One of my favourite and my wife’s favourite meals is a heaping bowl of vegan gnocchi with a delicious, tangy marinara or tomato pasta sauce.
Pre-made gnocchi is good. The stuff you can buy in the grocery stores and just pop in a pot of boiling water and it’s ready as soon as the gnocchi start bobbing on the surface. But to make vegan gnocchi from a vegan gnocchi recipe from scratch is just amazing.
You haven’t lived until you’ve enjoyed your own homemade vegan gnocchi.
Most gnocchi recipes call for one or 2 eggs or just one or 2 egg yolks. This is unnecessary and unhealthy. With gnocchi, there is no need to substitute for the eggs as potatoes added to recipes act as binding agents taking over the roll that eggs would in similar situations.
Also, some gnocchi recipes call for a lot of oil. This is also not necessary.
So let’s get to making the easiest and tastiest vegan gnocchi that our Italian grandmothers would be proud of.
Vegan gnocchi recipe
2 pounds of baking potatoes i.e. russet potatoes – though experiment with other types of potatoes is to be encouraged
1 cup of unbleached flour
sea salt or other salt
I’ve found the above amount to be sufficient for about 4 healthy appetites as a main meal. Adjust the ratios up or down to fee more vegan peeps.
Peel the potatoes and cut into halves. Gently boil in salted water over a medium heat for 30 to 45 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
Drain the potatoes but keep the potato water just in case. Mash the potatoes in a bowl.
Now add the flour in 1/4 cup increments and fold into the mashed potatoes. You will likely need all of the flour but maybe not. If the mixture is getting too dry add a bit of the potato water.
You’re looking for a slightly moist but not tacky dough. Pinch off pieces of the dough about the size of the tip of your thumb and roll into balls or ovals about the shape of large olives.
You can prick or press the gnocchi with a fork. This is not necessary but having ridges or indents in the gnocchi help pasta sauce stick to it more easily.
Once all the gnocchi are made you can boil them again in the potato water or a fresh pot of water. Like prepared gnocchi, this homemade vegan gnocchi will be ready when they start bobbing up on the surface.
Cook a couple of dozen of them at a time if the pot is big enough. You want them to be able to bob on the surface in a single layer or they might clump and stick together.
Gently toss with a favourite pasta sauce and enjoy.
TIP: You can make this a gluten free vegan gnocchi recipe by using rice flour in a similar amount for the wheat flour. You might need to add a bit more liquid with rice flour but the effect will be very similar.