These homemade purple sweet potato dumplings may be the prettiest thing you ever made in your kitchen.
This gnocchi contains a combination of regular potatoes and sweet potatoes.
My story with gnocchi begins a couple years back.
As I was watching my way through the Good Eats series, I was intrigued by these little dumplings that Alton was making from potatoes and butternut squash. Being someone who did not eat squash before it was pretty bold to give this recipe a go. I did and it became an instant classic in our family.
Every fall we make up several batches, freezing some for later enjoyment.
The butternut squash worked so well, why not try another vegetable. I have seen a lot of people make gnocchi out of sweet potatoes. That was something I really desired to try. Except I didn't really want to use just any old sweet potato - I wanted to use the Stokes Purple Sweet Potato.
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🍠 Why Purple Sweet Potatoes
I like these sweets because they are not sweet. The purple color means tons of good things for our bodies. They also tend to be drier than other sweet potato varieties which makes this the dough for gnocchi easier to deal with. If your potatoes are really moist that just means you will need to add more and more flour.
🛒 Ingredients
Here is what you will need from the store to make this recipe:
Main Ingredients
- Stokes Purple Sweet Potato
- Russet potatoes
- Egg
- Kosher salt
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- All-purpose flour
- Olive oil or other cooking Oil
Optional Sauce Ingredients
- Butter (I think Kerrygold Irish butter is best)
- Fresh sage
- Parmesan cheese
- Brick, Provolone, or Mozzarella cheese
- Whole milk
- White pepper
Typically when I serve gnocchi as a main dish I do so with a tomato sauce. But let's face it if the above photo had a red sauce on top of a purple dumpling it just wouldn't look that great.
Now a white sauce. That's a different story. So I made a basic white cheese sauce containing Parmesan and Brick cheeses. To me, brick cheese is a more flavorful version of mozzarella. I use it in any recipe calling for mozzarella. It's known for its use in Detroit style pizza. Not many places carry it so you might have to just settle for mozzarella, although provolone would be nice too.
If you don't want to serve them with the sauce, another way to eat them is to boil them, then fry the up in some brown butter along with some freshly chopped sage. So yummy!
💡 Top Tips
One of the challenges of this recipe is getting the dough together. The problem lies in that the amount of cooked potatoes varies a lot on the size of the potato.
Tip #1 - The best thing to do is weigh out the cooked potatoes when done. You use about 15 ounces of each type for a total of 30. Getting that exact amount will make it a lot easier for you to get the dough to come together.
The first time I did this with Alton's recipe I didn't have the weight amounts, so I had to add a lot of flour to get the dough to come together. It was a mess.
Tip #2 - Use a potato ricer if you got one.
If you run the potatoes through a potato ricer, the potato will be fluffier and it will make the end result more fluffy and less gummy.
Tip #3 - Cut the dough and roll it out into a long rope.
Your goal is to have equal pieces so they all cook the same. The best way to cut the dough into 6 pieces and then roll each one of those pieces out into a long rope. You could use a ruler if you want to get things really exact. Work on a floured surface to prevent sticking.
You can cut the pieces either using one of my favorite tools, the bench scraper, or a sharp knife.
Tip #4 - Use a gnocchi board for that traditional look.
If you want to get one, you can order a gnocchi board online. It's small board with grooves in that will give the gnocchi a traditional look. Not necessary at all, just fun. Or could also try making groove using the back of a fork.
Tip #5 - Gnocchi floats, so just remove it with a slotted spoon.
When gnocchi is done it does this cool thing - it floats right to the top. So you don't need to worry about knowing when to pull it from the boiling water.
Tip #6 - Gnocchi can be used in recipes.
Besides just using gnocchi as a side dish, you can include it in recipes for dishes like beef stew.
🥶 Can You Freeze Them?
Absolutely. Frozen gnocchi is the perfect thing to pop out of the freezer on a busy weekday or when it's just too hot to cook. Just prepare the gnocchi up to the point in which you are going to cook them (as directed in the recipe card below) and then freeze them on a small baking sheet in a single layer in your freezer until solid.
Move to a plastic freezer bag for long term store. I would try to use them up in a month or two.
You can find "regular" potatoes as well that are purple inside and out. Check out our comprehensive guide to cooking purple potatoes.
🥔 More Potato Recipes
Here are some other regular and sweet potato recipes to try out.
- Marbled Potatoes
- Sous Vide Sweet Potatoes
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Baked Potato Fries
- Potato Leek Soup
Purple Sweet Potato Homemade Gnocchi with Cream Sauce
Ingredients
For the gnocchi
- 1 large Stokes Purple Sweet Potato
- 5-6 medium Russet potatoes pierced
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour plus additional, for dusting
- Oil and/or butter for pan frying
- 1 bunch sage leaves chiffonade
For the cheese sauce
- 2 oz Parmesan cheese
- 6 oz Brick Provolone, or Mozzarella cheese
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups whole milk
- kosher salt and white pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparing the potatoes
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Clean and pierce your Russets. Bake for 1 hour or until a fork can go through it. Set aside to cool.
- While the potatoes are cooking, peel and cube your Purple Sweet Potato. Place into a steamer basket inside a pot with enough water to just not touch the sweet potatoes. Cover with a lid, bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Cook until they can be mashed with a fork, 15-20 minutes. Set aside.
Preparing the dough
- Weigh out 15 ounces of each potato, if you don't have exact, make sure you just have 30 ounces of combined potato.
- Combine the Russets and the Purple sweet potatoes together in a large bowl. Mash with a potato masher to combine. Add the salt, egg, and nutmeg, stir to combine. Now add in the flour. Mix together until a dough forms. Once it gets started I like to put it onto my work surface and knead it until a ball of dough is formed. You may need to add more flour.
- Cut the dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a log. Using a bench scrapper or a knife, cut into equal bite sized pieces.
Cooking the gnocchi
- Fill a large pot with water. Bring to a boil. Add about a cup of gnocchi at a time, don't overcrowd.
- Once the gnocchi float to the surface, they are done. Remove with a slotted spoon.
Preparing the cheese sauce
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add in the flour, salt, and white pepper.
- Then add in the milk. Bring to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. After that minute remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese.
Finishing the gnocchi
- Add a combo of butter and oil to coat the bottom of a frying pan. Heat the pan over high heat. Add the gnocchi a couple handfuls at a time, again don't crowd them. Add in some of the sage.
- Cook until the gnocchi has browned about 2-4 minutes. Remove from the pan and finish the rest of them. I do it in 3 batches.
- Lightly sauce the gnocchi and serve.
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