Keto gnocchi with homemade pesto
Here's a fabulous keto recipe for an — almost — traditional Italian gnocchi. We skipped the potatoes and loaded up on cauliflower, serving these little delicious pillows with a tasty homemade pesto. It's totally worth the extra effort!
USMetric
servingservings
Ingredients
- ½ lb 220 g cauliflower
- ¾ cup (2 oz.) 180 ml (60 g) shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup (4 oz.) 240 ml (110 g) almond flour
- 2 2 egg yolkegg yolks
- 1 tsp 1 tsp onion powder (optional)
- 1 tsp 1 tsp ground psyllium husk powder or xanthan gum
- ½ tsp ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup (4 oz.) 240 ml (120 g) shredded cheese
- 2 tbsp 2 tbsp olive oil or butter
Pesto
- ½ cup 120 ml olive oil, divided
- ¾ cup 180 ml parmesan cheese
- 2 oz. 55 g pine nuts
- 1 oz. (2⁄3 cup) 28 g (160 ml) fresh basil
- 1 1 garlic clovegarlic cloves
- salt and ground black pepper
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Making low carb simple
Instructions
- Wash and clean the cauliflower and divide it into small florets. Steam for a few minutes or microwave until soft. Blend in a food processor on high setting until smooth.
- Place cauliflower puree on a clean kitchen towel. Gather up the towel's ends and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. The drier the better, don't skip this step.
- Transfer the cauliflower back to the food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the shredded cheese. Pulse until combined.
- Microwave the shredded cheese for a few minutes, until melted. You can also gently melt in a saucepan on medium-low heat while stirring continuously.
- Add the melted cheese to the food processor and pulse with the cauliflower mixture until you get a smooth dough.
- Shape one roll per person and allow to cool completely in the refrigerator or freezer, at least for 1 hour.
- Form 12 small balls out of each roll. Gently press with a fork to create small stripes, if you wish.
- Heat butter or olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the gnocchi over medium-high heat until thoroughly warmed.
- Mix all the ingredients for the pesto with only a few tablespoons of the oil. Use a food processor or a blender. Add the rest of the oil and mix a bit more.
Recommended special equipment
- Food processor
- Microwave oven
Tip!
Instead of the pesto, you can serve the gnocchi with a sugar-free tomato sauce and finely chopped fresh parsley. You can also try mixing sour cream, tomato paste and Ranch seasoning for an extra touch of flavor!
You can reheat the gnocchi by frying in butter on medium heat or reheating in a warm sauce.
You can store in the refrigerator up to one week and you can also freeze it.
Meals
Breakfasts
Desserts
Snacks
Dairy free
Vegetarian
Bread
Only keto
Keto 'pills' and other keto suplement products are not necessary, and may be detrimental.
Oatmeal is very Carby.
You may wish to freeze them before boiling, but we have not experimented with that either way.
I used cheddar. The flavor is great, but wondering if mozzarella would have held together better?
I have loved every recipe made in this site. This was disappointing. Too much work for the result as is. Perhaps with better directions (more thorough) or ingredient changes?
Several of our recipes have been updated recently to help make them more awesome, it looks like this was one of those lucky recipients of updates and upgrades to make the final dish better.
I also use similar gnocchi recipe for a Ghanaian dish we call fufu without the cheese and eggs. Served with peanut butter soup.
What type of shredded cheese needs to be used? I almost burnt the mixer because it was too chewy to mix with the other ingredients.
I believe that I will eat them bake next time. I did more than necessary and as they are really expensive ingredients and I hate throwing away food, I will eat them. But definitely not the best. How do I rate a recipe?
That's a great description! I am glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I think I had the heat to high when I fried them so the when really crispy.
Reminded me of potato gems, crispy on the outside and fluffy soft mash goodness inside.
Soooooooooooo good will definitely be making these again.
So sorry to hear these didn't work out for you!
Thanks for your feedback!
We have not tested these with psyllium but psyllium and xanthan gum bring very different textures to any kind of recipe, especially baked goods.
Great to know they work in the air fryer! Thanks for sharing!
I am glad you enjoyed this! Thank you for sharing how you customized the recipe.
Served with sugar-free marinara & fresh parsley.
I made extra, will roll the dough into "sticks". When we want them again will thaw slightly and repeat the above cooking process.
However, having said all that, by some miracle the end result was fantastic! The dough was very easy to handle and form into shapes; I fried them in butter and oil until they were lovely and crispy on the outside and soft and melting in the middle. I had some salsa verdi already made so used that instead of the pesto, and it was delicious - very like traditional gnocchi. I will make this recipe again but will use my stick blender for pureeing, and add the grated cheese to the hot cauliflower instead of pre-melting it. I would also add more salt, and will adjust the amount of almond flour to give the right consistency.
I am sorry that this recipe felt like more of a struggle to come together, I am glad that the end result was a good dinner.