Lemon Butter Gnocchi with Kale Chips

Ever wanted to make your own gnocchi and thought 'nahh probs too hard'? Well, don't! It's actually really simple and quite a lot of fun 🙂 Adding some crispy kale chips absolutely completes this rich and yum lemon butter gnocchi. Not only does it add a great contrasting crunch, it'll also help up your fibre intake! Serve with a generous sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Get creative with what you use to get those creases in the gnocchi. The creases/fun shapes help the gnocchi catch all the delicious lemon butter thyme sauces. I used a fork to shape these as I don't have a gnocchi board.

TIP: If you're short on time, just poke a deep dent in each gnocchi (with your index finger) and call it a day! Get's the job done 😉

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Making gnocchi from scratch
• Cooking Method
• Other delicious pasta recipes
• 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

Making gnocchi from scratch

Making your own gnocchi is a super rewarding experience and definitely beats the store-bought ones! PLUS, it's an impressive dish to make that comes with loads of bragging rights 😉

Can I make gnocchi without a potato ricer?

YES! Unless you're going for restaurant-quality, just use the good old potato masher. You might end up with tiny little lumps of potatoes in your gnocchi but that's the beauty of home-cooking right!?

Making the smoothest potato mash for gnocchi with a potato masher

This is the way I've found works well to get the smoothest mashed potatoes possible for gnocchi:

• Peel, cut potatoes as evenly in size as possible and boil in water until no resistance when pierced with a sharp knife. Boiling time is about 30-35 minutes. Getting the potatoes really soft is the key to smooth mash!
• Once potatoes are nice and soft, tip cooking water out and spread potatoes onto the kitchen bench (clean!). Let it steam for about 3 minutes, drawing as much moisture out as possible.
• Now, mash the potatoes with a potato masher and get it as smooth as you can.

Kneading the gnocchi dough

Good news: gnocchi doughs are one of those doughs that require minimal kneading! The less you knead your dough, the better. This is because the more you work the dough, the tougher it gets and so when boiled, it won't puff up as nicely and you end up with dense gnocchi. Nobody wants dense gnocchi. So knead just enough so that it forms a smooth dough - like image #2 below.

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STEP 1. Combine dough ingredients (mashed potatoes, flour, egg, salt and white pepper) on a heavily floured kitchen bench. If you have a dough scraper, perfect. If not, just use a fork and mix.

STEP 2. Knead the dough with your hands until just smooth. Form dough into a rectangular block.

STEP 3. With a knife (or dough scraper), cut the dough into even logs. The pictures above used double the ingredients required for this recipe as I was testing 🙂 This recipe will yield about 2 - 3 long logs.

STEP 4. Roll each log out into really long sausages. You want it to be around 2cm thick. Like image #4 above.

STEP 5. Heavily flour everywhere, cut the sausage doughs into little pillows. About 1.5cm wide, like image #5 above. If the knife/dough scraper starts to get a little sticky, just sprinkle flour on both sides and continue.

STEP 6. Either shape the gnocchi with a fork (like the picture below) or poke a deep dent in it.

Cooking Method

The cooking part is really quick. All the hard work (totally worth it) is now done and it's time to make it delicious!

To ensure gnocchi is perfectly golden, cook in batches. About 300g at a time, depending on the size of your pan. You want each gnocchi to touch the bottom of the pan.

STEP 1. Cook gnocchi in boiling water, once they float to the top they're are done. About 1 - 2 minutes. Drain gnocchi by scooping with a slotted spoon in a colander. Let it steam for about 30 seconds to draw moisture out.

STEP 2. Saute gnocchi in a non-stick pan with a knob of butter and fresh lemon thyme leaves. Once the gnocchi is golden on both sides, add peas (if using frozen, thaw before cooking), lemon zest, salt and pepper. Saute for 1 more minute.

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Serve with crispy kale chips and as much parmesan cheese as you want!

To make the kale chips, toss kale with a little salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake in the oven at 200°C/390°F (fan-forced) for about 10 minutes or until crispy.

Look at these lovely golden pillows of joy! Buttery, crispy, lemon and thyme infused gnocchi! So good. Definitely give this recipe a go!

Other delicious pasta recipes

• Vegetarian bolognese ft. roast pumpkin - budget friendly, vegan and absolutely delicious
• Easy garlic prawn pasta - dinner done in 15 minutes! simple and tasty.
• Spaghetti bolognese - classic bolognese and secret to perfectly tender mince? milk! Game changer for days when you don't have 2 or 3 hours to slow simmer your bolognese.
• Creamy mushroom pasta (no cream) - healthy version of a creamy pasta. Instead of using milk to achieve creaminess, use bechamel!

Thank you for checking out my recipes! Let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions, drop me a note in the comments section below. 🙂

Happy cooking!

📖 Recipe