Any gnocchi dough can be easily transformed into the cutest little pumpkin-shaped gnocchi – perfect for cozy fall dinners, Halloween parties, or a very festive Thanksgiving side everyone will love. Mix and match your favorite sauces and toppings to create your ultimate fall plate. Crowd-pleasing, fun to make, and super easy to prep ahead.
These lovely little pumpkin-shaped gnocchi are one of those things that are so deceptively simple, your guests won’t believe it! They’re super impressive, so fun and festive, and as brilliant for dinner parties as they are for a rainy Sunday afternoon kitchen project.
Plus, you can easily prep them ahead of time, freeze them, then forget about them until you’re ready to serve. Perfect for dinner parties when you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen while your guests are having fun.
What You’ll Need
- Your gnocchi dough. You can use any dough recipe you like – I LOVE using my sweet potato gnocchi recipe, or high-protein cottage cheese gnocchi recipe – but truly any will work.
- Kitchen string. You’ll use this to create the lines in the gnocchi dough – you could use a toothpick or skewer if you don’t have any string.
- Serving sauce of your choice. In the photos here, I’ve got for a simple, fall-inspired nutty brown butter, and drizzled lots of lovely chili crisp oil on top, along with crispy chorizo. But you can use any sauce you like. Fresh basil pesto is great, as is sun-dried tomato pesto, or a simple marinara sauce. They’d also be lovely with miso mushroom Alfredo sauce.
How to Make Pumpkin-Shaped Gnocchi
1. Prepare your gnocchi dough per your recipe of choice. Shape your dough into a log on a floured surface, and slice off a small piece. Roll into a rope, then slice into inch sized pieces.
2. Form each piece into a rough disc, then use a piece of kitchen string to make indents in the gnocchi disc. This is your pumpkin-shaped gnocchi.
3. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi dough, and set the gnocchi aside until you’re ready to cook them.
4. Boil your gnocchi in well-salted water for a couple of minutes, until they float to the top. PRO TIP: Have your sauce ready in a separate pan at this point, so you can easily transfer the cooked gnocchi straight into your sauce to finish.
5. Toss your pumpkin-shaped gnocchi with your chosen sauce, with a little of the gnocchi cooking water, until it coats them all beautifully.
6. Spoon the cooked gnocchi and sauce onto serving plate or into bowls.
7. Finish with your desired toppings – here I’ve gone for crispy chorizo for salty smokiness and chili crisp for spice and a bit of drama!
8. Serve the gnocchi straight away, ideally with a nice sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan on top.
Pumpkin-Shaped Gnocchi FAQs
Yes! The shaping technique is exactly the same, no matter the gnocchi dough you use. For a festive look, I love making them with this five ingredient sweet potato gnocchi (you can easily replace the sweet potato in that recipe with pumpkin, butternut squash, or pumpkin puree. If you do, I recommend following this recipe that shares the easy way to roast butternut squash).
It also works well with my mom’s favorite high-protein cottage cheese gnocchi. But regular potato gnocchi will work perfectly too.
You only need to reasonably lightly press down on the gnocchi to make the grooves. I also like to kind of cup and reshape the pumpkin discs with my hands once I’ve made the grooves, just to plump them back up.
You can! They freeze beautifully. And it’s my preferred way to prep them in advance, especially if I’m entertaining. Arrange the gnocchi on a parchment paper-lined tray, then pop them into the freezer until solid. Then, transfer the frozen gnocchi to ziplock bags to store. You can then cook them straight from frozen when you’re ready to serve. Just boil for a minute longer than the fresh gnocchi.
Truly, anything goes here. The most classic is a nutty brown butter sauce, but fresh basil pesto is great, as is sun-dried tomato pesto, or a simple tomato-based sauce. You could also go for a creamy Alfredo sauce (like the one in this miso mushroom fettuccine Alfredo), or go all out on the pumpkin and use a creamy pumpkin-based sauce.
You can make the recipe your own with different toppings and garnishes (as I’ve suggested here with crispy chorizo and chili crisp) – crunchy parmesan crisps, nutty spiced dukkah, za’atar, homemade everything bagel seasoning, or crispy bacon are great options.
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If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
How to Make Pumpkin Shaped Gnocchi (Super Easy)
Ingredients
Method
- Prepare your gnocchi dough. Make your gnocchi dough according to your chosen recipe. Lightly flour a clean work surface or wooden board, then transfer your gnocchi dough onto it. Line a plate or tray with parchment paper (you’ll place the shaped gnocchi on here).
- Roll and cut your gnocchi dough. Shape your dough into a rough rectangle, then slice off a (roughly) 1-inch piece from the short end. Roll the piece into a long rope, then slice it into small pieces, about 1 to 2 inches long. Roll each piece into a ball, then gently flatten into a disc.
- Shape the gnocchi into pumpkins. Use a piece of kitchen string to press gentle grooves around each disc, working your way around, to create lines that make the gnocchi resemble a cute little pumpkin. If any pieces flatten, cup your hands around them to round them back into shape. Place the pumpkin-shaped gnocchi onto the prepared tray or plate.
- Make your sauce. The gnocchi will only take a couple of minutes to cook, so make sure you have your sauce ready to go. For the brown butter and crispy chorizo sauce: add the chorizo to a high-sided pan or skillet, then set the heat to high. Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes, until super crispy. Transfer to a plate, but keep any chorizo oil in the pan. Add 4 tablespoons of butter and let it melt, stirring as it foams, develops little brown spots, and smells gorgeously nutty. This is your brown butter. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Cook the gnocchi. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil, then carefully drop in the gnocchi. Cook for a couple of minutes, until the gnocchi float to the top of the water. At this point, they’re ready to add to your sauce.
- Add the gnocchi to the sauce. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked gnocchi straight into the pan with your sauce, along with a little gnocchi cooking water (about ¼ cup – this helps to form a lovely luscious sauce). Turn the heat back on to medium, then toss the gnocchi through the brown butter, letting it sit undisturbed on one side for a few minutes, to crisp up the bottom.
- Finish the sauce and serve. Continue to gently toss the gnocchi through your sauce until it’s silky and glossy. Divide the gnocchi between plates, making sure to spoon over lots of the lovely brown butter sauce. Drizzle the gnocchi with the chili crisp, then scatter over the crispy chorizo. Finish with grated parmesan and the chives. Enjoy right away.
