This delicious Keto Gnocchi gives you the pillowy yet chewy texture you’ve been missing from pasta on a low carb diet! It is the perfect low carb vehicle for all of your favorite pasta sauces and flavors! Can you really eat gnocchi on a low carb or keto diet? You better believe it!!!
To get straight to the keto gnocchi recipe you can use the jump to recipe button – but if you decide to make it please take a minute to read the extra tips in the post to ensure the best results!
I’ve been seeing keto fathead dough around for a long time but hadn’t taken the time to play around with it until a few months ago. Most of the keto fathead dough recipes I’ve seen have baked the dough to make pizza, calzones, breads, and even desserts like danish.
I wanted to come at the keto fathead dough from a different angle though, and see if it could be treated like a low carb pasta dough. If it worked, I had lots of cool ideas to turn keto fathead dough into all kinds of chewy pasta goodness – starting with keto gnocchi!
(Side note, if you are allergic to nuts or just don’t want to mess with a “dough” you should try my keto fettuccini alfredo recipe STAT!)
After a few tries, I finally hit on the right consistency for this Keto Gnocchi dough, and after a couple of rough starts I also finally nailed the right way to cook them to get a pleasant texture that truly mimicked a good gnocchi – in my opinion at least.
Too much egg and the keto gnocchi dough was eggy and crumbly, too little and it was overly chewy and prone to falling apart. Cook the gnocchi too long and it fell apart and got waterlogged, skip the boil and go straight to the pan and they were like hard, chewy pucks!
Once I got this keto gnocchi dough right and the cooking method down though – they were SO good! Now for an easy and delicious sauce!
While you can serve these keto gnocchi with pretty much any low carb pasta sauce, I wanted a delicate flavor for these that wouldn’t overpower the subtle flavor and texture of the gnocchi.
In the end I went with a simple butter sauce flavored with lemon and fresh thyme, and it was perfect if I do say so.
Keto Gnocchi Notes:
I know a lot of you skip right to the recipe but I need you to pay attention here!
You MUST follow the instructions to the letter on this one! Winging it will not suffice! The method isn’t complicated at all in this fathead keto gnocchi recipe – but if you don’t follow the steps the right way you’ll end up with mush and will have wasted money on ingredients.
Then I’ll be flooded with comments about how this recipe doesn’t work, I’m a horrible person, etc. etc. and that really ruins my day OK? So please, I beg of you, do it my way at least the first time to ensure good results!!!
Keto Gnocchi – Low Carb
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This Keto Gnocchi gives you the pillowy yet chewy texture you’ve been missing from pasta on a low carb diet! Gluten free too!
Ingredients
- 2 cups super fine blanched almond flour
- 2 cups shredded full fat mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
For the Keto Gnocchi:
- Combine the mozzarella cheese and butter in a medium bowl and microwave for 2 minutes.
- Stir, then microwave another minute.
- Stir vigorously with a rubber spatula until fully combined, and then cool for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the egg, egg yolk and almond flour.
- Continue to mix until a rough dough is formed, this could take several minutes.
- Turn out the dough onto a smooth surface (or parchment paper) and knead until a semi-stretchy dough is formed. (if the dough is too wet, add a tablespoon or more of almond flour until workable)
- Form the dough into a long roll about 1 inch in diameter and then cut pieces about 1/2″ wide. You can then form them into almost any bite sized shape you want, but sticking with a simple disk as shown in the photos yielded the best results for me.
- Freeze the gnocchi for 15 minutes to firm them up. before cooking, or freeze them until ready to eat.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a gentle boil – too vigorous and the gnocchi will fall apart.
- Add the gnocchi to the water in small batches and boil for 1 – 2 minutes or until floating.
- Remove the gnocchi with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined plate, and cool for 5 minutes before adding to sauce.
For the sauce:
- Melt the butter in a large saute pan.
- Add lemon zest and thyme and cook for about 2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Add the boiled and cooled keto gnocchi to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring gently to coat with the sauce.
- Season with salt and pepper as desired.
Notes
You MUST follow the instructions to the letter on this one! Winging it will not suffice! The method isn’t complicated at all in this fathead keto gnocchi recipe – but if you don’t follow the steps the right way you’ll end up with mush and will have wasted money on ingredients.
Nutrition info is for gnocchi only in case you want to serve it with a different sauce. With the butter sauce listed here the approximate nutrition info is: 577 calories, 55g fat, 6g net carbs, 22g protein.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Keto dinners
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cups
- Calories: 497
- Fat: 44g
- Carbohydrates: 6g net
- Protein: 22g
Violetta says
The recipe is great! I have followed the instructions and all work well. We all enjoyed the alternative Keto Gnocchi. I will recommended to anyone on Keto diet.
Aimee says
I took a gnocchi cooking class with an Italian trained chef and served that to the family. I made this recipe for myself. It was absolutely delicious. Everyone else tried it and loved it just as much as “the real thing”. It was perfectly pillowy soft and actually quite easy to make.
Mellissa Sevigny says
This made my day Aimee, thanks so much!
Melissa says
Made this tonight and I will make it again. Totally satisfied my Gnocchi craving. I followed the recipe exactly, used freshly shredded whole milk mozzarella, and as the directions say, you may need to add an extra 2 tbsps of almond flour at the kneading stage which I did. I found the dough difficult to work with at first, so I used the bread-dough hooks on my electric mixer until it came together, then switched to kneading by hand. It was worth the effort !
Mellissa Sevigny says
So happy to hear this Melissa, thank you!
Esther R says
A wonderful recipe , I made again. Yum
Barbara Ranieri says
Has anyone tried putting the butter mozzarella mix in a food processor to combine them? Just wondering how this would work.
Kriss says
Made these today and they worked really well. At first after I melted the cheese and the butter. It wouldn’t combine, for ages it was just oil and cheese. I was very tempted to give up and then I watched the video and realised I was mixing wrong. I started folding the butter into the cheese. It took an age (a looong time, so don’t give up), but it worked like a charm. Froze them and boiled them with my nose right above the pot to make sure they didn’t melt, then fried them gently in butter until they browned on the outside. Served with a cream sauce and petit pois. Delicious! Not as good as the real thing obvs but close enough.
Thanks so much for this recipe! My hubby makes the best sauce for gnocchi and I didn’t want to miss out.
Dawn says
Made these today and they turned out fine. I used Kraft brand Creamy Melts whole shredded mozzeralla that has “a touch of Philly.” I figured it would work well since Fathead pizza dough has cream cheese.
I had no issues with the instructions and was able to make a skillet full of light, delicate gnocchi served with chicken and blistered tomatoes. I rolled my dough into 4 tubes and froze them whole for 15 minutes, then sliced. I kept them on the cold granite counter top as I was working in batches. I think the right cheese and the keeping them cold as you are working is key. Thanks for a fun recipe!
Mellissa Sevigny says
I don’t think it matters.
Sarah Lea says
I have seen this noted as a major issue with fat head doughs, even though I’ve managed to make pizzas just fine either way…but boiled pasta form may be more specific to this issue:
For those who were successful or had dismal failures, could you report on what kind of mozzarella cheese you used? Whole or part-skim? Store-bought pre-shredded, or shredded at home?
Most recipes I see that are particularly sensitive to these factors strongly suggest store-bought pre-shredded part-skim mozzarella in order to get the proper texture for everything to both -mix– and -hold– together. Just a suggestion for those who may be struggling.
Dawn says
I used Kraft Creamy Melts shredded mozzeralla with “a touch of Philly” and I had no issues.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks for the feedback, sorry this wasn’t a favorite!