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!
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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!
It’s so easy to make. Here’s how:
- Sauté some garlic with bite sized pieces of kale
- 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.
- Cook the gnocchi in boiling water – it takes around 2 minutes
- Scoop out the cooked gnocchi and add to the garlic and kale
- 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!
Creamy Vegan Gnocchi with Garlic & Kale
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!
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.
Recipe Notes
*For a nut-free option you can use shelled hemp seeds in place of the cashew nuts, or you can skip the cream sauce completely and use extra olive oil to coat the gnocchi and kale instead. It's really delicious if you use a good quality extra virgin olive oil.
I like to sprinkle some extra chili pepper flakes and some freshly ground black pepper on top when serving. Some grated vegan parmesan is great with it too.
Best eaten immediately. If you reheat it the gnocchi can get a little tough. If you do have leftovers warm them gently in the microwave or a pan, adding some water to thin the sauce as needed.
Pasta makes a great alternative to the gnocchi in this recipe.
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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
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Andrea says
This dish was delicious! The flavours were a real hit. With store bought gnocchi, any suggestions on how to avoid them being gummy? I boiled them in salted water for about 2 min and immediately added to the pan with garlic and kale, but found that they clumped together quite a bit. The stickiness of the cashew sauce may add to the tendency for these little pillows to stick together. If I can tweak my technique slightly this recipe will be perfect! Appreciate any tips you can offer!
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you enjoyed it Andrea. I find that gnocchi tends to go gummy when overcooked. You need to put them in water with a rolling boil, then literally as soon as they float you need to be super quick and get them right out. If you leave them hanging around in the water any longer they overcook. For this recipe I remove them with a slotted spoon and toss them right in the pan with the kale. I never have problems with clumping when I do that. Of course, it could be that the gnocchi you used isn’t great too. Try another brand maybe next time just in case. Hope that helps!
Grace says
Made this for dinner tonight, super tasty and easy! I did end up having to make my own gnocchi because I couldn’t find any at the store (seriously, I swear I just saw it there). I did add extra garlic, and instead of kale I used spinach/baby greens mix, which cooks a lot faster, so if anyone tries that make sure you have your water boiling for the gnocchi before you even start.
A Virtual Vegan says
Wow, I bet it was even better with homemade gnocchi. Good for you. I’m so glad you enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to come back to leave feedback!
Kathy Gore says
Hi Mel, I love making your recipes and I have shared your website as one of my favorites for vegan cooking. I have one suggestion, could a picture of the dish be included when you hit the “print” button for a recipe? I believe whatever program you use for the print function could either be modified or a setting changed to allow the picture to be printed. Anyway, just a suggestion!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Kathy. I’m so glad you are enjoying my recipes! I can change my settings to allow an image to be printed. However, I used to have that turned on and I got complaints from people saying that by printing the image it was wasting their ink so I turned it off. I don’t tend to print recipes, but if I did I don’t think I would want the image to print because ink is so expensive. I have just started a poll in my Instagram stories and in my Facebook group to ask people their preferences and I will see what the general consensus is. If it’s what the majority of people want then I will turn it back on. Watch this space. Thank you for your feedback!
DJ HIXSON says
I have a question… Aren`t raw cashews toxic?
A Virtual Vegan says
Properly raw straight off the plant I believe they are, but the ones labelled ‘raw’ in the grocery store aren’t toxic. Unless someone works in a cashew plant or picks cashew apples, it’s highly unlikely they will ever encounter completely raw cashews. The so-called raw cashews sold in stores are not exactly raw, but instead are steamed. I call them raw because that’s what it says on the packet. If I didn’t no-one would know what to buy.
Monica says
This is so delicious! Thank you for the amazing recipe. My husband loved it.
Phyllis says
We made this for dinner last night. I liked it very much except for it really needed more seasoning. I didn’t use the same gnocchi in the past so that didn’t help. Please tell me about the different kales. My store only had one type. Next time I will chop it up more also.
A Virtual Vegan says
Glad you enjoyed it! The seasoning I give is a base level and I mention to add more salt and pepper to taste. Everyone likes different amounts and it’s important to taste as you go. As for kale, there are lots and lots of different kinds. My local green grocer has about 4 or 5 different types. The common curly frondy type kale, purple kale, plus the other flatter leaf varieties like lacatino kale. The curly kale doesn’t work so well in this recipe which is why I specify the flatter un-curly (is that a word ?)varieties.
Corinna says
Made this for supper tonight. It was delicious !
A Virtual Vegan says
That’s great! I’m so glad you enjoyed it and thanks so much for stopping by to leave feedback. It’s much appreciated!