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Vegan Gnocchi with Kale Sauce

5 from 1 reader review
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Servings 2
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Ingredients

Vegan Gnocchi

  • 2 medium russet potatoes (about 500 grams total)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ⅔ cup all purpose flour

Kale Sauce

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • ½ bunch (about 100 grams) Lacinato kale, chopped (stems and all)
  • 1 ½ tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon light miso
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, plus extra to taste
  • sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • kale/gnocchi cooking water

Instructions

Make the gnocchi

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pierce holes in the potatoes with a fork and bake directly on the oven rack until tender, about 1 ½ hours. Let potatoes cool slightly before peeling.
  • Set up a box grater on a cutting board. Grate the potatoes on the small shredding holes of the grater. You will likely have tough, slightly dry outer pieces of potato that are hard to get through the grater. It's fine to abandon those bits and enjoy them as a little cook's snack.
  • Once the potatoes are grated, spread them out on the cutting board slightly and let them cool completely.
  • Once cool, sprinkle salt over top of the potatoes. Drizzle the olive oil after that, and then sprinkle ¾ of the flour on top (I like to save some for rolling out the gnocchi). Using a spatula, start bringing everything together. Eventually the ingredients will be combined enough that you can use your hands to knead the dough. You want a smooth ball of dough that is slightly tacky (but not full-on sticky!!). Try not to handle it too much!
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment and sprinkle it with a bit of flour. Cut the dough ball into 4 equal portions. Sprinkle a bit of flour on your board and on your hands before rolling out a portion of the dough into a log. You want a log of uniform 1-inch thickness. Cut the log into 2-inch pieces. Roll each piece along the tines of a fork to get grooves on each gnocchi. Set the gnocchi onto the prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Set finished gnocchi aside while you make the sauce.

Make the kale sauce

  • Fill a large pot with water and start bringing it to a boil on one burner of your stove. On another burner, set a small sauté pan over medium heat. Pour in the olive oil and add the sliced garlic. Sizzle the garlic for about 30 seconds, or until very fragrant. Transfer garlic and oil to an upright blender.
  • Once the large pot of water is boiling, drop in the chopped kale and stir. Boil until stems are slightly tender, about 2-3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cooked kale to the upright blender. To the blender, add nutritional yeast, miso, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add about ⅓ cup of the kale cooking water to the blender as well. Blend the mixture on high until completely smooth, adding more water by the tablespoon if necessary. Check the sauce for seasoning (more salt, lemon etc) and adjust if needed. Pour the kale sauce into a large bowl and set aside.

Assemble the gnocchi and kale sauce

  • Bring the kale cooking water back up to a boil and drop in the gnocchi. Boil until they start rising to the top, about 1 minute. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked gnocchi to the bowl with the kale sauce. Toss to combine, adding more cooking water if necessary.
  • Serve the gnocchi hot with vegan parmesan and red pepper flakes if you like.

Equipment

Recipe Notes

  • The kale sauce is lightly adapted from Joshua Mcfadden’s Six Seasons cookbook.
  • I call for a box grater to deal with the potatoes because this seems like a more common piece of kitchen equipment. If you have a potato ricer though, go ahead and use it instead!
These homemade vegan potato gnocchi are supple and tender. You need less than 10 ingredients to make these, but they are a labor of love. Perfect with a velvety, tangy and garlicky kale sauce. You can alternatively serve them with tomato sauce for a more classic feel!