Keto Magic!
Where to begin? We thought we’d never have pasta or gnocchi again when we began our journey into ketosis. As we got more and more accustomed to low carb living, we found those cravings diminished and thoughts of pasta never entered our minds. It is amazing how your appetite and your food preferences can change when you start eating healthier.
However, recently, a small hankering for macaroni found its way into our home. Not ones for restricting ourselves too much, we decided to do some research and find a way to keto-fy one of our favorite doughy pasta dishes- gnocchi. At first, we thought to make some with almond flour and a ton of other ingredients to somehow achieve that amazing texture that gnocchi bring to a dish.
We quickly stumbled upon Sarah, who has an amazing blog, ThePrimitivePalate, with some amazing low carb recipes! One of them being keto gnocchi that caught our eyes immediately. The best part? The gnocchi contains only 2 ingredients- egg yolks and mozzarella! They turned out amazing- tasted and felt just like real gnocchi, both wheat and potato versions got nothing on these cheese gnocchi. I would gladly choose a bowl of these over traditional gnocchi any day!
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They took a little while to make since it was our first time (after making the recipe a few more times, we got a little better at it!). The boiling and frying only took about 7 minutes. Creating them took about 30 minutes and we had fun doing it!It is a great afternoon project that ends up in a tasty dinner- we love edible activities!
Just a quick note on cheese: do not use fresh mozzarella that comes in balls. We had fresh mozzarella on hand and tried melting that- it turned into a very rubbery substance that wouldn’t mix with anything. We ended up buying a package of shredded mozzarella cheese in our hangry storming of Stop&Shop and that worked so much better. So, while fresh mozzarella usually works better in dishes since it is super soft and tender, this recipe is definitely made for shredded, bagged cheese. The great cheesy taste is still there and the texture will work out much better for your gnocchi.
This gnocchi recipe will feed two and ended up being 8 net carbs total. We also made some roasted Brussel sprouts (5g of carbs) for a different texture in the dish however feel free to toss in any veggies that you may have on hand (spinach would be a great, easy option!). We also added 1/2 cup of Rao’s Vodka Sauce (4g of carbs) and everything turned out to be an amazing meal that satisfied us both! Per serving, that came out to 8.5g of net carbs. Yes!
Let’s make some low carb gnocchi!
| Servings: servings |
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella (low moisture, part skim)
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- First, melt the mozzarella (and any seasonings you'd like, we used garlic powder and salt for this basic recipe) in a microwave (about a minute) or toaster oven (about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally). Separate 3 egg yolks from the whites and beat them to combine.
- Pour in half the egg yolks mix into your melted mozzarella and combine. We found using two silicone spatulas work very well here. It also helps to have a second person to hold the bowl steady, as the cheese is not willing to mix easily.
- When everything is well combined, add in the rest of the egg yolks and combine.
- Separate mixture into fourths, and roll each fourth into a long, thin strip. We did this on a piece of parchment paper taped down to our counter for stability and a larger workspace.
- Cut about 1 inch pieces in each strip until you have many cheese gnocchi. Press a fork onto them gently to make them look even more like traditional gnocchi!
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the gnocchi in. Boil them until they all float and then drain.
- Then, fry the gnocchi on both sides on an oiled pan and they're ready to eat! We served them with roasted brussel sprouts and vodka sauce for a yummy Italian inspired, low carb meal!
Loved this recipe? Let us know! Something didn’t quite turn out right? Ask us in the comments below or contact us– we respond to comments every day and would love to hear from you and help you out! And check out all our keto recipes to learn to make more delicious and healthy meals!
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Well, since the FDA says low moisture mozzarella is 45 to 52% moisture and the package of Kraft cheese says 44% I’d assume we used the right stuff Any other thoughts on the cause?
OK, we’ve tried this twice. All goes well, we mix it, form the gnocchi, boil them till they float – all is well till this point.
But when they hit the frying pan, they lose their shape and melt into clumps in the frying pan. We finished browning them that way and served the resultant globules of stuck and melted gnocchi. The taste and texture were really quite fine, and with pasta sauce over it was still a very nice meal.
But why did they melt like that? We couldn’t find cheese marked “low moisture” so just used normal Kraft Cracker Barrel shredded mozzarella. Might that be the cause?
Other than the melting problem, this recipe is great, How do we overcome this last problem?
The low moisture mozzarella is essential to the recipe!
Made Helsinki with these. That’s chopped cabbage cooked in butter until caramelized and add butter noodles, or gnocchi. It was perfect. Once I booked them, I put them in an ice bath. Then drained and parted dry. Then fried. It was so very good. Better than the true recipe, in my opinion. Thanks for sharing this.
Haven’t fried them up yet but tried one that had been boiled. Very tasty. Will be putting them next to some sous vide steak tonight.
I find that wetting my hands with a bit of water made the rolling them out part way easier if anyone needs a tip.
We really enjoyed these. Served them with a bolognese I was trying. Since I had hauled out the food processor to shred the mozzarella, I switched out the shredding blade for the dough hook, put my glob of molten cheese back in, and used that to incorporate the yolks.
Since I had a long-simmering sauce going on, I did let these sit for quite a while between forming and cooking. Now I’m thinking of making a large batch up to try freezing when I can’t really do a leisurely meal like yesterday.
Where’s the vodka sauce recipe?
We use store-bought vodka sauce – much easier that way!
This sounds so delicious! I think I’ll do a trial run then attempt a keto copy cat of olive garden’s chick gnocchi soup!
I’m trying that today, how did yours turn out?
Love it. I used brick pepper jack cheese. Mixed it really well but was still a bit gooey. I let it stand for 20 minutes and it dried out a bit. Boiled up nice and then fried them up. Really really good. Thanks for posting this
Did you use block mozzarella? I tried this and it turned out to be mush and I think it might be because I used pre shredded. The flour(or whatever they put in to keep the cheese from sticking) can sometimes mess with the final product. You should make sure to mention what kind you use cuse it can cause people issues with the final result.
The recipe says “low moisture, part skim” shredded mozzarella.
Has anyone not fried these but used them after boiling? I’m looking for a noodle-y type thing for chicken noodle soup.
We had them tonight without browning them in the pan. They are a close proximity to a thick noodle. The best description is a mix between thick noodles and cheese curds(if you’ve never had cheese curds you are doing yourself and injustice).
I threw the melted cheese in a stand mixer, with a flat beater running, add one yolk at a time, scrape in between. Saved some elbow grease.
Thanks for the tip, Jo!
Ya’ll in the comments, I hope you give this recipe another shot! I got to the forming step and almost rage-quit because it wasn’t staying together, but after a quick sanity break it had cooled to the point where I could form the gnocchi. I still wasnt sure while it boiled, telling my S.O. to think of a back up dinner. I plopped them directly from the boiling pot into the hot buttered pan, and they crusted up so nicely! I didn’t brown them as much as in the photo because it was getting late and we were getting hangry, but man it was worth the time and effort!
Yay! Good to hear! This recipe is definitely more challenging than some. I’m glad it worked out for you and you got to enjoy them 🙂
Can you roll and form these but not cook them until the next evening for dinner? Having people over and would love to have this, but would also like to just boil and saute them night of.
I’m not entirely sure but I don’t see why not… as long as you keep them refrigerated they should be fine! Let me know how it works out and I’ll add a note into the recipe that these gnocchi can be made a day in advance.
I ended up with the same soft mush after boiling! Haven’t added the second half of the yolks… :/
Maybe your cheese was melted too much,. Try letting it firm up before forming your gnocchi shapes. Frying them also really helps solidify them!
Hey! I’m a little confused at step 2. You say that we should separate the egg yolks and whites and I see when the yolks are added, but what about the whites? Do we add them or just throw them away?
You only need the egg yolks! I updated the recipe to make it clearer. Thanks for pointing that out!
Well, that failed. After boiling I ended up with soft mush. Where did I go wrong?
Oh no! I’m thinking your dough was too soft to begin with (maybe the cheese was too melted? It happens). Next time, try to refrigerate for 10 minutes before rolling the dough out into logs. That should help keep the gnocchi together while boiling 🙂
Jafar- that was our experience too. They mushed and almost ran together at the boiling point. I think- one batch at a time (don’t crowd them), and your frying pan has to be hot and ready to go. Someone said Kraft cheese works best, but I’m thinking it’s because they use a lot of CORNSTARCH to keep their shredded cheese separate, and thinking next time I use the store brand cheese, I will add a tsp of cornstarch or flour to make the dough stiffer.
Between steps 3 and 4, do you add the rest of the eggs? Or do you only use 1.5 egg yolks? Thank you!
Yes! Missed a step! Add in the rest of the egg yolks. We added half at a time to make sure the egg yolks were thoroughly dispersed. Thanks for noticing!