Spinach gnocchi without potatoes, made with the same method as the water-and-flour gnocchi. Easy, quick and very tasty, these delightful gnocchi are ready in no time and do not require boiled potatoes to be added to the mixture. The other day my greedy friend Ale asked me to make potato gnocchi, but I didn’t have potatoes and instead I had spinach. You might be wondering: “what do spinach have to do with it?” They do matter, because I made green spinach gnocchi without potatoes and he loved them: they turn out soft and delicious, and most importantly there’s no chance of making a mistake because they are super easy! Don’t even have spinach? Then try the Milk-and-Flour Gnocchi without Potatoes.

So, are you ready to join me in the kitchen to discover how to make spinach gnocchi without potatoes? Let’s go, but before we start cooking I remind you that if you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).

Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very economical
Rest time: 5 Minutes
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

10 cups spinach (about 300 g — ~10.6 oz)
1.75 cups re-milled durum semolina (semola rimacinata di grano duro) (about 300 g — ~10.6 oz)
2.5 cups all-purpose flour (type 00) (about 300 g — ~10.6 oz)
to taste salt
3 tbsp butter (about 40 g — ~1.4 oz)

Tools

Pot
Blender
Gnocchi board

Preparation

To make the green spinach gnocchi, bring a pot full of water to a boil and plunge in the spinach that has already been cleaned, rinsed and drained. Let it soften, then lift it out with a skimmer and place it in the blender jar. Add enough cooking water to reach a total weight of about 1 lb 10 oz (750 g), then blend everything.
Pour the green liquid into a saucepan, add the flours and place over low heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Cook until you see a compact mass that no longer sticks to the pan, has the consistency of a moldable dough, and the color has shifted from a lighter green to a darker green. Turn it out onto the work surface, cover with a little plastic wrap and let it rest for a couple of minutes.
Then, taking care not to burn yourself, work it vigorously with your hands until you obtain a smooth, homogeneous dough. Divide the dough into four or five portions, lightly flour the work surface and roll into ropes about 1 inch thick (about the thickness of a thumb). Cut them into pieces about 3/8 inch (1 cm) long.
Gnocchi are fine as they are, but to make them perfect you’ll want one more step: score them with a gnocchi board or a fork.
At this point you can cook the gnocchi immediately or freeze them: once firm, seal them in a food bag and cook as needed by plunging them directly into plenty of boiling water.
If you want to cook the gnocchi right after preparing them, which is ideal, bring a pot full of salted water to a boil and drop them in.