You don’t have to miss out on comfort foods like gnocchi if you are following the AIP diet! Making your own AIP gnocchi with cassava flour is easy and fun. You’ll love the light, pillowy cauliflower gnocchi and the 5-minute dairy-free creamy sauce that goes with them.
Healthy cauliflower AIP gnocchi
Traditional gnocchi is made with potatoes and wheat flour – two ingredients that we avoid because of their inflammatory effects on the body. But you can make your own healthy gluten-free gnocchi with cauliflower and cassava flour as the main ingredients!
Cauliflower is a healthy cruciferous vegetable that is high in fiber, which is essential for helping us feel full and for a healthy digestive tract.
Cauliflower is high in choline, an essential nutrient for learning and memory that we get from our diet. In addition, cauliflower offers your body vitamin C, which can help strengthen the body’s immune system, vitamin K, which supports healthy bones and aids in calcium absorption, and B6, which is essential to macronutrient metabolism and the creation of red blood cells.
Cassava flour is a great gluten-free alternative to wheat flour. It is high in resistant starch, which is a type of starch that has the same health benefits as fiber – it keeps us full and satiated. Resistant starch also helps feed the “good” bacteria in the gut and may help reduce inflammation.
How to make gnocchi
Making your own gnocchi is a fun project and requires only a few ingredients!
Start by cooking cauliflower florets to make them fork-tender. You can do this by boiling or steaming cauliflower florets.
Next, you’ll want to place the cooked cauliflower into a clean kitchen towel and wring out all the extra water from the cauliflower. This step is important, otherwise you will need to add more cassava flour to the gnocchi dough to absorb the extra water and your gnocchi will come out too tough and doughy.
Once the water is removed from the cauliflower, you simply combine it with cassava flour, salt, garlic and onion powder in a food processor and pulse to form the gnocchi dough.
Roll the dough out into a thin log and cut into small pieces.
Crispy gnocchi
Gnocchi can be easy to overcook, so instead of boiling, I love to fry the gnocchi in a little bit of olive oil to get them golden-brown and a little crispy. Fried gnocchi goes great with savory sauces and does not get mushy when reheated.
AIP gnocchi sauce
I serve this cauliflower gnocchi with an easy dairy-free creamy sauce made with sautéed garlic, chicken broth, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, and a tablespoon of cassava flour to thicken the sauce.
The nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavor to this sauce and adds a boost of nutrients: it contains all 9 essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. It assists with tissue repair and nutrient absorption.
The creamy sauce takes 5 minutes to prepare and is one of my go-to sauces for dinner.
It would be fantastic over sweet potato gnocchi or this summer squash pasta.
Cauliflower AIP Gnocchi in Creamy Sauce
Course:
Servings
2 servings
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Ingredients
Cauliflower
- 2 cups 480.00 ml cauliflower about 1/2 head
- water to boil or steam cauliflower
- 2/3 cup 160.00 ml Cassava flour
- 1/2 tsp 2.46 ml sea salt
- 1/2 tsp 2.46 ml onion powder
- 1/4 tsp 1.23 ml garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp 14.79 ml extra virgin olive oil
Creamy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp 14.79 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cloves garlic grated
- 1/2 cup 120.00 ml chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp 14.79 ml Cassava flour
- 1 Tbsp 14.79 ml Nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup 120.00 ml coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp 14.79 ml basil
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook the cauliflower florets by steaming or boiling until easily pierced with a fork.
- Carefully drain and rinse the cauliflower florets under cold water until cool enough to touch.
- Place the cauliflower florets in a large clean kitchen towel. Twist the towel around the cauliflower and squeeze as much water out as you cauliflower as possible. It is OK that the cauliflower florets break.
- Place the cauliflower into a small food processor and add the cassava flour, salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Process until a crumbled dough forms. The dough should stick together when squeezed with your hand. If it is too dry, add a teaspoon of water at a time and pulse. If it is too wet, add a tablespoon of cassava flour at a time and pulse to combine.
- Remove the cauliflower dough from the food processor and form a round ball. Divide the ball into 4 even pieces.
- Roll out each piece until about ½ to ¾ inch thick. Use a knife to cut small pieces of gnocchi from the dough, about ¾ to 1 inch long Repeat with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat, and place the gnocchi into the oil to fry for about 1 minutes per side, or until golden brown. You might need to do this in batches. Set aside the fried gnocchi onto a plate.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the same skillet with the grated garlic. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes, or until the garlic is golden and fragrant. Add the chicken broth and cassava flour and whisk together immediately so that no lumps form.
- Whisk in the nutritional yeast and coconut milk and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the sauce is heated through. Season with salt, if needed.
- To serve, toss the gnocchi in the sauce and garnish with fresh basil.
