Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter

Why This Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter Works

In the oven, the sweet potatoes dry out a bit as they bake. Their water steams off and the flesh gets soft and fluffy instead of wet and soggy. That drier, mashed sweet potato holds onto the flour, egg, ricotta, and Parmesan better, so the dough stays soft but doesn’t fall apart in the water. Ricotta keeps the gnocchi tender, while the egg sets once it hits the boiling water and gives each piece a light structure so it doesn’t break.

During boiling, the gnocchi firm up from the outside in. As soon as they float, the centers are cooked through but still a little pillowy. Pulling them at that point keeps them from getting dense or gummy. In the skillet, the butter slowly browns and the milk solids in it toast, while the sage leaves dry out and crisp. When the gnocchi go into the pan, their soft surface soaks up the browned butter and clings to the crispy sage, so they stay tender inside with a slightly chewy, coated outside.

Mistakes To Avoid

Boiling or microwaving the sweet potatoes instead of baking them leaves them full of water. The extra moisture makes the dough loose and gluey, so more flour gets added just to make it workable, and the gnocchi end up heavy instead of light and tender.

Adding all the flour at once often pushes the dough too far. The flour doesn’t have time to hydrate evenly, so it feels sticky at first, more flour goes in, and the dough turns stiff; in the pot, those gnocchi stay dense and chewy instead of soft.

Working the dough like bread, with lots of kneading, compresses it. The sweet potato and flour form a tight, elastic mass, and in the water the gnocchi don’t puff at all, giving a gummy, rubbery bite.

Letting the gnocchi sit around too long before boiling makes them sag and stick to the counter. When they finally go into the water, many lose their shape or break apart, leaving starchy bits and cloudy water.

Browning the butter over high heat while the gnocchi are still cooking easily burns the milk solids and the sage. The butter turns very dark, the sage goes from crisp to brittle, and the gnocchi pick up a harsh, burnt coating instead of a nutty, toasty one.