Pillows of Heaven | Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi

After 5 days of rain, I needed a little pick-me-up. For me, that’s all too often found in food. Fortunately this time, it was in a slightly healthier dish. I’ve been obsessed with pasta as long as I can recall. Making fresh pasta makes me so happy – I find comfort in making noodles from scratch. It relaxes me, just as baking does. Until recently, I had never attempted homemade gnocchi. Chris & I went to dinner a few days ago & I of course previewed the menu before arriving. I just can’t help myself! I was excited to try their sweet potato gnocchi & knew before I arrived that that’s what I would be ordering. I was disappointed to find that the menu had changed & they weren’t offering any seasonal dishes. My salad was great, but it didn’t satisfy that craving, so I experimented with homemade sweet potato gnocchi & it was phenomenal. I was surprised that it was also incredibly easy to make!

I prefer to prep most of our dinners during nap time – it’s proven to be the least stressful way to make dinner. These little pillows of heaven can be prepared hours in advance & tossed in the sauce later to finish. Yes, we’ll be having this often! Here are the easy do-it-yourself details for homemade sweet potato gnocchi:

1. Clean, poke & bake your sweet potatoes
2. Puree baked sweet potatoes – the smoother, the better.
3. Add flour & knead. Roll, cut & toss into boiling water.
4. Boil until just a few seconds after they rise to the top, toss in sauce.

It’s so simple that I’m not sure why I haven’t attempted them before! I’m also anti-leftovers {don’t judge} & even loved these day 2 tossed again in sauce!

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Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Little pillows of Heaven!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword entertaining, sweet potatoes

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

Author Julie Blanner

Ingredients

• 2 potatoes large
• 1 c flour
• 1/2 c flour for rolling
• sage fresh
• 1/2 c butter
• pepper
• 1/4 c parmesan fresh grated

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Poke & bake sweet potatoes for 45 minutes.
2. Remove from oven & puree {I used a food processor}.
3. In a mixing bowl or stand mixer, combine flour & sweet potato puree. Switch to dough hook & knead for 4 minutes or knead by hand.
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
5. Roll out dough {still slightly sticky} using flour & your hands into rolls. Cut into pieces. *
6. Boil gnocchi until a few seconds after it rises to the top & strain.
7. Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, melt & brown butter until it reaches a nice, nutty aroma. Chop fresh sage & toss in & continue to cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat & toss drained gnocchi. Garnish with pepper & parmesan & serve.
8. *optional: use a fork to make traditional gnocchi indentions

Recipe Notes

1 large potato = 2 generous servings. For every potato, allow about a 1/2 cup of flour. The goal is to use as little flour as possible, to keep them pillow-like, but the more flour you use, the easier it is to roll them out, either way, you can't go wrong!

 

Tip: 1 large potato = 2 generous servings. For every potato, allow about a 1/2 cup of flour. The goal is to use as little flour as possible, to keep them pillow-like, but the more flour you use, the easier it is to roll them out, either way, you can’t go wrong!

I cannot get enough of fall flavors! What’s your favorite fall dinner? You may also like my browned butter butternut squash pasta! Never miss a recipe – sign up for my newsletter here & follow along on Pinterest!

Julie