This recipe came about because I was seeing pasta salads and potato salads everywhere, and all I could think about was – why not a crispy gnocchi & cucumber salad?
It might seem ridiculous, but the bright crunchiness from the vegetables perfectly pairs with a fluffy, crispy, slightly sweet gnocchi. Plus I know I made my gnocchi from scratch, but you can easily get some gnocchi from the store, and this recipe turns into a simple 15-minute meal!
This recipe is the epitome of comfort food meets fresh, and I know it’s not your typical salad, but it’s so fun to make, equally fun to eat and something that I definitely deemed blog-worthy. Because who needs pasta and potato salad when you can make a hybrid of both?
Table of contents
Ingredients for this crispy gnocchi salad
8 ounces gnocchi of choice, I recommend the sweet potato gnocchi recipe on this blog!
3 Persian cucumbers
1/2 pound snap peas
1 lemon for zest and juice
3 cloves of garlic
1 large handful mint
1 large handful basil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil to taste
White wine vinegar to taste
1/4 cup vegan feta or cashew cheese, optional
How to make this crispy gnocchi & cucumber salad
First, let’s start with the whole gnocchi process. Begin by preheating the oven to 425F.
Boil your gnocchi as directed. Then line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the gnocchi out evenly and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Season with salt and toss.
Add the gnocchi to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the gnocchi is crisp and golden brown. Set aside.
While the gnocchi is crisping, prepare the salad portion. Quarter and chop the cucumbers. Shell the snap peas and cut the shells on a diagonal, making small slivered pieces. Add these to a bowl. Zest the lemon into the bowl, then squeeze in the juice. Grate in the three cloves of garlic.
Next, finely chop the basil and the mint. The finer the better, since it will help the herbs release their natural aromatics and flavor! Add this to the bowl.
Season with salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and add a generous glug of olive oil. Stir and taste and add vinegar, more salt and pepper and olive oil as needed.
Toss the gnocchi into the salad and stir again. At this time all of the vegetables and gnocchi should be well coated in herbs and olive oil.
Serve on a plate with either a dollop of cashew cheese or a sprinkle of feta. Crack on more black pepper and serve!
Looking to make your own gnocchi for this?
I got you – luckily I just wrote out a full recipe here. You can also check out my (old old old) recipe for cauliflower gnocchi here.
Looking for other simple meal-salads?
They are my favorite thing to make! Here are a few greatest-hits from the blog:
And that’s it for this gnocchi salad recipe!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you.
Crispy Gnocchi & Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 8 ounces gnocchi of choice I recommend the sweet potato gnocchi recipe on this blog!
- 3 Persian cucumbers
- 1/2 pound snap peas
- 1 lemon for zest and juice
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 large handful mint
- 1 large handful basil
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Olive oil to taste
- White wine vinegar to taste
- 1/4 cup vegan feta or cashew cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Boil your gnocchi as directed. Then line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the gnocchi out evenly and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Season with salt and toss.
- Add the gnocchi to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the gnocchi is crisp and golden brown. Set aside.
- While the gnocchi is crisping, prepare the salad portion. Quarter and chop the cucumbers. Shell the snap peas and cut the shells on a diagonal, making small slivered pieces. Add these to a bowl. Zest the lemon into the bowl, then squeeze in the juice. Grate in the three cloves of garlic.
- Next, finely chop the basil and the mint. The finer the better, since it will help the herbs release their natural aromatics and flavor! Add this to the bowl.
- Season with salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and add a generous glug of olive oil. Stir and taste and add vinegar, more salt and pepper and olive oil as needed.
- Toss the gnocchi into the salad and stir again. At this time all of the vegetables and gnocchi should be well coated in herbs and olive oil.
- Serve on a plate with either a dollop of cashew cheese or a sprinkle of feta. Crack on more black pepper and serve!
I made this as a tester last night for a dinner party I’m having later in the week, and I’ve never made gnocchi before and it was so easy!! And the salad and gnocchi together were fantastic with vegan ricotta. I would like to ask though if you would recommend any other veggies to add to the salad? I think it’s wonderful as is but I’m hoping to maybe make this the main dish. Thank you for creating this!
Wow, yeah. Will be making this again.
I made the gnocchi from scratch too— major dub!