This Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi is a 3-ingredient recipe made with roasted sweet potatoes, all-purpose flour, and salt rolled into soft, orange pillows.

No eggs, no cheese in the dough, and nothing fancy to buy. The roasted sweet potato brings a mild sweetness and a tender bite that plain potato gnocchi can’t quite match.

Make it for a cozy fall dinner, a meatless Monday, or a freezer batch you can cook straight from frozen on a busy night.

Kids usually like helping roll the ropes, too. I serve it with brown butter and sage most of the time.

If you’re into homemade gnocchi nights, these are worth bookmarking too:

Ingredients You’ll Need

That’s really it: sweet potatoes, flour, and salt. Roasting the sweet potatoes (instead of boiling them) is what keeps this short ingredient list working, because drier flesh needs less flour and gives you lighter gnocchi.

Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes, baked and roasted
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons salt

Directions

Heat the oven to 400°F and scrub the sweet potatoes under running water.
Prick each one several times with a fork, set them on a foil-lined baking sheet, and roast for 45 to 60 minutes, until they’re completely soft and the skins look wrinkly.
Some of the sugars will leak out and caramelize on the foil (that’s a good sign they’re done).
Roasting dries the flesh out, and drier sweet potato means the dough needs less flour.
Let the sweet potatoes cool for about 10 minutes, just until you can handle them.
Slice them open and scoop the flesh into a large bowl, leaving the skins behind.
Mash until completely smooth with a potato masher or ricer, since any stringy bits or lumps will show up in the finished gnocchi.
Stir the 2 teaspoons of salt into the warm mashed sweet potato.
Add 2 cups of the flour, about half a cup at a time, mixing with a wooden spoon or your hands after each addition.
Keep the remaining 1/2 cup of flour set aside for dusting and adjusting the dough later.
Turn the dough out onto a counter dusted with some of the reserved flour.
Knead gently for about 1 minute, adding a little more flour only if it sticks to your hands, until the dough is soft and smooth but still slightly tacky.
Don’t overknead or keep piling in flour.
Too much of either turns sweet potato gnocchi dense and chewy.
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and cover the ones you aren’t working with.
Roll each piece into a long rope about 3/4 inch thick, using light pressure and working from the center outward.
If the rope cracks, the dough is a little dry, so wet your hands slightly and keep rolling.
Cut each rope into 3/4-inch pieces with a floured knife or bench scraper.
For ridges, roll each piece down the back of a fork with your thumb, though plain pillows taste exactly the same.
Spread the gnocchi on a floured baking sheet in a single layer so they don’t stick together while you finish the batch.
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil.
Add the gnocchi in batches of about 20 to 25 pieces so the water stays at a boil.
They’ll sink first and float to the top after 2 to 3 minutes.
Let them cook about 30 seconds longer once they float, then scoop them out with a slotted spoon.
Transfer the cooked gnocchi to a plate or straight into your sauce.
Don’t let them sit stacked in a bowl for long, because they’ll stick together as they cool.
If you’re working ahead, spread them out on a tray in one layer until you’re ready to serve.
Serve warm with brown butter and sage or your favorite sauce and enjoy!

Important Recipe Notes

Roast, don’t boil. Boiled sweet potatoes hold a lot of water. Wet dough soaks up much more flour, and that’s the fastest way to end up with heavy gnocchi.
Treat the flour amount as a guide. Sweet potatoes vary in moisture, so you might not use every bit of the reserved 1/2 cup. Stop adding flour once the dough is soft and only slightly tacky.
Mash while warm. Warm sweet potato mashes smooth and blends into the flour easily. Once it’s cold, it gets gluey and harder to work with.
Test one gnocchi first. Boil a single piece before cutting the whole batch. If it falls apart, knead a little more flour into the dough and try again.
Salt the cooking water well. The dough only has 2 teaspoons of salt, so well-salted water makes a real difference in the final flavor.

Freeze them raw. Freeze the cut gnocchi on a floured tray until firm (about 1 hour), then bag them for up to 2 months. Boil straight from frozen and add a minute or so to the cooking time.
Don’t refrigerate uncooked gnocchi overnight. The dough releases moisture and gets sticky in the fridge. Cook them the same day or freeze them.
Pan-sear leftovers. Cooked sweet potato gnocchi reheat best in a hot skillet for a few minutes per side. They get crisp, golden edges instead of turning mushy like they do in the microwave.

How to Serve, Store & Customize This Recipe

Serving:

Sweet potato gnocchi taste best served hot right after cooking. Brown butter with crispy sage leaves and a little grated Parmesan is the classic pairing, and a quick pan-sear before serving gives them golden edges like the ones in the photos. A simple cream sauce or a spoonful of pesto works well too.

Storage:

Keep cooked gnocchi in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. They firm up once chilled, so reheat them in a skillet instead of the microwave. Uncooked gnocchi keep frozen for up to 2 months in a freezer bag.

Customization:

Swap in roasted pumpkin or butternut squash for the sweet potato, though you’ll likely need a bit more flour since both are wetter.

Whole wheat flour can replace up to half of the all-purpose (the gnocchi will be a little denser). A pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon in the dough leans into the fall flavor.