These vegan gnocchi with spinach is one of these dishes. I’ve made it so many times and it’s always a winner. It’s one of my favorite comfort food meals!
What You Need For These Vegan Gnocchi with Spinach and Tomatoes
- store-bought gnocchi
- spinach
- tomatoes
- garlic
- cashews (unsalted and not roasted)
- nutritional yeast
- miso
- mustard
- tapioca starch
- unsweetened almond milk
- salt and pepper
As always, you can find a detailed ingredient list and recipe instructions at the end of this post in a separate recipe box.
Vegan Gnocchi Sauce:
For my vegan gnocchi I used a sauce made of cashews and nutritional yeast. If you haven’t tried using cashews as a base for vegan cream and cheese sauces, you should really give this a try! They turn out super creamy and rich!
I also added quite a bit of nutritional yeast. It’s not only packed with vitamins, but also adds a cheesy taste to my sauce. The perfect combination!
You need only six ingredients for the vegan gnocchi sauce:
- cashews
- nutritional yeast
- white or yellow miso paste
- Dijon mustard
- tapioca starch
- garlic
How to Make These Vegan Gnocchi
The preparation of these vegan gnocchi with a creamy spinach sauce couldn’t be much easier! It’s ready in only 15 minutes, which makes it perfect for busy weeknight dinners!
All you have to do is follow these three easy steps:
FIRST STEP:
Prepare the gnocchi according to the instructions on the package. Place the spinach in a colander and drain the gnocchi over it (this is an easy trick to wilt fresh spinach).
SECOND STEP:
Make the sauce: place all ingredients in a high speed blender and process until smooth.
THIRD STEP:
Pour the sauce into a large pot and heat until it thickens up.
Add the gnocchi, the spinach, and the diced tomatoes. Cook for another minute.
Vegan Gnocchi – Recipe Notes:
- You will need a good blender to make the vegan gnocchi sauce. Otherwise it won’t get as creamy.
- If you don’t have a high speed blender, soaking the cashews over night helps a lot. Otherwise you don’t have to worry about soaking them. I use a vitamix and I never soak my cashews for vegan cheese sauces.
- If you have problems finding the tapioca starch, you could also make the recipe without it. However, then you have to use less almond milk because the tapioca starch serves as a thickener. It will also make the sauce stretchy, kind of like a cheese sauce.
Vegan Gnocchi – Variations:
- The vegan gnocchi are also great with other vegetables. I also have a version with broccoli and mushrooms on my blog.
- If you have got a bit more time, you could also make your own vegan gnocchi from scratch. However, for a quick weeknight dinner I’m totally okay with store-bought gnocchi.
More Easy Vegan Weeknight Meals You Might Like:
- Vegan One Pot Pasta
- Baked Gnocchi
- Vegan Chickpea Curry
- Broccoli Pesto with Pasta
- Cauliflower Bolognese Sauce
- One Pot Vegetable Rice
I LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU GUYS!
I hope you like this vegan gnocchi recipe as much as we do around here.
If you give it a try, I’d love to know what you think about them. Just leave me a comment and a star rating below. Your comments really make my day!
You like my recipes and want to see more? Then follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Sina – xx
Vegan Gnocchi with Spinach and Tomatoes
Ingredients
For the gnocchi:
- 1 17.6 OZ (500 g) package store-bought gnocchi make sure to choose a vegan brand
- 4 handful fresh spinach
- 2 tomatoes, diced
For the sauce:
- 1/2 cup cashews (unsalted and not roasted)
- 2 large cloves of garlic
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons white miso paste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare the gnocchi according to the instructions on the package. Place the spinach in a colander and drain the gnocchi over it (this is an easy trick to wilt fresh spinach).
- Make the sauce: place all ingredients in a high speed blender and process until smooth.
- Pour the sauce into a large pot and heat until it thickens up. Add the gnocchi, the spinach, and the diced tomatoes. Cook for another minute.
Notes
- You will need a good blender to make the vegan gnocchi sauce. Otherwise it won't get as creamy.
- If you don't have a high speed blender, soaking the cashews over night helps a lot. Otherwise you don't have to worry about soaking them. I use a vitamix and I never soak my cashews for vegan cheese sauces.
- If you have problems finding the tapioca starch, you could also make the recipe without it. However, then you have to use less almond milk because the tapioca starch serves as a thickener. It will also make the sauce stretchy, kind of like a cheese sauce.
Pat Polubinsky
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this dish! It is quick, easy, and the flavor is out of this world. I have made this several times over the last year. It continues to be a favorite.
FAITH TYLER
OMG, soooooo damn good!
Next time I will add more pepper, but this will always be made for quick/easy & delicious meal!
Thanks so much and keep ’em coming!
Diane Mooney
This dinner was a triumph. Both hubby and myself loved it. Thank you so much for sharing. I can see this sauce being used on many things. So easy to make, minimal prep and took no time at all to cook. What’s not to love, great mid-week dinner.
Cena
Y’all! This is the best sauce ever! I’ve been eatin on my gnocchis since I found this recipe a year ago. Now, I’m pregnant and it’s actually one of my cravings because I just can’t do anything bland right now and this sauce is anything but bland ❤️ Right now, I’m about to try it on some elbow pasta because I’m not really in the mood for gnocchis. Thanks Sina & love that name btw 😉
Teresa
Def a go to recipe. Love it and so does everyone else
Liz
This is going into my regular rotation! It’s AMAZING and so fast!! I used frozen Cauliflower gnocchi because that was all the store had that was vegan but it was still delicious!
Lynn
I have decided to go vegan 2 or 3 times a week, for now. This was my first meal and it was great! Seriously, we loved it. The next day, I eagerly re-heated some for lunch, but it was awful. I was so disappointed. Something about it just didn’t work the next day. Is this a common thing for vegan recipes? If this is common, it will add another level of difficulty to cut every recipe down to 2 servings.
Will
I was recently diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, and one of the first major life changes I made as a result was to switch my diet to 100% vegan. Your blog, and great recipes like this one, have helped make the transition much easier than I expected. It takes some time to assemble all of the ingredients, like nutritional yeast, miso paste and other items that we never had in the pantry before. But the result is every bit worth the effort. Many thanks…
Rex
THE SAUCE IS AMAZING!!!! I am putting it on everything from now on. Absolutely delicious. Thank you!!!
Janelle
New to vegan and loved the creaminess of this recipe – filling and delish!
Caryn
I’ve made this time and time again. Easy and quick! Best sauce!
Star Herrera
My daughter and family they come in to visit I’m going to made this delicios. Niokis thank You!