Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Gnocchi

Let little witches and wizards make their own healthy Halloween dinner with this gluten-free pumpkin gnocchi . It is easy and that’s also vegan. You’ll be happy to make this as a main course on your Halloween evening.

I’m all about seasonal vegan comfort food and this gluten-free pumpkin gnocchi is one to try. It’s so fast and easy to throw together on a weeknight. This Italian classic requires only 6 ingredients. 

This vegan recipe is freezer-friendly too so if you have lots of pumpkin lying around, here’s one way to use them up.

Ingredients you’ll need

1. Gluten-free flour – Any gluten-free flour blend could work. I used tapioca

2. Pumpkin purèe or Roasted Pumpkin flesh

I used the fresh pumpkin and roasted it. You can use the canned version for more convenience. If you’re going for homemade, choose pumpkins that are sold for cooking or pies and leave the Halloween pumpkins behind.

You can also choose squash varieties. They tend to be lower in water content than pumpkins so you can use less flour. Butternut squash is quite popular but kabocha squash is my favourite. Always roast the pumpkin or squash when making gnocchi. The less water added the better.

3. Nutritional yeast – This gives the gnocchi a slight cheesy taste.

4. Nutmeg – It gives the pumpkin a nice earth flavour but it is optional.

5. Salt and Pepper

Which sauces can I have with pumpkin gnocchi?

The gnocchi in this recipe was first pan-fried with ghee, garlic and thyme and then served with my favourite plant-based cheese fondue from Willicroft . You can go a more traditional route and serve it with your favourite tomato sauce. If you want to try something different, you can make a cream sauce with mushrooms, lemon or garlic which I love too.

What to serve with gnocchi

You can serve gnocchi with asparagus, mushrooms and other vegetables you enjoy.

Ingredients

Servings: 2

• 1 cup pumpkin purèe, 240g

• 150gr gluten-free all-purpose flour or tapioca

• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 8g

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• Pinch nutmeg, optional

• ½ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp black pepper

Pan-frying the Gnocchi

• 1 tbsp ghee, 15g

• 3 garlic cloves

• 2 tsps fresh thyme or sage

Sauce

1 pot of plant-based cheese fondue from Willicroft

Instructions

• In a bowl, add the smashed roasted pumpkin or canned pumpkin, nutritional yeast, olive oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

• Gradually stir in the gluten-free flour. You may need more or less depending on how much water is in the pumpkin puree. But try not to add too much as this will make the gnocchi too sticky. It should be a soft dry dough.

• Bring a pot of water to boil.

• Shape the gnocchi using the quenelle method.

• Drop each one into the boiling water after shaping. Repeat until there are enough in the pot. Cook until they start floating for about 1 to 2 minutes.

• Remove with a slotted spoon or wire strainer. Set aside and cook the remaining gnocchi. This recipe makes about 25 pieces.

Pan-frying

• Heat the ghee in a skillet

• Add lightly crushed, unpeeled garlic and fresh thyme.

• Add the gnocchi and cook until browned all over.

• Serve immediately.

Sauce

• Heat the plant-based fondue with 150ml of water and add any herb of your preference