Gnudi are Italian dumplings made out of spinach and ricotta, here made vegan. They are essentially the filling of ravioli, without the external pasta! There are many versions but the Tuscan one is the most well known.
They’re like gnocchi without the potato and they’re soft, light and super delicious.
Gnudi are very simple to make, in fact they are one of the first recipes my mum taught me how to make. This vegan version uses tofu, which makes them high in protein. The pairing of tofu and spinach is perfect and they remain soft and they don’t fall apart when cooking.
I paired these vegan gnudi with a a rich tomato sauce, but they also go really well with vegan butter and sage.
What you need to make these Vegan Gnudi:
- Frozen spinach
- Homemade tofu ricotta (Tofu, miso, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper)
- Nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan
- Cornstarch
- Flour
- Salt, pepper, nutmeg
- To serve: tomato sauce / butter and sage
Step by step instructions
- If serving the gnudi with the tomato sauce, start with that. Heat up olive oil in a pot, add diced onion, carrot and celery and let them cook for 5-8 minutes. Add tomato passata and some water (half the bottle) let it cook on low heat for at least 30 minutes.
- Cook the frozen spinach, then drain it as much as possible to remove excess water. Cut it finely.
- To make the tofu ricotta, in a blender add tofu, miso paste, lemon juice, olive oil, salt pepper and nutmeg and some water to help blend, blend until smooth.
- In a bowl add the spinach, the tofu mixture, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cornstarch, nutritional yeast and mix to combine. Form little balls with your hands and coat them in flour.
- Cook them in boiling water until they rise, a few minutes only. Serve them with the tomato sauce. For a variation of the sauce, a common one is also sage and butter, so you can heat up some vegan butter, add sage cook for a few minutes and then serve the gnudi with it.
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Vegan Gnudi – Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings
Light, soft and delicious spinach and ricotta dumplings, served with a rich tomato sauce.
Ingredients
Gnudi mixture
- 380 g spinach frozen cooked and drained
- 300 g homemade tofu ricotta (below) or vegan ricotta
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast or vg parmesan
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- Saltpepper, nutmeg to taste
Homemade tomato sauce
- 1 small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 small carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 400 g high quality tomato passata
Tofu ricotta
- 300 g firm tofu
- 1 tsp miso paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- salt and pepper
- water to blend
Instructions
- If serving the gnudi with the tomato sauce, start with that. Heat up olive oil in a pot, add diced onion, carrot and celery and let them cook for 5-8 minutes. Add tomato passata and some water (half the bottle) let it cook on low heat for at least 30 minutes.
- Cook the frozen spinach in boiling water, then drain it as much as possible to remove excess water. Cut it finely.
- To make the tofu ricotta, in a blender add tofu, miso paste, lemon juice, olive oil, salt pepper and nutmeg and some water to help blend, blend until smooth.
- In a bowl add the spinach, the tofu mixture, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cornstarch, nutritional yeast and mix to combine. Form little balls with your hands and coat them in flour.
- Cook them in boiling water until they rise, a few minutes only. Serve them with the tomato sauce.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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