Gnocchi All'Arrabbiata | easy vegan and gluten-free recipe - Elavegan (2024)

FAQs

Why is gnocchi not vegan? ›

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!

A simple mix of white rice flour and sweet rice flour does the trick. And the sweet rice flour is important. Made with only white rice flour, the gnocchi were too soft. A half cup of sweet rice flour, which is ground from glutinous, short-grain rice, added a nice bite without making the gnocchi gritty.

This homemade vegan gnocchi recipe is eggless and so simple. Just potatoes, flour, and some oil come together to make these perfectly fluffy yet dense pillows of pasta that taste just like traditional gnocchi!

For gluten-free gnocchi that's light, fluffy, flavorful, and stays together without being gummy, this recipe uses a combination of superfine blanched almond flour, tapioca flour, and sweet rice flour.

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.

Trader Joe's Cauliflower Gnocchi in Tomato Pesto - This Savory Vegan.

At Faro, Adey says, “We run very few potato gnocchi.” Instead they stick to the less common side of the root vegetable family: “Parsnip, gilfeather turnip, and salsify work great.” Broccoli and cauliflower, which are sturdy and dry, also hold up well to the test.

Italian flour

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.

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.

Similar to pasta, gnocchi is high in carbohydrates and low in protein. Although both are carbohydrate-heavy foods, it has been shown that regular pasta may have less of an effect on blood sugar levels. One publication points to the fact that pasta doesn't raise blood sugar after a meal to the level that potatoes do.

Can you buy vegan gnocchi? ›

Vegan Gnocchi by BIO PRIMO - a delicious vegan version of the popular Italian classic. Enjoy it with hearty sauces or simply pan-fried with melted butter or olive oil.

This vegan gnocchi recipe only requires three ingredients: Potatoes: I used Yukon Gold potatoes here, but you can also use russet potatoes if that's all that you can find in your stores! Flour: I recommend using Tipo 00 or oat flour (if you're gluten-free, use oat flour!).

While the primary ingredient in gnocchi is potatoes, flour is typically used as a binder in traditional gnocchi so this makes them definitely NOT gluten-free. However, if you need to eat gluten-free and you love gnocchi, not all hope is lost!

Lots of them are naturally vegan, but some brands do use eggs or dairy-based ingredients. Some store bought gnocchi will contain lactic acid, which can sometimes be dairy-based, but most of the time it isn't.

Egg yolk added to your gnocchi dough helps improve texture, and keep it together while cooking. Gnocchi is traditionally made with eggs in Veneto and no eggs in Piedmont, the two Northern Italian regions famous for gnocchi. We vote for egg yolks at the rate of 1 per (500g) 1 lb of uncooked potatoes used.

The lactic acid that comes directly from fermented dairy products or meat is not vegan, but people following a plant-based diet will not be eating these foods anyway. Most added lactic acid is a product of beet sugar or corn starch fermentation. Therefore, the majority of products containing lactic acid are vegan.