Vegan Gnocchi From Scratch Recipe | Elephantastic Vegan (2024)

FAQs

Do you need egg in gnocchi? ›

Do you need egg in gnocchi? You can make gnocchi without eggs. However, if you use egg yolks in your gnocchi you don't need to be so precious with it.

If you overdo it with flour, your gnocchi will be too hard, if you put too little they will break during cooking. The rule says that the flour must be at most a third of the amount of potatoes.

Therefore, I would recommend using semolina flour, over 00 Italian pizza flour for gnocchi since it too, is a pasta. Semolina flour is easy to knead and usually only needs to dry, like for spaghetti noodles or ravioli pockets rather than rise which is a usual expectation of pizza flour or all-purpose flour.

Gnocchi Alternatives

For recipes that call for the gnocchi to be tossed in sauce or added to broths or soups, you can swap in a thicker-style pasta, like Orecchiette or Shells. The flavor and texture won't be quite the same, though. You will also need to adjust the cook time.

Plus, it has too much protein: High-protein wheat results in chewy gnocchi. If you want to be true to Italian gnocchi, look for imported Italian flour marked "00 tenero," which is milled from soft wheat with a low protein content.

Traditional gnocchi is made with eggs making it not vegan. My vegan gnocchi recipe has two substitution options. Option 1 (my favorite): I've included a recipe to make a simple homemade egg yolk. This yolk recipe will provide all the flavor and color of eggs which really makes this gnocchi so tasty!

Don't overwork the dough: When making gnocchi dough, it's important not to overwork it. Overworking the dough can make the gnocchi tough and chewy. Mix the ingredients together just until the dough comes together, and then stop mixing! You're not kneading bread here.

Your gnocchi may be mushy because of any or all of the following reasons: boiled the potatoes instead of baked them. used waxy new potatoes with too much moisture in them. not used eggs to help texture.

Chewy gnocchi are the result of too much flour and over kneading the dough. It's important to knead the dough just until it comes together into a smooth ball and no more. This is because you don't want to encourage too much gluten development which makes them tough, chewy and rubbery.

What is the American equivalent of 00 flour? ›

If you can't find 00 flour but you really want to make homemade pizza crust or another recipe that calls for this ingredient, it's absolutely fine to use all-purpose flour. Use the same amount of all-purpose flour as 00 flour in the recipe.

For guaranteed lightness in potato gnocchi, try replacing 25g of the plain flour with self-raising. Flattening the gnocchi helps them cook evenly, while the grooves from the fork pick up sauce.

All this said, it's generally fine to substitute all-purpose flour for “00” flour. You'll notice a texture difference if you grew up in Europe or are very familiar with with products made from “00” flour, but all your recipes will still come out just fine.

What is gnocchi? Gnocchi, pronounced 'n(y)oh-kee' (singular 'gnocco'), are a type of pasta consisting of soft, fat and chewy dumplings, typically paired with ragú, tomato or butter sauce. Traditionally, gnocchi dough is made of semolina or plain wheat flour, egg, and mashed potato.

Nutritional Value

Believe it or not, regular pasta is actually more carb-heavy than gnocchi, coming in at around 2 times the amount of carbs per serving. Gnocchi is also notorious for having a lot more sodium, with over 200 grams of it per serving. Regular pasta doesn't have nearly as high of a sodium content.

🏪 Store-Bought Gnocchi

The packaged gnocchi is typically made from potato starch and flour, which means it is vegan. When buying gnocchi from the store, look for a package that says vegan or shows the certified vegan symbol. These simply cook in boiling water for 2-3 minutes!