There are so many delicious ways to prepare gnocchi, a potato-based Italian pasta, but this vegan sage butter gnocchi is my favorite—and one of the easiest. I make the vegan gnocchi myself because store-bought gnocchi more often than not tends to have eggs in it. It is a really simple dough that comes together in minutes, although it does take some time to actually make the gnocchi (not too much, though). As a mom, I also love gnocchi because I know Jay will eat it. In this recipe the gnocchi nuggets cook up golden and crispy while still soft and chewy on the inside. He loves it so much, in fact, that he even eats the mushrooms without batting an eyelid. The butter and sage are a delicious combo and they infuse the gnocchi with tons of flavor. Sage is an early bloomer in the spring garden, so it’s a great herb to use this time of year, although I love using it year round because of the incredible smoky flavor it adds to vegan foods. You can use store-bought gnocchi to make this dish, and that would cut down the time for making this dish to under 15 minutes. But if you plan to prep the gnocchi from scratch, make it on a leisurely weeknight or save it for the weekend.
What is gnocchi?
Gnocchi (pronounced nyokki) is a pasta made with potatoes and wheat flour. Gnocchi nuggets look like shells with an indentation on one side and ridges on the other, to better hold on to sauces. You can serve gnocchi with all sorts of sauces (thick sauces are good, pestos are my favorite), or you can serve them crispy and dry, as I do in this dish. Because they are so tasty on their own, they are also great sauteed with just a little bit of vegan butter or olive oil and tossed with veggies.
Top tips for making vegan gnocchi
Dry out the potatoes. Whether you bake your potatoes in the oven or in the microwave, grate them and then let them stand on a baking sheet for a bit so any residual moisture evaporates. Add about a cup of flour first, then add the rest in small batches until you have a smooth dough. Too much flour will make your gnocchi chewy but you also don’t want a sticky flour that will be hard to form into cylinders. Pinch of a piece of the dough and roll into a cylinder about ½ an inch thick. Using a knife, cut the cylinder in ½-inch pieces. These are your gnocchi. You can get a gnocchi board to shape them, but the simplest way to do this is to use a fork. Press each gnocchi, cut side down, on the tines of the fork, making an indentation with your finger on the other side as you do this. Roll it off gently. Repeat for each piece. Add the gnocchi to a large pot of boiling water, a few at a time. Stir gently. The gnocchi will cook quite fast and tell you when they are done by floating up to the surface. You can fish them out with a slotted spoon.
How to make vegan sage butter gnocchi
Heat a skillet with 2 tablespoon vegan butter, 3 minced cloves of garlic and 1 tablespoon of fresh, chopped sage, Once the butter melts, add the mushrooms, if using, season with salt and pepper, and let them cook until slightly tender, a couple of minutes. Then add the gnocchi to the pan. If you are not using mushrooms, add the gnocchi to the butter, sage and garlic directly. Pan-fry the gnocchi, stirring them ever so occasionally, until they start to brown. You can let them brown as much as you like. If you want the gnocchi to be a little bit saucy, add a cup of the pasta cooking water. Otherwise serve them just as they are after seasoning with salt and ground black pepper.
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