Soft pillows of pasta, homemade gnocchi made with einkorn flour is a very simple and delicious recipe. Top the gnocchi with your favorite sauce or add it to soup for a cozy, filling meal.
I started working on this recipe a few months back, my goal being to make a soup a little more filling and exciting. I love adding dumplings, noodles, or some type of grain to a soup. It just makes it more filling and delicious.
On this particular day, I added gnocchi to a rich and creamy soup, and it was divine. Truly, homemade gnocchi is just a vessel for other yummy things, highlighting the rest of the dish and adding a satisfying texture and depth.
If you arenโt ready to start making your own homemade einkorn pasta with a pasta machine, this is a great substitute. No fancy equipment needed. Combine the ingredients, roll out, cut, and cook. It’s simple and merely six ingredients.
Have I mentioned they are delicious? Fluffy, light, cheesy, and slightly nutty from the einkorn flour. Yum!
You have to try this recipe!
Homemade Gnocchi Tips:
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- Allow the potatoes to cool a bit so you donโt burn your fingertips off (kidding, not kidding).
- If you do not have einkorn flour, no worries – you can substitute all-purpose flour. See below for my recommendations.
- Do not over-knead the dough or it will be doughy and tough rather than light and fluffy.
Gnocchi FAQ
What do you eat gnocchi with?
You can use gnocchi like any other pasta. Pair it with your favorite tomato sauce, Alfredo sauce, or a delicious garlic, butter, and herb sauce. Top it with cheese or add your favorite meat. You’ll have a hard time going wrong here.
I even love adding it to soup! I’ll be sharing a recipe for creamy gnocchi soup next week.
Is gnocchi healthier than pasta?
I feel like this is comparing apples to oranges. While, yes, they are both in the pasta family, there are so many variations of pasta that it’s really hard to compare. This from-scratch gnocchi recipe is made from real food ingredients, healthy fats, and carbohydrates – which, to me, is healthy. Homemade pasta is also made from real-food ingredients.ย
Now, comparing store-bought pasta to homemade, you have to ask what the ingredients are. Maybe it’s einkorn pasta, which is the healthiest store-bought pasta in my opinion, as it contains heirloom wheat and no other ingredients.
Regular store-bought pasta is usually made from unfermented grains like semolina or whole wheat which can be more difficult to digest. And many times this pasta contains added ingredients like folic acid, which is the synthetic version of folate, and a nutrient most people cannot absorb.
Can I use all-purpose flour instead of einkorn?
Yes. You can substitute einkorn flour with all-purpose in this recipe.
Usually, when substituting all-purpose flour for einkorn in a recipe, you would want to increase the amount of liquids. Since the only liquid in this recipe comes from ricotta and egg, you do not want to reduce these. You should be able to substitute the flour 1:1.
Gnocchi Ingredients:
Potatoes: Baked. Baking rather than boiling leaves the potatoes with less moisture, which can help prevent mushy gnocchi.
Ricotta: Use full fat for better texture.
Parmesan cheese: Freshly grated parmesan cheese gives it a yummy flavor.
Egg: This acts as a binder, bringing everything together.
Flour: I use einkorn flour due to its health benefits and easy digestion. You could substitute spelt or all-purpose, although the amount may change a bit.
How To Make Homemade Gnocchi With Einkorn Flour
Preheat your oven to 375.
Wash two large potatoes. Using a fork, poke the potatoes multiple times. This allows the steam to release while cooking and reduces the chance of the potato exploding all over your oven.
Place on a baking sheet and put into the preheated oven. Bake until fork tender or about 45 minutes to an hour. The potatoes should be completely cooked through. You can tell the potato is done if you can easily insert a knife or fork into the potato.
Once baked completely, take out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Scoop out the baked potato into a large bowl. Mash well with a potato masher or a fork.
Add ricotta, freshly grated parmesan, egg, flour, salt, and pepper.
Mix together with your hand until all the ingredients are completely combined and have formed a ball. Be careful not to over knead the dough or else your gnocchi may be tough and chewy, not light and fluffy.
Lightly flour a clean surface and place the gnocchi dough on top.
Cut into 4 equal-sized pieces (a regular knife or bench scraper will work just fine).
Roll each piece into a long cylinder about an inch wide. Think of when you were a kid playing with play dough and making a snake.
Cut each piece into about 1 inch by 1 inch pieces.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salting liberally.
Working in three small batches, add the gnocchi to the pot and boil for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to be sure it isn’t sticking together. Add to a strainer or use a slotted spoon to take out gnocchi and set aside. Alternatively, you can cook the gnocchi straight in a batch of Gnocchi Soup.
Top with your favorite sauce or add to soup.
Storing Gnocchi:
Store, cooked, in an air-tight container for up to 3 days for best results. To help prevent sticking, you can toss them with either a little bit of melted butter or olive oil.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to cook the gnocchi right away, you can lightly dust the dough pieces with flour, place in an air tight container, and store in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Find More Delicious Farm To Table Meals:
- Einkorn Pancakes
- Easy Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- Creamy Chicken And Mushroom Pasta
- Round Steak With Caramelized Onions And Mushrooms
- Meatball Sub Recipe
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone
Homemade Gnocchi With Einkorn Flour
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Russet potatoes
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
- 1 cup einkorn flour
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup ricotta
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375.
- Wash two large potatoes. Using a fork, poke the potato multiple times.
- Place on a baking sheet and put into the preheated oven. Bake until fork tender or about 45 minutes to an hour.
- Once baked completely, take out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Scoop out the baked potato into a large bowl. Mash well with a potato masher or a fork.
- Add ricotta, freshly grated parmesan, egg, flour, salt, and pepper.
- Mix together with your hand until all the ingredients are completely combined and have formed a ball.
- Lightly flour a clean surface and place the gnocchi dough on top.
- Cut into 4 equal-sized pieces (a regular knife or bench scraper will work just fine).
- Roll each piece into a long cylinder about an inch wide.
- Cut each piece into about 1 inch by 1 inch pieces.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salting liberally.
- Working in three small batches, add pasta to the pot and boil for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to be sure it isnโt sticking together.
- Add to a strainer or use a slotted spoon to take out gnocchi and set aside.
Notes
- Be careful not to over knead the dough or else your gnocchi may be tough and chewy, not light and fluffy.
Kristen says
Hey Lisa,
Iโm wondering if you could give me an approximate weight for the baked potatoes? Iโm using yukon goldens because thatโs what I can find organic.
Also wondering if youโve tried making them & freezing to cook later? If so, how did that turn out??
Thanks!
Lisa Bass says
I haven’t personally weighed them. If your potatoes are a bit smaller, I would just add a couple more.
Wendy Shine says
When you say einkorn are you talking about whole grain einkorn or all purpose einkorn? I am a little confused. Thank you. I love your recipes. So far the ones Iโve tried worked out beautifully
JoAnn says
This recipe worked extraordinarily well when I used it to make an OG Copycat Chicken (Turkey) / Gnocchi Soup last week for Thanksgiving Dinner. I used All-Purpse Flour and doubled the recipe. And I used the Soup recipe from this site. Not a drop was left! My Nana used to make Gnocchi relatively often. These were better (sorry, Nana, lol). I think it was the addition of the Ricotta cheese. I don’t remember Nana including any cheese other than Parmesan in her recipe (she’d use homogenized Milk). I used All-Purpose Flour. I will most assuredly be making these again. I can’t wait to try making this Gnocchi with Sweet Potatoes (or possibly a mix of the 2). I’m also thinking I might add Scallions to the Gnocchi recipe and reduce the amount of Onion from the Soup recipe. While I’m not yet ready to serve these Gnocchi as a “side”, I can see how I will be including them in many of the Soups I will most assuredly be making this Winter.
Julie says
At what stage can you freeze for use later?
Lisa says
After shaping, before boiling
Phoebe Anne says
I did a batch last night but didnโt mash the potatoes well. Turned out tasty but I wanted a more consistent texture. Made it again for lunch today & got a more consistent texture but much of it fell apart in the pot. It was pretty crumbly to work with but cut fine so I didnโt add any moisture. Should I have let it rest longer before rolling out & cutting? I basically went straight from mixing to rolling out & cutting. I used freshly ground whole einkorn both times.
Lisa says
Sounds like it just needs a little more flour. If it was freshly out of the mill it could have been really airy, so each cup of flour was actually a little less, if that makes sense.
Bekka says
Can these be froze for feature use?
Lisa says
I don’t see why not. I would suggest freezing them on a parchment lined baking sheet not touching and then transferring to a freezer safe ziplock.
Sierra Patrick says
Iโd love to know how to make this into sourdough gnocchi if youโve tried!
Lisa says
I have not tried that yet, but I should!
Samantha Flynn says
I’ve made this a few times now and it just pairs so well with any kind of soup. I’ve had success replacing ricotta cheese with a small amount of cream, yogurt or even milk. I’ve even used a mix of sweet potatoes and russet! It turns out perfect Everytime. It’s really such a flexible thing to make. I never thought I’d be making all these wonderful things from scratch. So thank you Lisa for making it so easy to follow!
Hรฉlรจne says
Wow
How much cream do u sub for the ricotta? I never buy ricotta.
Lindsay Barlow says
My dough did not set up well at all. I know Einkorn takes longer to soak up moisture, but this was so wet. I also used yukons instead of russets. What did I mess up?
Betsy says
That looks wonderful. There is not ricotta cheese where I live, do you think cottage cheese would work?
Kelsey Cheatham says
Online it says feta is an alternative. I am cooking this right now.