A Colourful Gnocchi Twist

Who says pasta has to be beige? Not me! This recipe takes the humble potato gnocchi on a wild ride through the rainbow. Think soft, pillowy dumplings in vibrant greens, reds, oranges—and even marbled rainbow swirls! It's not just a feast for your tastebuds, but for your eyes too. Using natural colours from spinach, red peppers, and golden potatoes, each bite celebrates both flavour and fun. Whether you're making a batch of your favourite colour or mixing them together into a magical rainbow gnocchi, this recipe is all about joy, creativity, and good food.

Base Gnocchi Dough:

1. 1 kg potatoes (weighted with all the skin)
2. 3 eggs
3. ~300 g flour (plus extra as needed)

For the Colours:

1. Green: 1 handful fresh spinach
2. Red: 1 red bell pepper
3. Orange: 1 yellow and 1 red peppe
4. Optional: beetroot juice for a pink version!

To Finish:

1. Butter
2. Fresh basil
3. Parmesan cheese
4. Salt as needed

Boil the potatoes!

Little tip here. Make a cut around the entire circumference of the potatoes. Add them to boiling water for 40 min to 1 hr (depending on how big your potatoes are). To check if they are ready just stick a fork in them and if it goes straight through then your potatoes are ready.

Take them out of the water and let them cool down.

Once completely cooled, the skin should come right off! - Thank your previous cut for that -

Note: The best potatoes to do your gnocchi are the oldest ones! They have a lot of starch which helps the gnocchi hold their shape.

Let`s prepare the colours first:

Green: Wash the spinach and add them in boiling water for 20 min. Drain well.

Red & Orange: Brush the pepper with olive oil and roast them at 220°C (400°F) for ~30 mins until charred (remember to turn them upside down half way through). After cooking remember to clean the peppers, take the top and the seeds out but leave the skin!!

Yellow: well... potatoes are yellow... so nothing to see here!

First, check that everything has been completely cooled down.

Mix three eggs together and set aside. Smash your potatoes using a potato ricer, or, if you're in the mood for a workout, grab a fork and mash them like there's no tomorrow.

Divide your mash into 4 parts.

Yellow: add 2 Tbs of flour to your mashed potatoes and a quarter of the beaten egg. Mix until you have a decent dough and set aside. If you feel that you dough is not strong enough (this also depends from your potatoes) add one more tsb of flour. And keep adding if needed (but only one at a time otherwise you will end up with... well a bunch of flour).

Green: in a mixer add the mash and the spinach. Once completely mixed, take it out of the mixer and prepare the dough by hand. Add 3 times the amount of flour that you used for the yellow gnocchi and a quarte of the egg. Mix until the dough is formed and set aside.

Orange: in a mixer add the mash and one yellow and one red pepper (With all that lovely burned skin! That will give even more flavour to your gnocchi) - my tip here is to have your yellow pepper bigger then the red). Once completely mixed, take it out of the mixer and prepare the dough by hand. Add 3 times the amount of flour that you used for the yellow gnocchi and a quarte of the egg. Mix until the dough is formed and set aside.

Red: in a mixer add the mash and one red pepper (With all that lovely burned skin! That will give even more flavour to your gnocchi). Once completely mixed, take it out of the mixer and prepare the dough by hand. Add 3 times the amount of flour that you used for the yellow gnocchi and a quarte of the egg. Mix until the dough is formed and set aside.

Note: More flour is needed as adding veggies adds moisture—so add more flour as needed to keep the dough workable.

Roll each coloured dough into long ropes, about 2 cm thick.

Cut into bite-sized gnocchi. If you feel that you need to make this fancier and have a better shaped gnocchi you can follow my previous recipe on how to do that in my instructables page.

Want a fun twist? Combine small ropes of different colours, twist them, then cut into marbled rainbow gnocchi!

Bring salted water to a boil. Drop in gnocchi in small batches. When they float to the surface, cook 30 seconds more and remove with a slotted spoon.

Don`t worry about the shape, as you can see I didn`t! They will be lovely once in their sauce.

In a wide pan, melt butter and add fresh basil leaves. You don`t want more than that as your gnocchi are already flavoured! Toss cooked gnocchi in the basil butter for a golden finish. Top with grated parmesan cheese. Serve hot and colourful!

You can have your gnocchi in melted butter as you can see from this pic or you can have them in the oven with tomato sauces. As I made way too many gnocchi I made half in butter sauce and I froxe the other half for another day! These gnocchi freeze well—make a big batch and save the rainbow for later 🌈.

Enjoy and If you want more colour variety: try beetroot (pink), turmeric (bright yellow), or purple sweet potatoes!