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This pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter sauce is a great alternative to traditional gnocchi and is perfect during the fall.
I'm a sucker for good homemade gnocchi, like my sweet potato gnocchi with pesto.
I mentioned in a previous post how I recently bought the Half Baked Harvest cookbook and couldn't be more excited to give it a try. With fall in full-force, I immediately saw a recipe that caught my eye - pumpkin gnocchi.
Gnocchi is one of these dishes I've always wanted to make at home but just never took the plunge. I honestly thought it was way more complicated than it is.
I just always bought the ready-made gnocchi, which isn't bad. But having this new cookbook (and the fact that my wife loves pumpkin) motivated me to make this pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter sauce and I wasn't disappointed with the result.
It honestly was much simpler that I thought it would be. It just takes a little time so if you're looking for a quick 20-30 minute meal I might try something else.
The brown butter sauce with oregano is the perfect complement to the gnocchi. You could mix it up with the herbs and use sage instead. I had to add my own touch so added some pancetta, which is never a bad addition to a pasta recipe.
When using pumpkin, this gnocchi as well as pumpkin lava cake, baked pumpkin donuts, pumpkin oatmeal muffins and pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes are my go-to recipes.
Jump to:
Recipe Ingredients
- Russet potato - adds some starchiness.
- Pumpkin - the star of the show.
- All-purpose flour - has right gluten for homemade gnocchi.
- Egg - binds everything together.
- Parmesan cheese - adds flavor and thickens the gnocchi.
- Salt and black pepper - enhances the flavor.
- Olive oil - cooks the pancetta and pan-fries the gnocchi
- Pancetta - can also use bacon.
- Unsalted butter - the base for the sauce.
- Oregano - fresh herbs adds some brightness.
- Garlic - additional flavor
- Milk - while milk is best but can also use heavy cream.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Poke holes in your potato. Wrap a paper towel around it and microwave on high for 5-6 minutes or until soft. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes. Spoon the potato out of the skin and into a large bowl. Add the pumpkin puree and mash together.
- Add the flour, egg, 1/2 cup Parmesan, salt and pepper, stirring until just combined.
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface and combine with your hands. Continue to add 1 tbsp of flour at a time if dough seems too wet.
- Roll a piece of dough into a rope that is 1 inch thick. Cut the rope into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces depending on the size you want. Place on a floured baking sheet and repeat until all pieces are cut.
- Boil the gnocchi for 3-4 minutes or until they float. Drain in a colander, reserving 1/4 cup of water. While gnocchi is boiling, cook the pancetta in a small sauce pan with 1 tbsp of oil until crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Remove it from the heat and set aside.
- In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat and add the gnocchi in a single layer, cooking for 3 minutes or until browned. Flip and cook for other 3 minutes. Remove from the skillet.
- In the same pan, bread heat to medium and add the butter. Cook until browned and then add oregano and garlic, cooking for another 30 seconds. Whisk in flour to form roux. Slowly add milk and reserved water.
- Toss the gnocchi bake in with the remaining Parmesan and pancetta. Serve immediately.
Can You Make this with Sweet Potato?
Yes you can. Just use the same amount of sweet potato- which is 1 lb. You could even try butternut or acorn squash as well.
Can I Freeze Gnocchi?
Yes. Once the gnocchi is cut and placed on a baking sheet, just put in the freezer for an hour before transferring to a bag. When you are ready to cook, it will take slightly longer to float but will still be ready quickly.
How Do You Know When Butter is Browned?
Add the butter to the skillet over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, it will foam up and then subside.
This is when you watch carefully as lightly browned specks will start to form at the bottom of the pan. You will know the butter is ready when there is a nutty aroma.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- Add just enough flour. Let me be clear. While most times, you need 1 1/2 cups of flour for this recipe, there are times you need slightly more or slightly less. Use either a wooden spoon or your hands to mix in the flour until just incorporated and where the dough forms a loaf. It should be a soft dough.
- Don’t overmix. Just like anything with flour, if your overmix or knead too much, you’ll get a tougher gnocchi. It won’t be soft and pillowy. You want to mix until it just comes together.
- Don’t make them perfect. Gnocchi doesn’t have to be perfect shapes or have ridges. Mine never look exactly the same but they taste great! Also you can skip the ridges. It’s time consuming and not worth the effort.
- Sprinkle with flour when cutting and transporting. Gnocchi can get sticky if there isn’t flour sprinkled on it. As I’m rolling out the dough to cut and then cut into gnocchi and then transfer to a sheet, I sprinkle with flour to make sure it doesn’t stick. Learn from me as I didn’t do this in the past.
- Boil until they float. When cooking the pumpkin gnocchi, boil it until they float and then remove and add to a sauce.
Other Gnocchi Recipes
If you’ve tried this pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter sauce or any other recipe on Chisel & Fork, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube to see more tasty meals and anything else I'm up to.
Pumpkin Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1 medium russet potato
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1/4 lb pancetta, diced
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- 1/4 reserved pasta water
Instructions
- Poke holes in your potato. Wrap in a paper towel and microwave on high for 5-6 minutes or until soft. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes. Spoon the potato out of the skin and into a large bowl. (Make sure there is no skin!)
- Add the pumpkin puree to the potato and mash together until smooth. Add the egg, flour, 1/2 cup Parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir until just combined. If dough seems too wet, add flour 1 tbsp at a time until you can form the dough into a ball. (It should be sticky)
- Generously flour a work service. Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Working with one piece of a dough at a time, roll the dough into a rope until it's about 1 inch thick. Cut the rope in 1 inch pieces and place on a floured baking sheet. Repeat until you have all the pieces cut.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the gnocchi. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until they float to the top. Drain cooked gnocchi into colander.
- While gnocchi is boiling, bring 1 tbsp olive oil in sauce pan to medium heat and cook pancetta until crisp. It should take 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat and add the gnocchi in a single layer. Cook for about 3 minutes until golden brown on bottom. Turn gnocchi and cook for an additional 3 minutes until golden brown. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- In same skillet, bring heat to medium and add butter, cooking for about 3 minutes or until browned. Stir in the oregano and garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Whisk in flour, cooking for 30 seconds then add milk and reserved pasta water. Add the gnocchi and toss in the remaining Parmesan and pancetta.
Notes
- Add just enough flour. Let me be clear. While most times, you need 1 1/2 cups of flour for this recipe, there are times you need slightly more or slightly less. Use either a wooden spoon or your hands to mix in the flour until just incorporated and where the dough forms a loaf. It should be a soft dough.
- Don’t overmix. Just like anything with flour, if your overmix or knead too much, you’ll get a tougher gnocchi. It won’t be soft and pillowy. You want to mix until it just comes together.
- Don’t make them perfect. Gnocchi doesn’t have to be perfect shapes or have ridges. Mine never look exactly the same but they taste great! Also you can skip the ridges. It’s time consuming and not worth the effort.
- Sprinkle with flour when cutting and transporting. Gnocchi can get sticky if there isn’t flour sprinkled on it. As I’m rolling out the dough to cut and then cut into gnocchi and then transfer to a sheet, I sprinkle with flour to make sure it doesn’t stick. Learn from me as I didn’t do this in the past.
- Boil until they float. When cooking the gnocchi, boil it until they float and then remove and add to a sauce.
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