Soft & Pillowy No-Egg Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Garlic Sage Sauce (Gluten Free + Dairy Free)

Soft, pillowy sweet potato gnocchi that are incredibly easy and quick to make (no equipment needed!)! Naturally gluten free, no eggs, and no dairy, these heavenly sweet potato gnocchi are served in a 5 minute creamy garlic sage sauce that makes for the coziest winter dinner recipe or even secretly vegan Thanksgiving recipe!

Why your family is going to rave about this sweet potato gnocchi recipe

If you’re a lover of gnocchi (you can’t beat a classic like my vegan gnocchi recipe!), then you need to try this sweet potato gnocchi recipe.

It’s actually one of the first vegan pasta recipes I put on the blog, and it’s a The Banana Diaries reader favorite (even kids just love this dish!)!

And guess what? Sweet potato gnocchi is actually a fantastic first pasta recipe to try because it’s so simple to make, on 3 ingredients, fail-proof, and no equipment required! (When you’re ready to improve your skills, try making my homemade vegan pasta recipe here!). 

It’s even simpler than my classic vegan gnocchi recipe and cauliflower gnocchi recipe because you don’t even need a potato ricer! Just a fork to mash the sweet potato and mix the dough, and a large pot of water to boil the sweet potato gnocchi.

And the creamy garlic sage sauce is next level delicious. Trust me on this, you don’t want to miss the garlic sage sauce (which also takes all of 5 minutes to make!).

This is the perfect cozy winter pasta dish to keep you warm all winter long, or even wow your family and guests when you serve this as a secretly gluten free and vegan Thanksgiving recipe!

Honestly, with how easy these vegan gnocchi are to make, you could even quickly make this vegan dinner recipe throughout the week for an easy yet restaurant-quality dinner!

The only 3 ingredients you need:

To make these secretly vegan sweet potato gnocchi, you only need:

• Sweet potato: I recommend baking the sweet potato yourself rather than purchasing sweet potato in a can. The flavor will be much better! You can check out my quick start guide to how to bake sweet potatoes here!
• Flour: To make this gluten free gnocchi, I actually used oat flour here. Trust me, it’s amazing! However, if you have an intolerance to oats, you can use gluten free 1:1 baking flour, such as King Arthur Measure for Measure flour. You can use even cassava flour for a paleo sweet potato gnocchi. Of course, if you’re not gluten free, you can just use all purpose flour!
• Arrowroot starch: I find adding a touch of arrowroot starch or cornstarch makes these sweet potato gnocchi extra pillowy. Especially since we’re not using any egg nor ricotta cheese here!).

In terms of the creamy garlic sage sauce, again, you won’t need any dairy. You’ll only need 6 ingredients and 5 minutes to make this sauce:

• Vegan butter: You can use regular butter if you’re not dairy free. I’m vegan, so I recommend using Miykoko’s vegan butter. It’s the best, and no one will know you used vegan butter 😉 
• Coconut milk: I recommend using light coconut milk here, such as by Edward & Sons, so that the coconut flavor isn’t as strong. You can also swap in oat milk, soy milk, almond milk, or cashew milk. If you’re not dairy free, you can use cream. 
• Garlic & Sage: You can’t have a garlic and sagesauce without them! I recommend using fresh for both.
• Arrowroot starch: Just a touch to help thicken the sauce. Again, you can swap in cornstarch if you’d prefer!
• Sea salt: Just a touch for flavor!

You can also stir in some veggies, like broccoli rabe or spinach. Top with vegan parmesan cheese (I love Forager Project for this!). Now let’s make these sweet potato gnocchi!

Overview: how to make the easiest sweet potato gnocchi:

If you’re more of a visual learner, I have an entire video for you on how to make gnocchi! So I definitely recommend giving that a watch (and check out my YouTube channel for more fun cooking videos if you’d like!).

But because I’m me, I’ll also give you the run down in words (because if you couldn’t tell, I like to talk. A lot. Basically, I think I just like to hear and read my own thoughts).

1. Make sure the sweet potato is baked: I like to bake my sweet potato on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast the sweet potato with the the flesh still on- this helps the inside of the sweet potato caramelize more in the oven!
2. First make the dough. You’ll start by combining the cooked and mashed sweet potato (make sure to remove the sweet potato skin!) with the flour and arrowroot starch. Knead the dough (it will truly feel like a gluten dough, it’s incredible) until it’s firm, yet soft, and doesn’t stick to the bowl.
3. Flour a clean surface and slice the dough into quarters. Then you’ll roll each quarter into a long pole, but start with one quarter first. Roll it to be about 1 inch thick in diameter.
4. Take the rolled gnocchi dough and slice the dough into 1 inch thick gnocchi. You can use a pizza slicer, which I recommend, or a thin knife. After the sweet potato gnocchi are sliced, lightly flour each gnocchi and place them on a plate.
5. Bring a pot of 2 quarts of salted water to a boil. Place about 1/2 of the gnocchi into the pot and give it a swirl. Let the gnocchi cook for about 1-2 minutes, until they’ve risen to the top. That’s how you’ll know when they’re done!
6. Remove the gnocchi and add them to a sauté pan to sauté until they’re crispy. This step isn’t exactly necessary, but I do think it adds a great flavor to them!

See? I told ya making gnocchi wasn’t all that scary! Now you’re a seasoned pro 😉 The magic has been revealed!

Buttttt now we need to make a sauce to go with your gnocchi 😉

The garlic sage cream sauce:

Really, any sauce would go great with these homemade gnocchi. For this recipe specifically, I’ve included a garlic sage sauce that just blows these Paleo gnocchi out of the water.

You’ll simply heat the vegan butter in a large skillet, and add in the garlic and sage. Stir on medium heat until cooked, then whisk together the coconut milk and arrowroot starch in a separate bowl. 

Pour the coconut milk mixture into the cooked garlic and sage, and stir until the coconut milk begins to thicken. Then add in your cooked gnocchi, and cook for several minutes!

I mean…it doesn’t get any simpler than that! This vegan cream sauce goes perfectly over these gnocchi.

Top with a bit of freshly cracked black pepper and vegan parmesan for the ultimate sweet potato gnocchi dish!

Feel free to switch up the fresh herbs if you’d like (but sage really is my favorite!). Or I also recommend doing a pesto, such as this one, vegan vodka sauce, or a creamy Alfredo sauce, like my lightened up version here.

You can also swap in this creamy cheesy vegan pumpkin sauce from my vegan pumpkin pasta!

How can I reheat leftover sweet potato gnocchi?

If you have any leftover sweet potato gnocchi, you can absolutely reheat for an even quicker dinner during the week.

To store leftover gnocchi, I recommend storing the gnocchi in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze the gnocchi too. 

To reheat, you can either sautè on a pan with a little oil, or heat in the oven at 350F on a baking sheet with parchment paper. If you’d prefer to quickly reheat any leftover gnocchi, you can definitely microwave the gnocchi until warm. 

Tips & Tricks for making homemade sweet potato gnocchi

• Make sure that the water is boiling! Give the water a few seconds after it first initially boils to ensure that it’s hot enough.
• Sweet Potato Gnocchi Dough: the dough of the Paleo gnocchi should be extraordinarily similar to regular gnocchi dough, so much so that you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two. This means that the dough isn’t sticking to the sides of the bowl or on the floured surface. If it is, work some more flour in there. You don’t want the gnocchi to disintegrate in the water!
• What sweet potato to use: I recommend using a regular yam, but you could also have a more traditional looking sweet potato gnocchi and use a white sweet potato (Hannah or Japanese are both great!).
• What if I don’t need to be/want to be gluten-free? No problem! If you just want sweet potato gnocchi, and not gluten free sweet potato gnocchi, you can use whichever flour you’d like. Gluten free flour or all-purpose flour will work perfectly here!
• Don’t have enough time to bake the sweet potato? You can absolutely microwave the sweet potato if it’s easiest. It won’t have quite the same flavor, but they’ll still be good!
• The gnocchi get sticky after they’re boiled, so place them on the plate so that they’re not touching each other! Much easier to sauté then.

You’re just going to love these easy vegan sweet potato gnocchi!  If you give them a go, let me know down in the comments section how they went! And as always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there so that I can reshare them!

Happy kneading, rolling, and gnocchi-eating! Oh, and buon appetito 😉

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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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