Leftover Mashed Potato Gnocchi
Leftover Mashed Potato Gnocchi. All you need is three ingredients – flour, egg and leftover mashed potatoes! These homemade potato gnocchi’s are soft, fluffy and melt in your mouth tender! Serve them with your favorite tomato sauce or Alfredo!
Homemade potato gnocchi is a lot easier to make then you would think! It all starts with leftover mashed potatoes. They then get mixed together with flour and egg, that’s it! All you need for this recipe is three ingredients – leftover mashed potatoes, eggs, and flour!
Whenever we have leftover mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes it’s a given that leftovers will be turned into gnocchi. It’s a great way to repurpose leftovers and they are so easy to make!
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What is Gnocchi
Gnocchi is a traditional Italian dish consisting of small soft dumplings of dough made from boiled potato, egg and flour. Variations also include ricotta and different types of fresh herbs.
How to Make Homemade Gnocchi
- Make the gnocchi dough: Scoop flour onto a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Add in eggs and whisk with a fork incorporating flour as you whisk. Break up the mashed potatoes with your hands so they are in smaller clumps and add to the flour and egg mixture. Mix just until combined (don’t overwork the dough).
- Form the dough into a ball: And let rest for 15 minutes.
- Divide the dough: into 4 sections and sprinkle your work surface with flour.
- Roll out each section: into a long thin rope about 3/4 inch in diameter. Use a knife or bench scraper to cut them into 1 inch long pieces.
- Boil gnocchi: Bring a pot of water to a boil and sprinkle with salt. Add in gnocchi and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Drain gnocchi: Then drizzle with olive oil to keep them from sticking together.
- Serve immediately: With your favorite sauce and enjoy!
Tip: Make sure to keep the gnocchi dusted with floured to keep it from sticking
How long to cook Homemade Gnocchi
A good way to tell if the gnocchi is done is when it floats on top of the water. Typically potato gnocchi takes about 3-4 minutes to boil.
Tips for making Leftover Mashed Potato Gnocchi
- Measure flour properly. Here’s a great tutorial on how to measure flour properly. If you measure flour incorrectly it can cause too much or too little flour and can affect the consistency of the gnocchi.
- Don’t overwork the dough. The more you mix the dough the tougher it will become.
- Homemade sweet potato gnocchi. This recipe can be made with leftover mashed sweet potatoes too! Just swap out the potatoes and follow the recipe as directed.
- If you don’t have leftover mashed potatoes and still want to make this gnocchi simply boil 2-3 large potatoes until tender (to get 2 cups mashed potatoes). Drain thoroughly then mash them until they are smooth and clump free. Add them with the flour and egg and follow the recipe as directed.
- Make this in advance. You can prepare this homemade gnocchi recipe up to 2 days in advance. Make the gnocchi and refrigerate it (un cooked) for up to 2 days.
- Make ridges: I like to leave the gnocchi’s as is but feel free to use a fork to create stripes in the gnocchi or use a gnocchi paddle.
Can you freeze Homemade Gnocchi?
Yes! This easy homemade potato gnocchi freezes wonderfully. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle lightly with flour. Place lightly floured gnocchi on the sheet tray and freeze for 1-2 hours. Transfer frozen gnocchi to a ziplock bag and freeze for up to 3 months!
To defrost, leave the gnocchi overnight in the refrigerator then boil as directed.
What to serve with the homemade gnocchi
There are so many options on how to serve this easy homemade gnocchi. Below are just some of my favorites:
- Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce
- 5 Ingredient Homemade Pesto
- Sage Butter (here’s a great recipe for it!)
- Alfredo Sauce
- Crockpot Italian Meatballs
- Add it to soup! Try my Easy Italian Gnocchi Soup
Here are more Pasta Recipes to enjoy!
- 20 Minute Pasta Carbonara
- Pasta with Garlic and Oil
- Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo
- One Pan Mexican Pasta
- Instant Pot Spaghetti
Leftover Mashed Potato Gnocchi
Learn how to make Homemade Gnocchi! All you need is three ingredients - flour, egg and leftover mashed potatoes! These homemade potato gnocchi's are soft, fluffy and melt in your mouth tender! Serve them with your favorite tomato sauce or Alfredo!
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed potatoes
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Scoop flour onto a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Add in eggs and whisk with a fork incorporating flour as you whisk.
- Break up the mashed potatoes with your hands so they are in smaller clumps and add to the flour and egg mixture. Mix just until combined (don't overwork the dough).
- Form the dough into a ball and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 4 sections and sprinkle your work surface with flour. Roll out each section into a long thin rope about 3/4 inch in diameter.
- Use a knife or bench scraper to cut them into 1 inch long pieces.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and sprinkle with salt. Add in gnocchi and cook for 3-4 minutes or until they float to the top of the water.
- Drain gnocchi then drizzle with olive oil to keep them from sticking together.
- Serve immediately with your favorite sauce and enjoy!
