You won’t believe how easy homemade gnocchi can be! With the stunning color of purple sweet potatoes and the taste of creamy tahini, this gluten-free, vegan, nut-free, and paleo recipe will blow everyone’s mind!
Can you handle it? Can you!? I couldn’t! I waited all year to get my hands on some Stokes Purple Sweets, just for this recipe! I actually tried making “conventional” sweet potato gnocchi this summer and it was a horrible mess. Normal orange sweet potatoes are too wet and really, I never eat them or even buy them anymore. My sweets must be of the much more dense variety, like the Japanese and the PSP. That texture and density makes for perfect gnocchi creation as well. Since PSPs have such a memorizing color, they were my potato of choice for this first time recipe creation of gnocchi!
Now, I’ve been dieing, I mean DIEING, to have gnocchi again. It used to be one of my favorite special foods as a kid. When I saw my mom picked up a frozen bag of potato gnocchi at the grocery, I would just be elated with excitement. Top those boiled babies with some ketchup and I was in pure potato-bliss! Then came Celiac Disease, a soy allergy, and a choice to be egg and diary free, and I was out of luck in the gnocchi department. Out of luck as long as I was stubborn and kept putting off just trying to make some myself. I’m really enjoying myself with creating homemade recipes of classic dishes (as you know), and again, I’m kicking myself for putting it off for far too long!
When I do make my own allergy-safe version of classic childhood dishes, I do so much research and recipe reading before hand. So for this recipe, I probably read just about every gnocchi post there is on the web. I was a bit dumbfounded as to why every recipe used so much flour! I’d though gnocchi was pretty much all potato, but I was wrong. I wanted to challenge that phenomenon and use much much less. I also wanted to make these allergy-free, so none of that paleo nut flour obsession. When I finally found myself with a perfect PSP and a sunny Friday afternoon with nothing to do, my perfect recipe experimentation produced one delicious success!
This recipe is so easy too. It only took me about triple the time it will take you because I had to photograph and I wanted to get some shots of the process too. My camera ended up with some purple “clothes” by the end, but it was worth it! I put together a cute little 6 step photo journey for you so you could see what each phase should look like (dough wise). Let’s take a look!
Fun stuff right!? Are you getting more excited? The first is of the dough which is just a large microwaved (yes, microwaved) and scooped out PSP flesh with arrowroot, then the rolled logs before cutting into the gnocchi pieces, then the cutting, then the cute fork marks, then a shot of after from the quick boiling you do, and finally the plated version! It really could not have been easier! Once you know what to do, I bet you’ll be making gnocchi at home rather frequently!
With such a fabulous gnocchi recipe, there had to be a fabulous saucy something to put on top. Since I know most of you aren’t as ketchup-obsessed as I, I decided to go with my second obsession with tahini! Tahini has that wonderful deep, savory, “nut” type of taste that just goes so well with just about everything. For me it’s also a potato topped must. If my potato isn’t topped with coconut butter, I top it with tahini. So mix some tahini with garlic, parsley, and some nondairy milk and you have the perfect gnocchi sauce!
Of course, you can top you gnocchi with anything your potato-loving heart desires. I never was fond of topping gnocchi is a tomato sauce though. I really have no recollection of ever doing so. It was always eaten either plain or with ketchup. I’m not really sure what the “traditional thing” is for topping gnocchi. Cheese? Sauce? I don’t know. You tell me in the comments though!
The tahini sauce did need something to brighten up that blank-slate taste though. Some garlic and fresh parsley seemed like the perfect palate please combo to do the job! I’m pretty sure I’ll just keep making this sauce for anything I eat as well. It’s so simple and delish and perfect for this lovely purple sweet potato gnocchi!
Purple Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Tahini Parsley Sauce
- Purple Sweet Potato Gnocchi:
- 1 Packed Cup Purple Sweet Potato Mash (from 1 large potato)
- ¼ Cup Arrowroot Starch
- ½ Tsp Xanthan Gum*
- 3 TB Water
- Tahini Parsley Sauce:
- 2 TB Tahini
- ½ Tsp Minced Garlic
- ½ TB Fresh Minced Parsley
- ¼ Tsp Onion Powder
- Dash of Black Pepper
- 2 TB Non-Dairy Milk or Water
- First, microwave your sweet potato until soft. Poke a few slits in it with a knife, wash, wrap in a paper towel and microwave for about 6-8 minutes.
- Cut the potato in half lengthwise to allow it to cool before scooping out the flesh to get your 1 cup mashed.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed potato, arrowroot, xanthan gum, and water. Use your hands to break it all up and knead into a dough ball.
- Split the dough ball in half and then roll and form, with your hands, 2 logs (about 1 inch in diameter).
- Then take a wet knife and slice ¼ inch rounds. Place the rounds on a plate, and take the back of a fork to the rounds to make some nice little indents (perfect for holding the sauce!)
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. In two batches, place the gnocchi in the boiling water and wait for them to float to the top. This will take about 1-2 minutes. Then scoop out with a slotted spoon and place in a colander.
- Once all the gnocchi and boiled, rinse them in cold water, drain, then spread them out on a plate.
- To make the sauce, combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix together.
- Divide the gnocchi on to your plates, drizzle with the tahini sauce, and devour!
That may seem like a lot of directions, but trust me, it’s super easy! And might I say, beyond delish! You practically only need potato! I think I was able to use such little “flour” since I used arrowroot which is such a great binder and absorber. It’s my go-to for gluten-free vegan baking and now gnocchi making too! Anyway, I’m super proud of this recipe and I really do hope you give it a shot! It will blow your little food allergy mind (promise!). If you do make it, make sure to share a photo and tag me @RebeccaGF666!
So tell me:
+ Do you just love gnocchi as much as me?
+ What the heck do you top your gnocchi with!?
*Recipe linking up for the week! Allergy Free Wednesdays, #RecipeOfTheWeek,#StrangeButGood, Real Food Friday, Gluten-Free Fridays, Tasty Tuesdays, Savoring Saturdays, Healthy Vegan Fridays, Tasty Tuesdays, Lena’s Tasty Tuesdays, Meatless Mondays, Waste Not Want Not!*
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