Soft fluffy pillows of gnocchi & tender, sautéed kale, tossed in a creamy, garlic infused sauce. This Creamy Vegan Gnocchi with Garlic & Kale is dinner party worthy but incredibly easy to make, taking less than 15 minutes from start to finish and that includes prep time too!
This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Ok. Compose yourselves. Are you ready for food heaven? Because it’s happening right here, right now. And as far as effort versus output goes, we are onto a winner with this Creamy Vegan Gnocchi with Garlic & Kale.
It is out of this world delicious. The fluffy little gnocchi pillows are smothered in a creamy, garlic infused sauce and tossed with sautéed kale. The flavours and textures work so well together.
Bliss. THE only word to describe it.
And what makes it even better is that it is ready in under 15 minutes and that includes prep time.
Seriously, this dinner party worthy recipe is simple and easy enough to make mid-week after a long old day at work. You know those evenings when you just want to impress yourself?
…. Or you can keep it in your back pocket for times when you are entertaining and want to impress everyone!
Your call, but whichever way you cut it, I highly recommend serving it with a glass of red wine. The perfect combo!
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN GNOCCHI WITH GARLIC & KALE
FOR FULL INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE SEE THE RECIPE CARD AT THE END OF THIS POST
It’s so easy to make. Here’s how:
STEP 1
Sauté some garlic with bite sized pieces of kale.
STEP 2
Blend the 2 sauce ingredients in a blender. If you don’t have a high powered blender then I recommend soaking the cashews in water first to get a really smooth result. I have a Blendtec blender like this one and it gets sauces silky smooth with no effort at all.
STEP 3
Cook the gnocchi in boiling water – it takes around 2 minutes
STEP 4
Scoop out the cooked gnocchi and add to the garlic and kale
STEP 5
Add the sauce, stir well and serve immediately.
This is why I am loving this Creamy Vegan Gnocchi with Garlic & Kale:
- It’s rich, creamy and indulgent!
- It’s super fast and easy to make
- It’s special enough for dinner parties but quick and easy enough for mid-week too
- The ingredients list is really short
- If you don’t have gnocchi you can use pasta instead!
- It tastes like way more effort went into it than actually physically happened ????
Ok are you ready to be wowed? Go grab yourself some gnocchi and let’s do this!
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
If you did, be a ☆ and let me know what you think by rating it and commenting below. Tag me on Instagram too. I am @avirtualvegan and my hashtag is #avirtualvegan
Creamy Vegan Gnocchi with Garlic & Kale
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil , use a few tablespoons of water for an oil-free option
- 6 large cloves garlic , chopped finely
- 1 bunch kale , NOT curly kale, the flatter leaf varieties are better for this recipe. I particularly like Lacatino Kale (sometimes known as Cavolo Nero or Dino Kale)
- 75g / ½ cup raw cashew pieces , soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes if you don't have a high powered blender *see recipe notes for a nut-free option
- 60mls / ½ cup water
- 1 x 500g package gnocchi , most are vegan but be sure to check the ingredients label just in case. Gluten-free varieties are also available. Again be sure to check labels.
- ¼ teaspoon salt , plus more to taste
- freshly ground black pepper , to taste
- chili flakes , OPTIONAL
Instructions
- Everything happens pretty fast so be sure to have all of your ingredients and equipment ready and within easy reach.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil ready for cooking the gnocchi
- Remove the thick stems from the kale leaves. Discard the stems and chop the leafy parts into bite sized pieces.
- Warm the oil in a large sauté pan then add the chopped garlic and cook over a medium heat, moving constantly for about 2 minutes. Then add the kale pieces and a good grind of black pepper, then continue to sauté for about another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. If you want a little bit of heat add a sprinkle of chili flakes at this stage,
- While the kale is cooking, blend the cashews with the ¼ teaspoon salt and water until completely smooth.
- After a couple of minutes, once the kale has been sautéing for about 3 minutes, add the gnocchi to the boiling water. Make sure to separate each piece of gnocchi before adding it to the water. Often they get a little clumped together in the pack. Have a slotted spoon ready to fish them out when done.
- As soon as the gnocchi start to float (after about 1-2 minutes), use a slotted spoon to remove them (do not discard the water) and add the gnocchi into the pan with the kale and garlic.
- Spoon the creamy cashew sauce into the pan and stir to combine everything. Add a little of the water the gnocchi was cooking in to thin it out a little as needed and add more seasoning if desired.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Estimated nutrition per serving:
Long time vegan, creator of A Virtual Vegan & author of the book 
Becca says
Holy cow this was great! Even had to use curly kale because that’s what was available, and it still turned out awesome. I was skeptical of the cashew sauce (we’ve been vegan for a whole week 😂) but it was super creamy and rich, and even my leafy greens hating toddler asked for seconds.
Melanie McDonald says
That’s awesome Becca! I’m so pleased you enjoyed it. Cashews are like a miracle ingredient for vegans. You can do so much with them. The sauce from this recipe is great tossed through freshly cooked pasta too, with or without the greens for a super quick dinner.
Thank you for trusting my recipe as one of your first and good luck with being vegan!
Aneta says
The sauce did not have much flavor. I added some lemon juice and nutritional yeast and made some difference.
Dollyz says
Watt too much garlic for me, even though I reduced the quality to four.. Overpowdered what could have been a lovely dish….
Angel Jester says
We just made this tonight and it’s definitely a repeat recipe. In the future, we would add sliced mushroom and onion to “beef” it up a bit. We would also add garlic and a bit more salt to the cashew cream. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Lindsay says
WOW! This was amazing. It’s so true – tastes way more complex and fancy than you’d think from the simple ingredients. I used fresh gnocchi from the local farmers’ market and a little nutritional yeast in the cashew sauce to give it that extra cheesy flavor… Delicious!! Thanks for sharing.
A Virtual Vegan says
I’m glad you enjoyed it Lindsay!
Emily says
Loved this! I added an ear of fresh corn and an anaheim pepper because I had them, and added a pinch of nutritional yeast to the sauce. I never imagined gnocchi not drowning in parmesan, but I didn’t even miss it!