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Cauliflower Gnocchi

With just three ingredients, this homemade cauliflower gnocchi recipe is a healthier spin on our favorite comfort food.

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cauliflower gnocchi in a bowl with a spoon.

Can’t Find Cauliflower Gnocchi? Make It Yourself!

We know you love Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi. And honestly so do we. But the thing is—why settle for store bought cauliflower gnocchi when homemade is well within reach? Also, they are so often sold out! It’s really nice to be able to pivot and just make DIY cauliflower gnocchi recipe. All the pillowy, lower-carb gnocchi goodness that you’re craving, without worrying about the supply chain. Once you get the hang of this homemade cauliflower gnocchi, *you* are your own supply chain!

cauliflower, flour and salt in bowls on the counter
steamed cauliflower on a kitchen towel
steamed cauliflower, flour and salt in a food processor for cauliflower gnocchi
steamed cauliflower, flour and salt in a food processor for cauliflower gnocchi

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3-Ingredient Cauliflower Gnocchi

Yeah, it’s that easy. Three ingredients are all it takes! And not to seem like we’re knocking TJs—because we love that place—but their cauliflower gnocchi has quite a few more than three ingredients. It's a processed food, that’s sort of part of the deal. And hey, there’s a time and a place for everything. But we love to simplify where we can, and making our beloved cauliflower gnocchi from simple, familiar ingredients feels like a good move. All you’ll need to make it is:

  • Cauliflower
  • Flour
  • Salt
raw cauliflower gnocchi dough on the counter
raw cauliflower gnocchi dough on the counter cut into eight pieces
raw cauliflower gnocchi rolled into thin pieces on the counter
raw cauliflower gnocchi on the counter

How To Make Cauliflower Gnocchi From Scratch

It’s really easy to make cauliflower gnocchi from scratch, you just need to be OK with sticky dough. Because this gnocchi dough is super soft. It might feel weird at first because you are sort of shaping it rather than rolling it like a traditional pasta dough. Just push through, and resist the urge to add more flour! If you want tender gnocchi, just power through that stickiness. Trust the process—you can do it! Here’s how to make them:

  1. Steam the cauliflower until it’s fully cooked and almost mushy.
  2. Squeeze all of the water out of the cauliflower using a kitchen towel. And we mean all of it!
  3. Blitz! Give the cauliflower a good pulse in a food processor along with the flour and salt.
  4. Shape the dough! FYI, the dough will be soft. Resist the urge to add more flour. Just accept the stickiness and work with it, and do your best to shape it into a ball. Cut the ball into eight even pieces.
  5. Shape or “roll” each of those eight pieces into a rope.
  6. Cut each dough rope into 1-inch gnocchi.
raw cauliflower gnocchi on the counter
cauliflower gnocchi browned in a sauté pan.

How To Cook Cauliflower Gnocchi

Once you’ve made and shaped the dough, you’ll have to decide how you’d like to cook the gnocchi. You can either:

  • Boil it! This is the classic preparation for traditional gnocchi, and yields pillowy, doughy little dumpling-like balls of carby (less carby, in this case) goodness.
  • Sauté it! If you prefer a little more of a textural experience, sauté the gnocchi in a nice hot pan with some oil. We recommend an eight-minute sauté, and if they’re not done at the end of that cooking time, pour in a bit of oil and steam them to finish. Because they have raw flour in them, you really need to be sure they’re cooked through.
cauliflower gnocchi in a salute pan with butter
cauliflower gnocchi in a bowl with parmesan, butter and parsley

Tools You’ll Need:

How To Serve Cauliflower Gnocchi

Because gnocchi is just the best, and cauliflower gnocchi is lower carb, so that means we can eat it more often! Yay and yay. Here are a few delicious ways to serve it:

cauliflower gnocchi in a bowl with parmesan, butter and parsley
cauliflower gnocchi in a bowl with a spoon.

You Can Do It!

You can make your own cauliflower gnocchi! We promise. You’ll have this one down in no time. And when you make it, we’d like to hear all about it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!

Cauliflower Gnocchi

  • Serves: 4
  • Prep Time:  35 min
  • Cook Time:  25 min
  • Calories: 170

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs cauliflower florets
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • olive oil spray

Method

  1. Place a steamer basket into a large pot filled with 2 inches of water. Place the cauliflower florets into the steaming basket. Heat the water until simmering over high heat. Reduce heat to low and steam the cauliflower until very tender. To test, pinch the cauliflower with cooking tongs, when it mushes, it is ready. About 20 minutes.
  2. Dump the cauliflower onto a kitchen towel and let cool for about 15 minutes. Gather the edges of the kitchen towel around the cauliflower and squeeze the water from the cauliflower. Try to get most of the water out, by giving it a good squeeze.
  3. Add 1 cup of flour and salt to the bowl of a food processor along with the cooked cauliflower. Pulse until combined. Dump the (sticky) dough onto a floured surface. resist the urge to add more flour to the dough. More flour will make your gnocchi chewy.
  4. With floured hands form the dough into a ball and cut into 8 equal parts. One at a time, shape or “roll” (this dough is VERY loose and is hard to roll) each dough chunk into a ½-inch-thick rope and set aside.
  5. Trim each dough rope into 1-inch pieces. You can cook the gnocchi in this shape/form, or gently press them each against the prongs of a fork and roll as you press to make cute little gnocchi like lines on them.
  6. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the gnocchi (this will reduce the boil). Bring the water back up to a boil cook for 3 minutes. The gnocchi will have all floated to the top. Strain using a colander. Enjoy with your favorite pasta sauce.

Sautéed Gnocchi: If you like your gnocchi a little crispy (as shown in photos), you can also sauté them. Without having boiled them, heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat and spray liberally with cooking spray. Homemade cauliflower gnocchi tends to stick to the pan. If you don’t have cooking spray add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the pan. Add the gnocchi in a single layer. This may need to be done in two batches. Cook until golden brown and crispy, about 8 minutes total. Taste for tenderness. If the gnocchi is not cooked through, add water (1/4 cup at a time) to the pan and finish them off by steaming them by covering the skillet with a tight fitting lid.

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories170
  • Protein8 g
  • Carbohydrates36 g
  • Total Fat1 g
  • Dietary Fiber7 g
  • Cholesterol0 mg
  • sodium216 mg
  • Total Sugars6 g

Cauliflower Gnocchi

Questions & Reviews

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  • Jenn

    This was absolutely delicious! So flavorful and such a fun experience shaping the gnocchi, even got the kids helping!

    That's so great, Jenn!