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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.
Do you let the toasted walnuts cool before putting them in the food processor to pulse into a paste?
Yes!
This was one of my favorite new recipes I have made all year– It was SO SO good. I halved the recipe, used Rana fresh gnocchi and pan fried it before adding it in with the mushrooms. I sent this recipe to friends and family it was THAT good. Sauce and arugula are absolutely not optional– they make the dish amazing!
Omgggg, absolutely delicious!!!!!! Everybody loved it. Thank so much for the recipe❤️
Where would I find it at what store sell it. Because I doubt my Local grocery store sells it
You can find the gnocchi online here!
Really nice recipe. I used fresh arugula, portobello and shiitakes excellent recipe .
Sounds delicious with your addition of shiitakes! So glad you liked the recipe, Wendy!
Mine did not look as pretty as yours , but it was delicious. I dont know about 6 servings though…..I could eat at least 1/2 of it by myself!!! Thank you!!
Haha! Glad to hear you enjoyed this, Robyn! 😉
Lindsay,
I’ve loved everything of yours that I’ve made so far, but this MAY be my new favorite (along with the Autumn Glow Salad). I used spinach instead of arugula and used Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi for a healthier twist and it was SO GOOD!!!
I am super excited to make this recipe, especially for that pesto! any chance the pesto could the pesto be stored in the fridge for a while?
It’ll keep in the fridge for 3-4 days – longer in the freezer!
So I guess I am 3 years late to this, but this dish is stupid good!!! My wife made a bowl, scooped a bit of sauce on top, started walking to the table and literally sat on the kitchen floor shoveling the food into her mouth.
I may have made a comment about her unhinging her jaw like a rattlesnake to get more down at a time when she started making like a slow loris, eating small bites so she could savor every bite!
Seriously, this dish is super easy to make using the time-table proposed in the directions, makes a lot of food, and tasts out of this world!
Thank you again!
-Micah
Holy YUM. I made the pesto with pecans and nutritional yeast instead and WOW what a dish. Thank you, this encouraged me to tackle the gnocchi that’s been sitting in my pantry!
Awesome and amazing recipe. I love it.
So many flavors! I’m not a giant fan of pesto but I would so be about this! We added a little mint.
I absolutely love your recipe! I am writing vegetarian recipe round ups on my blog in 2018 (to encourage people to try meatless monday- everyone has to start somewhere) and would love to feature you. You can check out my blog (for beginner environmentalists) at sunshineguerrilla.com. Is it alright if I share this link to your recipe?
Made this today. It was lovely, though I think next time I’d replace the butter with olive oil and maybe add some white wine or lemon juice to the remaining “pesto” as a sauce as I found the dish to be very rich!
I love this recipe, I could eat it once a week! It’s 90 degrees today but I have mushrooms & gnocchi so here I go again with this delicious dish!
NYOH-kee is correct…It’s how my father said it (he was Italian), and how I’ve always said it. And that’s how it’s shown to be pronounced in the Food Lover’s Companion.
This recipe sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
And perhaps I’m misunderstanding your pronunciation. I’m tired. Haven’t had any coffee since this morning. lol
I’ve had this recipe pinned for a long time and finally made it for dinner tonight. So delicious! I added some chicken sausage and used pasta water to help thin the sauce a bit. Very good!
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi! this recipe looks amazing!! I’ll try it!
but, as Italian, I council to made gnocchi home made! they really really simple to do! 😉
THANK YOU FOR MUSHROOM GNOCCHI ETC! so good, like heaven!
Where did you get the bowl from? I’m a Potter & it looks like a wheel thrown high fire gas reduction stoneware piece. Really like it!
Hi Barbara! The bowl is actually made by Lindsay’s father-in-law.
This recipe was DELICIOUS! I was a little intimidated at first but it is super easy! My husband loved this recipe but we did have to add chicken. You know, men and their need for meat. But, seriously, great recipe that is a little fancy!
Glad to hear it, Kristi! 🙂
I have a recipe like this only I used pine nuts instead of walnuts. You can also use a Romano, or even Asiago cheese, depending on your preference.
I made this a couple weeks ago and picked up the stuff to make it again this week. Loved it, I think the arugula adds a great light taste (it doesn’t hurt that its my favorite green). It was so easy and delicious and my husband even asked for seconds. This is a keeper, thanks Lindsay!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Did it yesterday and it was amazing- thanks for sharing the recipe:). Greetings from Germany
Johanna
I just made this recipe last night and Ohhh Myyy Goodnesss it was delicious. I added the arugula during the last few minutes so it “wilted” into the gnocchi and sauce. I also added fresh rosemary as my herb. Perfect vegetarian recipe. Will make this again. And AGAIN.
Glad you liked it, Tammy!