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This Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi is soft, tender, and perfectly pillowy with a natural sweetness that makes it extra cozy and comforting. It’s surprisingly simple to make from scratch and pairs beautifully with everything from butter and herbs to your favorite sauce!
And if you like this recipe, check out my Spinach Gnocchi, this Gnocchi with Sage Butter Sauce, my Easy Pesto Gnocchi, and my Baked Gnocchi Casserole!
Why you’ll love this top recipe of mine!
This has been one of my most popular recipes for well over 10 years and today it’s getting a much needed update! The recipe is still the same but now it comes with process shots to help you make it and a lot more tips and tricks!
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- Only 3 simple ingredients 🙌
- Soft, fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth texture
- Naturally slightly sweet + super cozy
- Freezer-friendly and great for meal prep!
In this post…
Ingredients needed
The ingredient measurements for this sweet potato gnocchi recipe are listed fully down in the recipe card but let’s briefly go over the pantry staples needed including a few substitutions you can make as desired!
- Sweet potatoes – roasted until soft for natural sweetness and structure
- All-purpose flour – brings the dough together; add gradually to avoid a dense texture!
- Salt – enhances flavor
- To serve – I like to keep it simple and serve mine with olive oil and fresh herbs. I also have a delicious gnocchi sage sauce you should try!
Optional notes/subs:
- You can use gluten-free 1:1 flour if needed
- A potato ricer gives the best texture, but mashing very well also works
How to Make It
Just a reminder that you can find the FULL written homemade gnocchi recipe down in the recipe card, but I want to quickly go over how to make them with visuals for you :)
- Roast your sweet potatoes on a baking sheet until fork tender, about 45-60 minutes depending on size. Let cool and then peel off the skin.
- On a clean work surface, combine the flour + salt. Make a well in the center and rice the sweet potatoes right into the middle. If you don’t have a potato ricer, simply mash the potatoes with a fork or a potato masher and then add them to the flour.
- Using clean hands, work the dough together until a dough forms. Add more flour as needed so that the dough isn’t stick to the touch.
- Work the sweet potato gnocchi dough into a round disk and cut into 8 even pieces. Have extra flour readily available.
- Roll each of the 8 pieces into a long log, about 1 inch thick. Lay on a floured surface and cut it into inch pieces. Roll each piece into a little flour so the the cut edges have flour on them.
- Optional: using a gnocchi board to roll each piece and create grooves for the sauce to stick. You can also do this by simply pressing the back of a fork into 2 sides to create the grooves.
FINAL STEP: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium heat. Drop in the gnocchi and cook for a few minutes until the start to float to the top. Remove the cooked gnocchi from the water with a slotted spoon and toss with your favorite sauce.
Recipe Tips
- Don’t overwork the dough or the gnocchi can become dense
- Add flour gradually! You want a soft dough that isn’t sticky
- Rice or mash the potatoes while still slightly warm for best texture
- Lightly flour each piece to prevent sticking
- Test one gnocchi in boiling water before cooking the whole batch – if it floats, it’s ready.
- Use a bench scraper for easier cutting
Why is my gnocchi falling apart in the water?
This usually means the dough is too soft or doesn’t have enough structure. The most common cause is not enough flour, especially since sweet potatoes can vary a lot in moisture.
To fix it:
- Add a little more flour until the dough is soft but not sticky
- Make sure your sweet potatoes aren’t overly wet (roasting helps reduce moisture!)
- Avoid overworking the dough, which can weaken the structure
Also, try testing one piece first in boiling water – if it falls apart, mix a bit more flour into the dough before cooking the rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your potatoes likely had more moisture – just add a bit more flour until the dough is workable.
This usually happens from adding too much flour or overmixing the dough.
Nope! A fork works great to create those classic ridges. Alternatively, you can skip this step altogether although the ridges do help the sauce cling to your gnocchi.
3 Ingredient Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Video
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes with a fork, and then bake them for 40-50 minutes or until tender. You’ll know they’re done when a fork can be pressed into the center rather easily. Set aside to let cool enough for you to handle them easily.
- Combine the salt and 2 cups of the flour. Flour a work surface and pour your flour mixture onto the surface. Make a well in the middle of the flour.
- Once the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skin and place them, one at a time, into the potato ricer.* Rice both of the potatoes right on top of the flour.
- Once all of the potato has been riced, flour your hands and begin working the sweet potato into the flour. Continue to work the mixture until it’s fully combined. You don’t want the dough to be sticky so keep adding flour until you get a nice dry dough. This *could* take a decent bit of extra flour if your potatoes were on the larger side.
- Once fully combined, roll the dough into a ball and cut it into eight even pieces. Roll each piece into a long log that's about 1/2 an inch thick. Cut pieces the gnocchi into 1 inch pieces. Gently toss each piece into flour to ensure that it's dry and not sticky at any edges. Continue until you've cut out pieces from all of the dough. Optional: using a gnocchi board or fork, press grooves into each piece of gnocchi.
- The gnocchi can be stored in the fridge for 3 days, the freeze for a few weeks, or cooked right away.
To cook the gnocchi:
- Heat a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in the gnocchi and let cook for a couple minutes. Once the gnocchi floats to the surface of the water, let it boil for 30 more seconds and then remove it from the water using a slotted spoon.
- Toss in your favorite sauce (I like toss mine in a bit of dairy free butter and fresh herbs) and ENJOY!
Notes
- Fridge: Store uncooked gnocchi for up to 3 days
- Freezer: Freeze in a single layer, then transfer to a bag for a few weeks
- To cook from frozen: Boil straight from frozen—no need to thaw
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I make with russet potatoes ? and I’ll be using brown rice flour..
what would you suggest for how many russet potatoes and how much brown rice flour?
(for getting the same amount of gnocchi?
thanks!
This was so rich delicious and terribly easy. I must admit substitutions. I too do not like flour so I used a combo of corn flour and coconut flour, which was light and fluffy. Then I made a rich avocado pesto with a smoked olive oil so it had the trifecta of rich, sweet, and smokey. YUM!
Yay! SO glad that you liked it! I need to make this again soon….it’s been a while :)
May I have your avocado pesto recipe?
How much is 2 large sweet potatoes exactly? haha :P
How much salt are you using? Thank you!
I love the simplicity of your recipe, I’ll try it tonight, have you tried to bake your potatoes in the microwave? Also, I’m thinking of using chckpea flour. Thanks
Hi, I’m not much of a flour person so the only flours I keep on hand are: oat, almond and coconut. I don’t suppose the GF flour in this recipe could be replaced with any of these, can it?
I believe the oat one should work out wit this recipe. I tried to replace the simple flour when I backed many different pastries, and all the time the oat one worked well ! The almond and coconut might have too bright taste for grocchi :)
I just made this for dinner using brown rice flour and OH MY GOODNESS these gnocchi are amazing!! Topped it off with homemade pesto and it was perfection! Definitely a recipe I will make again and share with family & friends :)
Thank you SO much for sharing this, Jillian! I’m so glad that you liked it. I haven’t made this in a while and will definitely be adding it to my dinner menu here soon :) Thanks again for coming back to let me know.
Oh no! I hope your little chicken feels better soon! :( Also – this sweet potato gnocchi looks insanely delicious. I love making my own gnocchi at home!! :D
I made this tonight! I don’t know if I cooked it correctly but it tasted good. It was my first time making or eating gnocchi. Super simple and tasty. I tossed it in some thyme butter and everyone ate it. I will try it again.
Glad it was good :) Thanks for letting me know that you tried it!
I’ve wanted to make my own many times too and have tried once before but sort of cheated I suppose, no fancy grooves or anything I just made balls haha. I love how dense gnocci are though. It really does it for me. Yours look amazing!
The grooves are great and pretty BUT they do take quite a bit longer :)
We know you and paint colours! Sending good wishes to youngest chicken :)