Cauliflower Gnocchi

This homemade cauliflower gnocchi is tender and pillowy, perfect for pairing with your favorite sauce. You only need 5 ingredients to make it!

Course Dinner

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Total Time 45

Servings servings

Calories 610

Author Jessica Hylton

Ingredients

1 pound cauliflower 450g
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup all purpose flour 60g *
¼ cup potato starch 45g
⅔ teaspoon salt

For frying:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons dried rosemary or 1 tablespoon fresh

Instructions

Wash and separate cauliflower into small florets. Place in a steamer basket. Pour 2 inches of water into a pot and place the steamer basket with cauliflower on top. Cover and bring to boil on medium heat. Cook on small heat for about 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is soft.
Transfer cooked cauliflower to a colander lined with a clean kitchen towel. Wrap the towel tightly and squeeze the moisture from the cauliflower as much as possible.
Transfer the drained cauliflower to the food processor and blend until no big clumps remain. The consistency will resemble a paste with small crumbs.
Add flour, starch and salt to the cauliflower paste and pulse a few times until mixed. Try the resulting dough with your fingers. If the mixture is very dry and doesn’t stick together you may add 1-2 tablespoons of water. The dough should not be sticky but will hold together and should be easy to shape.
Transfer the dough to the working surface sprinkled with flour. Shape into 3 logs, about ¾ inch thick, cut into ½ inch gnocchi with a knife or dough cutter.
Make dents in every gnocchi with a fork. This step is optional; traditionally it’s made to help the sauce stick better.
Bring a 3 quarts pot filled with 2 quarts water to boil, add 1 teaspoon salt and turn the heat to medium.
Carefully add gnocchi to the boiling water, stir once with a wooden spoon to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom. After the gnocchi floats up to the surface, cook for 30 seconds more. Then transfer to the colander and let cool.
In a nonstick pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add rosemary sprigs and cooked gnocchi. Fry on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
Serve with marinara sauce.

Notes

* You can use the same amount of cassava flour for the gluten free version, but the gnocchi will be a bit harder and chewier. To make them softer, replace 2 tablespoons of cassava flour with almond flour.
To store: Store leftover cauliflower gnocchi in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. You can reheat it in a skillet over medium heat or in the microwave until warmed through.
To freeze: You can freeze cauliflower gnocchi before boiling or after boiling—it’s up to you! It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. To freeze it, I recommend setting the gnocchi on a parchment-lined baking sheet and placing it in the freezer. Once the gnocchi is frozen solid, transfer them to an airtight container or freezer bag. If you’ve frozen the gnocchi before boiling, you can simply boil the gnocchi directly from frozen and proceed with the rest of the recipe as written. If you boiled the gnocchi and then froze it, thaw it in the refrigerator or microwave, then fry it as described in the recipe.