Homemade Pumpkin Gnocchi
Pumpkin gnocchi is an easy dinner idea, and it is perfect for the fall season! The slightly sweet homemade gnocchi is drizzled with a delicious sage brown butter sauce, showcasing all of the season’s best flavors.
There are plenty of recipes that seem intimidating until you actually try them. Things like homemade pasta, sourdough recipes, and seemingly tender or fragile foods.
I’m going to show you that this gnocchi recipe is much easier to make than you might think!
Why you’ll love this recipe:
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Ingredients for my pumpkin gnocchi recipe
Your grocery shopping list will be pretty short, and you may even have some of these ingredients on hand already:
- Pumpkin puree: This is the star of this recipe. You need 100% pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, which has sugar added to it. I will show you that it’s very easy to make it yourself, but you can use canned pumpkin if you’d like.
- Ricotta cheese: I add this for flavor and to soften the texture. Using full-fat ricotta will give you the best flavor – I use part-skim.
- Egg: The egg adds structure to hold the gnocchi together
- All-purpose flour
- Sea salt
For the sage brown butter sauce, you only need two ingredients:
- Salted or unsalted butter: Of course, butter already has a nice flavor, but we are browning it to take it to the next level
- Sage: The flavor and aroma of fresh sage is perfect for fall dishes
Substitutions and variations
As I mentioned earlier, this recipe is easy to adapt. Here are some ingredient substitution ideas:
- Pumpkin: The traditional pumpkin for this recipe is Hokkaido pumpkin. However, you can use other fall squashes, such as butternut squash (my personal favorite) or acorn squash. Honestly, any vegetable puree will work – sweet potato is another delicious option.
- Flour: if you’d like to replace the AP flour, you can use spelt flour, einkorn flour, whole wheat flour, or even gluten-free flour.
- Ricotta: you can easily replace the ricotta with cottage cheese or even milk – just use a little less, because they are both wet ingredients. You could also use sour cream for a tangy flavor.
- Sage: If you can’t find fresh sage, or just don’t care for it, you can just serve the pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter sauce.
- Egg yolk: instead of using one whole egg, you can also make this recipe with 2 egg yolks.
Flavor tip: Fry the sage leaves
To add even more flavor, use crispy sage! Simply fry the leaves over medium heat in a little bit of olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Then, drain them on a paper towel.
Useful tools and equipment
Luckily, you will not need much in the way of equipment. However, here are my recommendations:
- Stainless steel pot: You want to make sure that the gnocchi can freely ‘swim’ in the water
- Slotted spoon: Using a slotted spoon to remove them from the boiling water is much easier than draining them into a colander. This way, you are not squishing them.
- Butter paddles/Gnocchi Boards
- Small cast iron skillet: I like using a small cast iron skillet to melt and brown the butter.
How to make pumpkin gnocchi
- Make the brown butter sauce. Melt and brown the butter first, then add the sage leaves.
- Optional: Make the pumpkin puree. If you want to make it, see the instructions in the next section of this post.
- Make the pumpkin gnocchi dough. Stir together the pumpkin puree, ricotta, and egg. Then add the salt and enough flour to create a soft dough.
- Roll and shape the dough. Start by rolling the dough into a long rope, about one half-inch wide. Then cut it into 1-inch pieces, and form each one into a pillow shape.
- Cook the gnocchi in salted simmering water for about 5 minutes, or until they float to the surface.
- Remove cooked gnocchi with a slotted spoon. Plate them, then drizzle with the sauce.
Notes
Anja’s notes for success
- When creating the dough, be sure to thoroughly combine the wet ingredients before adding the flour. Add just enough flour to form a soft, pliable dough.
- Before you start rolling and forming the gnocchi, lightly dust your work surface and the palms of your hands. This will prevent the dough from sticking.
- Roll the dough into a long rope, about Β½” thick. Using a knife, cut off 1-inch pieces and shape them into little pillows. You can use the tines of a fork or gnocchi boards to press a pattern on the surface.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the pumpkin gnocchi from the cooking water. It’s much easier and safer than draining them in a colander.
How to make pumpkin puree
You might have some leftover pumpkin puree from another recipe, or perhaps you have a favorite way of cooking the pumpkin. However, I simply steam the pumpkin.
- Cut the pumpkin in half or quarters (depending on size), and scoop out the seeds and pulp.
- Place the pumpkin, cut sides down, into a steamer basket.
- Steam until the flesh is very soft, about 15 minutes.
- Remove flesh from the skin and puree it in a blender or food processor, or use a fork or potato masher.
How to serve pumpkin gnocchi
Simply place the pumpkin gnocchi onto pasta plates and drizzle them generously with the sauce.
The dish tastes even better with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper on top! To add some crunch, you can top them with some lightly roasted pine nuts.
Storing leftovers: Should you have any leftover gnocchi, you can place them in your refrigerator in an airtight container. They will keep well for about 4 days. To reheat them, I suggest warming them up in a skillet with butter.
Make-ahead instructions
If you want to prep this gnocchi recipe ahead, you can, but leave the gnocchi uncooked.
Uncooked, they can be refrigerated for a few hours. If you’d like to make them last longer, place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze them for a few hours.
Once frozen, transfer them to a Ziploc bag. Pumpkin gnocchi will last in the freezer for up to 2 months.
When you are ready to cook them, simply place the frozen gnocchi directly into a large pot of boiling water and cook until they float.
Pumpkin Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 10 oz pumpkin puree
- Β½ cup ricotta
- 1 Β½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- ΒΌ tsp salt
- β cup butter
- 15 sage leaves
Instructions
- For the sauce: In a small skillet, melt the butter and cook while stirring, until you see golden-brown flecks. Add the sage leaves and set aside.
- For the gnocchi, combine pumpkin puree, ricotta, flour, egg, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix into a uniform dough.
- On a floured worksurface and with floured hands, roll the dough into a long rope. Cut into small pieces, about 1" long. Optional: gently press a pattern into the gnocchi with the tines of a fork or gnocchi boards.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add some salt and the gnocchi.
- Cook the gnocchi until they are floating to the surface.
- With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi and transfer them to individual plates. Drizzle with sage butter sauce, some fresh ground pepper, and a generous helping of freshly grated parmesan.
Notes
- You can easily replace the pumpkin with butternut squash which is actually my preferred squash for this recipe.Β
- I love using einkorn flour for this recipe.
- Optional: add some freshly grated nutmeg to the gnocchi dough.
Video
Nutrition
Other pumpkin recipes you might like
- Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Pumpkin Sourdough Bread Pudding
- How to Make a Pumpkin Face Mask
- Sourdough Pumpkin Bread
- Hearty Pumpkin Stew
- One-Pot Butternut Squash Pasta
Pin For Later
I am so excited to try this! The brown butter with sage sounds especially delicious with it π
Yes, this recipe is so good! Hope to will enjoy it as much as we do!
This sounds so good! I love pumpkin everything in the fall, and pumpkin with sage sounds like it would be such a great flavor combination.
Pumpkin and sage is definitely my favorite!
This is such a great idea for using up winter squash! I’ve never made gnocchi before but I feel inspired to try now. Great post; thanks for the inspiration.
Ooh, nice! I hope you get a chance to make it very soon!
This sounds absolutely delicious. Pumpkin with sage brown butter is one of my absolute favourite combinations!
Yay! I am so glad you like this recipe and the combo!
So much pumpkin this kind of year and this seems so much better than pumpkin pie, plus our 9 chickens are still going strong so this may become a good treat
Yes, this is such a good way to use up more pumpkin!