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I’m so glad I tried this! Mushrooms + gnocchi are such a great fall dish, and bonus points for being kid-friendly. But adding the pesto makes it an interesting flavor for the adults. Delicious – I’ll definitely be making this again!
Harriet
This post is sponsored by DeLallo and we are using their (drumroll) luscious potato GNOCCHI in this recipe! Warning: it’s extremely delicious.
The mushrooms are baaa-aaack!
With walnut pesto.
If you haven’t noticed 😁 I’m stuck in the most delicious possible mushroom-carb-rut these days. Remember the pasta with mushrooms and walnut pesto? That was just, like, a week ago. And then I go and make this? Hello, broken record.
To defend myself, things *are* a tiny bit different this time, because the mushrooms are being served with GNOCCHI (just pretend like you know how to say it – confidence is key), and there’s arugula up in the mix, and the walnut pesto is basil-less. Does that make it not a pesto? These rules were made to be broken.
Now watch and dream of mushrooms. ♡
HOW TO MAKE OUR MUSHROOM GNOCCHI (1 MIN):
Okay, here’s the deal about the gnocchi. You say it like nya-key, unless you’re me and then you call it nyoh-key because you’re a nerd who can’t even.
Gnocchi makes you become an awesome cook in three minutes flat because that’s how fast it cooks. I mean, you can definitely make it from scratch, but I never have – I just like to let DeLallo do all the work so I can have dinner NOW NOW NOW. I’m going to address the elephant in the room and say that packaged gnocchi can seem a little weird. Potato dumplings? in a package?
Which is why it’s important to buy gnocchi from a trusted brand that doesn’t take shortcuts by adding extra flour or water or other weird things to their gnocchi. DeLallo’s little pillows of goodness have legit potato puree making up 80% of the product and as a company they maintain high integrity to the quality of their ingredients. Winning, DeLallo. Very much winning.
There are few varieties that we tried in a number of recipes – because once you start, good luck stopping.
We tried the Whole Wheat Gnocchi – which I liked in theory, but it had a brown color that just didn’t do it visually in this recipe for me. We tried the Mini Potato Gnocchi – LOVED these little guys in a crockpot creamy chicken gnocchi soup that I made – maybe because it there is nothing better than soup on the first chilly day in September. I might need to do another gnocchi post to get that recipe out into the world. It was really good and Bjork was ob-sessed.
But eventually, for this post, I landed on the traditional Potato Gnocchi because of its size, it’s color, and it’s all around pillowy deliciousness.
Now I’m going to show you a picture of the Mini Potato Gnocchi because, honestly, we ate all the rest of them.
I made this mushroom gnocchi twice – once with the same green walnut pesto from the other mushroom recipe, but surprise! the pesto made the gnocchi and the mushrooms GREEN.
And, just, it wasn’t awesome-looking, but it tasted great. If you like green food, go with the green pesto.
That being said, with the way this recipe is written, you’ll get a non-green pesto, and as much as I love green sauces, I’ll admit that it is kind of nice to have just a plain brown sauce because it just looks a little bit less like swampy food.
Plus you can add beautiful pops of green with fresh basil ribbons, parsley, and a couple of big handfuls of organic arugula. Like how I snuck organic in there? I picked up a bag of *organic* arugula at Whole Foods in downtown Minneapolis last week when I took myself on a field trip there. Is that fitspo? These are my true life confessions.
Roasty mushrooms + golden brown gnocchi + spicy arugula + earthy walnut pesto – gang’s all calling, my friends!
Commmmme to meeeee.
Mushroom Gnocchi with Arugula and Walnut Pesto
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Mushroom Gnocchi with Walnut Pesto and Arugula – a vegetarian bowl that’s made with familiar ingredients. Comes together in 30 minutes or less!
Ingredients
For the Walnut Pesto
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- juice of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Gnocchi
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 16 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms
- 24 ounces DeLallo Traditional Gnocchi (1 1/2 packages)
- 3–4 cups arugula (optional)
- fresh parsley, basil, or other herbs to taste
Instructions
- Toast the walnuts in a nonstick skillet over medium low heat, shaking or stirring to make sure they don’t burn. Pulse the walnuts, parmesan, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper until a textured paste forms. Set aside.
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the gnocchi and cook until they float to the top of the water. Drain and set aside.
- While the gnocchi is cooking, heat the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and saute for a few minutes until the mushrooms are browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add the gnocchi to the mushrooms in the pan. Over medium high heat, stir in about half of the walnut mixture. Things will get a little sticky because of the Parmesan, but if you keep browning it, you will end up with gnocchi pieces that have that perfectly golden brown textured exterior (and mushrooms, too). Add the herbs and toss gently to combine.
- If desired, toss with arugula (it will wilt, which I was fine with, but if you want it to stay crispier, let the whole thing cool down a little bit first). With the remaining pesto, add a little more water and salt and pulse to form a sauce if you want (see video). Drizzle over each serving.
Notes
Normally I drown my foods in sauces. But this recipe is more rustic-feeling. It eats almost like a warm, roasty salad. There isn’t a whole lot of sauce going on other than the pesto.
If you DO end up adding water or oil to your leftover walnut pesto to make something of a sauce, be sure to season it generously with salt and pepper, and be aware that because it’s a nut-based sauce, it will be very thick and heavy. As leftovers sit around, it will get even thicker.
A lighter “sauce” option would just be an additional drizzle of olive oil with some good sea salt.
This is a really flexible recipe so go nutso with it to make it to your gnocchi liking!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: mushroom gnocchi, arugula and walnut pesto, gnocchi recipe
Big thanks to DeLallo for sponsoring this post and for making delicious, high quality products that we can love.
I discovered gnoochi (specifically DeLallo’s the first time) a couple years and I have been hooked ever since. ESPECIALLY when it is sautéed and all crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I mean…if an edible pillow isn’t the perfect comfort food for a cool day then I don’t know what comfort food is.
Delicious non-green-looking recipe, Lindsay 😉
haha thanks Brittany! Taking a break from the green!
Looks so nom! Love me some gnocchi! Feel free to share the gnocchi crockpot recipe, in my opinion you can never have too much of the potatoey goodness
I added it to the list for next week! 🙂
Okay, so I normally avoid my food processor as I’m a bit scared of it. But I loved your video and it makes it look so easy, that I think I’m just going to have to give this a try. I love gnocchi and this recipe looks delicious!
You’ve seen this, right?? https://pinchofyum.com/twelve-magical-ways-to-use-a-food-processor I LOVE my food processor! Once you start using it, you’ll be hooked.
Your video is so much fun! I watched it twice in a row lol! This recipe looks delicious. I want to try the walnut pesto, but my husband is allergic to walnuts :(. Would you suggest subbing in pecans? Thanks
Yes! Absolutely. I think any nuts could work in this recipe (different texture and taste, but still good).
Oh how I love mushrooms. Just bought more packages of gnocchi yesterday when I was in town. Me thinks this could be lunch today.
Yes yes yes! Hope you like it Karen!
Saw this post and went through the best range of emotions – happiness because it looks amazing and I want to eat it tonight, sadness because I can never find GF gnocchi, then that feeling of “silly me, of course DeLallo is a bajillion steps ahead of me and already sells GF gnocchi”, and then to air-five’s all around.
Ahahaha – Kayla, that’s the best comment ever. Air fives all around!!
Omg, what a fantastic video. Great editing!! I LOVE gnocchi! (Oh, my poor waistline LOL) I shall be making this soon, your recipe looks delicious!
Thank you Calista! I had a lot of fun shooting/editing this this week!
Love your video! This recipe looks so awesome and I love mushrooms in just about everything so you’re definitely speaking my language! 🙂
Thanks Sarah! 🙂 We are one in the same!
I love mushrooms and I love gnocchi, so basically I’m going to eat an embarrassingly large serving of this! 🙂
I’m cool with that. 🙂
This is my comfort food RIGHT HERE!! Holy smokes – pure deliciousness!
Thanks Katrina!
I love mushrooms and I do like green food, so adding pesto to this dish is a great idea! I’m super excited to try this out! 🙂
Thanks Mary Frances! Hope you enjoy it!
This is exactly what I want on a chilly rainy day like this evening!
We’ve had a ton of rainy days here lately, too. This = rainy day food perfection!
This looks amazing and perfect for the cooling weather. Yum!!!
Thanks, Sylvie!
oh my gosh, this looks UNREAL! This gnocchi is calling my name
Hope you enjoy it, Sara!
Gnocchi and mushrooms and arugula- these are a few of my favorite things. I haven’t tried DeLallo gnocchi before, but they make some of the best dried pasta I’ve ever had, so I’m sure it’s fantastic.
Absolutely! Give it a try, Allyson! 🙂
Mushroom gnocchi???! This looks amazing! Just in time for cooler weather. I’ve never tried DeLallo gnocchi, but I’ll definitely give it a try now. Also, I’m obsessed with your bowl!
Hope you like it, Naomi! 🙂
I need this. Like RIGHT NOW.
Looks so yummy, just put it on my shopping list.
Enjoy, Celeste!
I know I comment this all the time, but I just LOVE this bowl. Especially when filled with GNOCCHI! My little half-Italian heart is smiling right now 😀
5 STARS????????????????????!!! (My iPhone wouldn’t let me rate the recipe ) I tried this recipe tonight for dinner…amazing! I am not normally a pasta-gnocchi lover, but the mushrooms, crunchy pillows, walnut combo (I had a large lemon so it was extra lemony) – fantastic. My cast iron skillet added an extra something special to the browning stage. I think I’m eating two servings at a time!!!????
I love love love gnocchi. I can find it in the freezer section, fresh pasta section, dried pasta section, and even at Goodwill! I do enjoy making my own though with any leftover potatoes, adding any herbs, spices, or sauces. These little pillows of joy are so versatile you can boil, bake, fry, or even skewer them on shishkabob! I must admit I have never heard them pronounced nya key. From Wikipedia: Gnocchi (/ˈnʲɒki/ n(y)ok-ee, also US /ˈnjoʊki/, nyoh-kee; Italian: [ˈ*ɲɔkki], singular gnocco)
Agreed, Rene! They are the best. 🙂
Goodwill?? 😂
Pre-made gnocchi is the absolute worst.
Just had this wonderful dish for dinner and it is my new favourite vegetarian (gluten free for me) thing to eat!!! Delicious, hearty and perfect for the fall weather we are currently having in the Hudson Valley of New York, with leaves turning and all. Thank you!!!
Glad to hear that, Nina!
Saw this recipe and really wanted to try it. Finally did today, but couldn’t find delallo gnocchi anywhere. Went with artisanal homemade, thinking it would be an okay replacement.
Some thoughts: I think the walnut pesto isn’t that flavorful, and could be substituted with just some olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan (and thus slice out the extra fat from the nuts). The mushrooms take longer to brown than the two minutes that the gnocchi take to cook, so maybe get those started ahead of time!
Overall, it looks a lot better than it tasted to be honest. I think it might work better with a firmer pasta – maybe penne?
Thanks for the feedback and suggestions, Sandra.
I’m so glad I tried this! Mushrooms + gnocchi are such a great fall dish, and bonus points for being kid-friendly. But adding the pesto makes it an interesting flavor for the adults. Delicious – I’ll definitely be making this again!
Thanks, Harriet!