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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.
These were sooo tasty! I had to add a ton of flour and even then the dough was still a little sticky but I was running out of flour! Maybe my sweet potato was particularly large (I just used one and started with one cup of flour). Some of the gnocchi floated as soon as I put them in the water which confused me, but I just left them a few minutes and took them out and they tasted great! Any insight as to why that would happen though for the future? Perhaps more flour ?
When do I freeze them? Raw, after they are shaped, before boiling? Thanks!
These are so delicious. Your instructions were easy to follow, THANK you!!!!
yay!! So glad that you liked it!!
I made the 3 ingredient sweet potato gnocchi and they fell apart completely in the water. I added egg to moisten and make stickier – I’m not vegan. They stayed together a bit better but still fell apart. Maybe the potatoes weren’t moist enough? I used gluten free rice flour and coconut flour.
I don’t have a lot of experience with rice flour but coconut flour is a completely different beast from all purpose gluten flour. I’ve never tried making this with coconut flour and doubt that it would work very well. I suggest oat flour or a gluten free 1-1 blend
I made this on a whim because I had the ingredients on hand and was SO impressed with how it turned out!!! I have tried tons of gluten-free pasta recipes and this is by far my favorite! I will be making this again and again for sure :)
Apparently I’m the only person who didn’t succeed with this recipe! I made this last night and mine turned out really dense and gummy :( Does that mean I overworked the dough? I was worried at the time that I was doing that, but it was also still sticky and I kept having to work in more of the flour. Darn! My partner did say I overstated how bad I thought they turned out (I think he was just being nice). This was my first time making gnocchi, for what it’s worth. Maybe I’ll attempt again after I get my courage back – thanks for the recipe!
SO sorry to hear that it didn’t turn out for you, Renee! I think if it was still gummy then it just didn’t have enough flour in it to begin with. And like you said, adding it in and kneading it more may have overworked the dough. If you try it again, maybe try adding a few more tablespoons of flour at the beginning and hopefully that solves the issue. Sorry again!
This was SO good. And easy. Thank you!
So glad that you liked it! Thank you for coming back to let me know!
Do you have the macros for this dish?? Thank you :)
I’m obsessed and make this all the time! I substituted with gluten free blend Cup4Cup and it turned out great! I’ve mixed with red pesto suace and bacon! And had the left overs in the morning with a poached egg! SOOOO good and so easy!
aww yay! I’m so glad that you like this! It’s one of our favorite dishes too :D
On a program where I can only use
Cassava, coconut, or almond flour. Would any of these work in this recipe and if yes would the quantity remain the same?
oh man, I really wish that I could help but since I have not tried it with these flours, I’m not 100% sure how it would work out. I suspect that an almond and coconut flour blend could be okay but I can’t be sure.
Maybe check this recipe out: https://downshiftology.com/recipes/sweet-potato-gnocchi-sage-walnut-pesto/
I tried it with cassava one, just added a bit less then in the recipe, it was amazing :)