium heat and add in the vegan butter. Once the vegan butter has melted, allow it to cook in the pan for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the sage and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant. Remove from heat.
- When the large pot of water comes to a boil, add in the gnocchi and stir to prevent them from sticking. Boil until they float to the top of the water, and then allow them to sit for an additional 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon or a colander, scoop out the cooked gnocchi and place them into the other pan with the butter sauce. Place the pan back over medium heat and crisp up the gnocchi in the butter sauce for a few minutes.
- Serve with a sprinkle of vegan parmesan and a crack of fresh black pepper. Enjoy!
Notes
- We have also tested this recipe with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free all purpose flour and it worked well! We do prefer the regular AP flour as it yielded a better/fluffier result.
- This gnocchi can also be served with marinara or vegan alfredo sauce!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Category: Entree, Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian, Vegan
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional’s advice. This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
This recipe was fun to make and very tasty. Me and my grandaughter loved it. I’m sorry I didn’t take pictures, they were definitely not as uniform and pretty as yours but we had a great time making them.
I made these along with you during the livestream. I only had a potato masher and used the fork method so I was a little nervous they wouldn’t turn out because there were still some lumps in the potatoes but they turned out great! I’m glad you decided on this recipe for the livestream because this isn’t something I would have chosen for myself. I will definitely be making these again and I am looking forward to your next livestream!
These are delicious! If I am making ahead of time and freezing, how does that change cooking times? Thanks!
Hey Mary,
We aren’t exactly sure how the cooking time will change, but the process will remain the same in the sense that that the gnocchi will be fully cooked once they float to the top of the pot when boiling. Hope this helps 🙂
Oh my goodness these look so good! Love the flavors 🙂
When you say pumpkin purée, it’s this pumpkin that has been boiled and blended?
We are referring to canned pumpkin puree 🙂
These gnocchi were perfect and my non vegan husband loved them, too. I just seasoned with the pepper and vegan parm as you recommended and it was to die for. Will definitely make again.
These look amazing!! Thank you for sharing. Question: once I am done making the gnocchi but before boiling them, will they last for a few days in the fridge? Or do you recommend boiling them and then setting them aside and warming them in the butter sauce before serving?
I would recommend freezing them before boiling! 🙂
I’m eating soft diet & these were perfect for Thanksgiving. Thank you!
Wow! Thank you dor this post! This recipe is perfect for autumn. I thought this would be hard to make, but it was actually pretty easy. I think I will make them again and again =)