Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi (No Eggs, No Dairy, 2 Ingredients)
These pillowy dumplings use just sweet potato (purple, orange, or Japanese cream colored) and flour, no eggs or dairy. Hand-mix and form them easily in under an hour of active time. Pan-searing elevates them.
Servings: 4
Calories: 211kcal
Equipment
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 3qt soup pot
Ingredients
- 1 lb sweet potato (2 medium) orange, Jap. white, purple-see notes
- 1 cup all purpose flour or spelt, whole grain-see notes
Optional Ingredient for variation on recipe
- 1 beet (medium, 6-7 oz.) red, golden-see notes
Instructions
Roast the Vegetables - 1-1.5 hrs
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Wash the 1 lb sweet potato (2 medium) (do not peel).
- Place sweet potatoes on pan and place in oven to bake.
- Cook Sweet Potatoes for 1-1.5 hours, until a fork can easily pierce through to center. Let cool (or place in fridge to cool until next day).
Make the Gnocchi Dough - 20 min
- Mash sweet potato with your fingers, breaking up until there are no chunks.
- Add 1/2 cup of the 1 cup all purpose flour to the veggie mix and work the two together with your fingers. Add another 1/4 cup of the flour and work it until the "dough" becomes less sticky.
- At this point, dump out onto work surface/cutting board, and sprinkle the last 1/4 cup of flour over the dough, working it in. You should be able to kind of knead the dough like bread dough, but not too much. See notes.
- Once the dough looks and feels more or less uniform and not too sticky cover and let rest 30 minutes or so (it will always be a bit sticky but you shouldn't be getting dough all over your fingers at this point).
Form the Gnocchi - 30 minutes
- After dough rests 30 minutes, uncover. The flour will have hydrated w/the veggies and the dough may look and feel a bit more sticky now. Have some extra flour at the ready to sprinkle on it as needed now and throughout the forming process. Divide dough into 4 portions.
- Working one portion at a time, use your hands to roll the portion into a rope about the thickness of your thumb (you may have to break it in two if the rope gets too long). Sprinkle with a little flour as needed. Cut the rope into sections that are 1/2"long. See notes.
- If the gnocchi bits are sticky just sprinkle with a bit of flour. Now it's time to try and form them into ridged curls (unless you decide to leave them as little pillows).
- Take a fork and lay it upside down on work surface. Take each gnocchi section and press it down lightly on the fork, and push away/down the fork with your finger, so that it rolls. See notes and photos in post.
- Place shaped gnocchi aside on a plate, work surface or sheet pan with parchment. Sprinkle all of them with a little flour and move them around so they don't stick at all.
- Leave formed gnocchi to rest approx 30 min.
Cook the Gnocchi (15 min includes bringing water to boil)
- Bring a 3qt pot of water to boil. Add salt if you like, but it is not necessary. I tend to under season with salt during process, and add salt as a finishing touch, but do as you like.
- Gently place spoonfuls of gnocchi (4-6), I use a slotted spatula, nothing fancy, into boiling water, adding about half of the gnocchi. Let them boil until they float. Once they float, watch them cook gently for 30-60 seconds and then remove with slotted spatula or spoon and place on parchment or plate, or directly into your sauce. Sauce right away or they will end up sticking together, once cool. see post for for simple and quick ways to "dress" your gnocchi.
Optional pan-searing - just a couple of minutes
- Heat a saute pan to medium with some olive oil and add gnocchi, once oil is glistening. Cook a few minutes, watching and turning. Give them time to sear and brown before turning. Serve with sauce of your choice.
Option to include beet in gnocchi dough
- Cook beet for 1.5-2 hours, until a fork can easily pierce through to center. Let cool (or place in fridge to cool until next day). If you don't have blender/processor then cook beet till very fork tender so you can mash.
- Cut the root end off of the beet, and peel only if you want/can. I have mixed success with this, and the skin isn't much of a skin- ok to leave on, especially if blending and not hand mashing.
- Puree the beet in food processor or blender. Or mash it with a potato masher if you do not have equipment. Either way, blend/mash until smooth.
- Mix beet puree with mashed sweet potato with fork in bowl until thoroughly mixed.
- Proceed to mix dough using same amount of flour, form and cook gnocchi as instructed above.
Notes
Types of sweet potato to use: I've used Japanese white sweet potatoes, as well as purple sweet potatoes.
Flour: I use all purpose flour, and sometimes whole grain spelt (a type of ancient wheat). Both work nicely.
Mixing dough: you won't be kneading this dough like you would bread dough where you want to develop the gluten. In this case, you knead just enough to incorporate and get some uniformity. But the dough will be soft and yield pillowy gnocchi with a gentle bite, as long as you don't over knead. Ok to sprinkle bits of flour as needed, based on variations in veggie size and moisture content.
Forming the gnocchi: As you cut the ropes into portions, you can sprinkle flour around as needed to prevent shapes from sticking. When you attempt to roll the portions on the fork tines, you likely will press, and roll, but then it might stick to tines, and you will just fold the part that sticks over a bit to get the portion off the fork.
Serving suggestions: This recipe gets you to the point of placing the gnocchi in whatever sauce you choose, from a red sauce to a pesto, or a cream sauce. You can serve them with a protein and simply dress the gnocchi with olive oil, some salt and pepper, or get fancy with a traditional browned butter and sage sauce. When I sear them, I love them plain, with oil and smoked sea salt. Because these are made with root vegetables, they are very flavorful in their own right.
Optional beet: Choose golden or red beet to mix with your sweet potato. A red beet works well with a purple sweet potato and a golden beet works well with a regular sweet potato or a Japanese white sweet potato. The ratio of 1 lb sw. potato, 1 cup flour and 1 small-medium beet works.
Nutrition
Calories: 211kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 0.4g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 63mg | Potassium: 416mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 2mg | Magnesium: 35mg | Net Carbohydrates: 42g