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
- 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!
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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.
Delicious! I never boil gnocchi like the package suggests though. Don’t like the texture. I like to pan fry in a very small amount of olive oil. Gives the gnocchi a crispy outside and perfectly cooked inside.
Hi Sina, if I use Gf flour will this also be a gluten free dish?
Hi Louise,
Unfortunately, there is gluten in most store-bought gnocchi brands. If you make sure to buy a gluten-free version, it’s pretty easy to make this recipe gluten-free. :-)
Made this for dinner tonight. It was spectacular!! Even my husband loved it. I used 1 cup of cashews and a cup and half to the blender. I didn’t add any almond milk. All other ingredients we’re the same. I would definitely serve this to company and not tell them it was vegan. They will think it is a rich cream sauce!!
This came out great. My husband even enjoyed it. I didn’t have the miso paste or the tapioca starch I kept to all other measurements it came out as a great cream sauce. This makes it so easy for me to cook a more vegan plant based way! Thank you!
This would’ve been so delicious if I hadn’t mistakenly used vanilla almond milk. 🤦🏻♀️
This was amazing. Subbed cornstarch for tapioca starch but otherwise was true to the recipe. Boyfriend who isn’t so much into cooking actually asked for the recipe. Served it with fresh green salad and baguette for dipping up that glorious sauce. Wow!! So good. This one goes in the favorites folder. Will make again! Soon!
Such great and quick recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
Awesome sauce we had it tonight I added sone mushrooms beautiful. The only down side my gnocchi was a little bland it was store bought.
Thanks so much for sharing such an easy but extremely tasty sauce.
Wow! The sauce is just amazing! I made it with pasta and it was delicious! Thanks
I just made this and oh my goodness it is delicious! It will definitely be a staple in my house from now on!
This was quick and easy. I soaked the cashews in hot water for about 30 mins before blending as a shortcut. My daughter thought the gnocchi was chewy but otherwise we all enjoyed.
So creamy and delicious! This is my new favorite base Alfredo style cashew cream sauce! Made this for a vegan alternative to the pasta con broccoli my grandma was making for Easter dinner today. I doubled the recipe, made homemade gnocchi (if you do this block off like half a day, seriously) but only used 1 tomato and added 1/2 yellow onion diced, 1/2 yellow & 1/2 red bell peppers diced, and about 1/3 cup each diced cremini & shitake mushrooms that I sauteed first in olive oil with 1/4 tsp~ salt. Sadly we had sleet and snow in St Louis tonight and it was too far to drive with the baby so I didn’t get to share this wonderful recipe with my omnivore people, but now I have so many yummy leftovers ALL FOR ME!
Wow!! This was delicious! I dabble in vegan cooking for my husband’s health issues. I decided to give this a try and am I ever glad I did. This is going to be a staple in iur house and I can see using this over pasta with basil and cherry tomatoes as well as many other variations. Its a fantastic base sauce! Great recipe Sina, you absolutely nailed it!
Wow!! This was delicious! I dabble in vegan cooking for my husband’s health issues. I decided to give this a try and am I ever glad I did. Thisis goimg to be a staple in iur house and I can see usimg this over pasta with basil and cherry tomatoes as well as many other variations. Its a fantastic base sauce! Great recipe Sina, you absolutely nailed it!
This was delicious! We added asian green beans and some lemon juice to it. Try not to add the tomatoes until the green beans are cooked [: Thanks for the recipe!