These chickpea and cannellini bean gnocchi are truly a fantastic idea for preparing gnocchi ready in just a few (really!) minutes, tasty, healthy, and ideal for getting a good amount of protein with an original and flavorful recipe!
You can definitely use canned pre-cooked chickpeas and cannellini beans, or try them with other legumes you like, just make sure to buy them already peeled (as in the case of split lentils) or remove the skins yourself, as we will do very quickly with chickpeas. As for the beans, we will use cannellini beans because they have a very thin skin that won’t be noticeable when tasting the gnocchi.
To make and shape these gnocchi, instead of adding flour until the dough is moldable by hand like potato gnocchi, we will use a pastry bag; this way, we can use much less flour and, consequently, get gnocchi really soft like potato ones.
If we added flour until getting a non-sticky, hand-moldable dough, the final result would be quite hard gnocchi; the texture, in fact, would be similar to fresh pasta.
You’ll see how simple it is to use a pastry bag, there’s absolutely no need for any more skills than preparing classic gnocchi, in fact! It will take you much less time.
Once cooked in salted boiling water like potato gnocchi, you can season them with any sauce you like, even and especially with a simple tomato and basil sauce.
Before proceeding with the detailed recipe (including a short video), here are my other gnocchi recipes:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for preparing the CHICKPEA AND CANNELLINI BEAN GNOCCHI
- 5.3 oz cooked chickpeas (in can)
- 5.3 oz cooked cannellini beans (I use the ones in the tin can for convenience)
- 0.5 cup all-purpose flour (the amount can vary between 0.4 and 0.5 cup)
- extra virgin olive oil (about one tablespoon)
- to taste salt
- to taste rosemary (about half a small sprig)
- to taste black pepper (ground)
Tools for preparing the CHICKPEA AND CANNELLINI BEAN GNOCCHI
- 1 Pastry bag
- Immersion blender
Steps to prepare the CHICKPEA AND CANNELLINI BEAN GNOCCHI
Start with the only slightly ‘boring’ step of this recipe, which is removing the skin from the chickpeas; I suggest doing it because it is a slightly tedious step, but it will really take you just a few minutes with the method I indicate below.
In a large bowl, pour the pre-cooked chickpeas and add plenty of water; take a handful of chickpeas at a time and, with both hands, rub them gently together (SEE VIDEO at the top). This way, you will immediately see the chickpea skins come off; repeat the process multiple times until all (or almost all) chickpeas are skinless.
The skins, remaining afloat, can easily be removed by you with a skimmer.
Rinse the chickpeas and return them to the original bowl.
At this point, add the cannellini beans to the bowl, already drained from their preservation liquid.
Add the salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and a few sprigs of rosemary, then mix to combine all ingredients well. Finally, blend everything with an immersion blender.
You should obtain a ‘puree’ that is smooth and fairly thick. I recommend tasting it to adjust for salt if necessary and blending it quickly again, if needed.
Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing with a spatula (or spoon).
Finally, insert the obtained mixture into a pastry bag and, in the meantime, bring plenty of water to a boil in a pot, just as you would for classic gnocchi.
When the water boils, salt it and cut the tip of the pastry bag to obtain a hole of about an inch and a half
At this point, holding the pastry bag vertically above the pot, form each gnocchi one by one using this method: apply light pressure on the pastry bag, and when the dough protrudes about an inch (or as you prefer!), cut with a smooth-bladed knife.
This way, the gnocchi will dive directly into the boiling salted water and will be ready as soon as they rise to the surface, like potato gnocchi.
P.S: making gnocchi this way is really SIMPLE, it’s more complicated to explain than to do; for this reason, I urge you to watch the video at the top of the page, you’ll understand everything instantly 🙂
As your CHICKPEA AND CANNELLINI BEAN GNOCCHI rise to the surface, retrieve them from the water with a skimmer and transfer them directly into the pan where you have already prepared the sauce for seasoning. I usually season them with a simple tomato and basil sauce, but feel free to get creative based on your taste.
Toss the gnocchi for a few seconds gently to blend them well with their sauce, then serve immediately and… enjoy your meal!
Tips and Storage
You can obviously choose to make these gnocchi with only chickpeas or only cannellini beans (I don’t recommend other types of beans because it wouldn’t be possible to remove the skins), or even with lentils if they are split.
You can prepare the gnocchi dough, store it in the refrigerator in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for a maximum of one day and cook them on the spot.
