We’ve been making lots of gnocchi. The simplest kind, made of just three ingredients: potatoes, flour, salt. I’ve forgotten how delicious and pillowy they can be, worlds away from anything you can buy pre-made at the store. They are arguably the easiest kind of pasta to try making at home, too. The dough is very forgiving and doesn’t require any precision or kneading. Shaping the gnocchi takes some time, but many of us have more of that right now, and this is a fun, rewarding way to spend it. It’s also great to involve little ones in the process, or any idle hands that are around.
We documented all the dough mixing and shaping steps in photos below, to show the straightforward process. We hope you’ll give the these a try, they’re a true delight.
- about 6 medium potatoes (about 1.4 lbs/650 g)
- ½ tsp sea salt, plus more for salting the water
- 1-2 cups all purpose flour (about 4.25-8.5 oz/120-250g)
- Boil the potatoes in salted water until fork-tender. Drain and place the pot back over low heat to dry it. Turn off the heat and put the potatoes in the pot for a few minutes so that they dry as well. Peel the potatoes once cool enough to handle.
- Mash the potatoes until smooth or run them through a potato ricer. Transfer the potatoes to a floured working surface and flatten them out into a pancake-like shape. Sprinkle the salt over the potatoes, followed by some of the flour. Gently fold the flour and salt into the potatoes using a bench scraper, spatula, and/or your hands (floured). Keep adding flour, until you have a smooth dough that doesn't stick too much to your hands. Go by feel and look, different kinds of potatoes will require different amounts of flour. Avoid over-mixing or kneading too much, which could make for tough gnocchi.
- Divide the dough into eighths. Roll each piece into a rope on a floured surface. The thickness of your rope will determine the size of your gnocchi. Cut the rope into small pieces, which will be your gnocchi. Flour the cut sides of your gnocchi by twisting each end on your floured surface and place them on a floured towel. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Optionally, roll each piece on a gnocchi board, back of a fork, or another ridged surface like a mandoline to give the gnocchi ridges.
- Prepare a pot of well-salted boiling water. Boil the gnocchi, stirring gently, until they float up to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon into a pan with whatever sauce you're using. Mix gently with the sauce and serve.
Gluten-Free: I've tried making these with an all-purpose gluten-free flour and it worked well. I haven't tried any other GF flour yet. There are a lot of great, dedicated gluten-free gnocchi recipes that use all different types of flour on the internet.
Eggs: Most gnocchi recipes have eggs as a fourth ingredient, but we aren't just excluding the eggs because we are a plant-based blog. We actually think that the gnocchi come out fluffier and more tender without eggs - they are just not needed in our opinion. But you could definitely include eggs if you'd like.
Sauce: Gnocchi are delicious with all kinds of sauces - pesto (pictured), tomato sauce, fried sage and Miyoko's butter, etc. etc.
Franzi says
Can you freeze these? If yes, boiled or raw?
Anya says
Hi Franzi,
I would not recommend freezing the gnocchi. They are best enjoyed fresh. You can keep some leftovers, uncooked, in the refrigerator, but make sure to flour them really well and line with parchment paper. They tend to get sticky after time in the fridge.
Alanna says
Hi! Can you make this gluten free?
Anya says
Hi Alanna,
Please see the recipe notes!
Sophie says
Hi Anya,
We just finished our first home made gnocchi. Thanks for the recipe, mine were far less beautiful than yours. They lost shape upon cooking. Maybe they were too small, or maybe my dough was too soft? Having it rolled was a little tough. However they tasted really good, and were worth the time spent: no leftover to be stored!
Anya says
Hi Sophie,
So glad you enjoyed them! When you say they lost shape, do you mean that they fell apart? In that case, they may have needed more flour in the dough to stay together better. The dough should be pretty to easy to roll and work with once you get the proportion of the potatoes to flour right. Hope this helps for next time!