Air fryer 15-minute pesto and pea gnocchi

If ever there was a meal that everyone would think you slaved over for hours to prepare, it’s this! Coated in creamy, cheesy pesto with sun-dried tomatoes, peas and crunchy toasted pine nuts, it’s hard to believe you can make this gnocchi in around 15 minutes using just six ingredients and a little oil, salt and pepper.

Air fryer 15-minute pesto and pea gnocchi. Credit: Quadrille / Hannah Hughes

• serves

  2

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil in a spray bottle, for greasing
• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) fresh gluten-free gnocchi
• 3 tbsp green pesto
• 50 g (1¾ oz) parmesan, finely grated
• 150 g (5½ oz) sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped, plus 1 ½ -2 tbsp oil from the jar
• ¼ tsp each of salt and ground black pepper
• 100 g (3½oz) frozen peas
• 4 tbsp pine nuts

Instructions

1. Heat or preheat the air fryer to 200°C/400°F.
2. Lightly grease the base of the air fryer basket or crisping tray by spraying it with a little oil. Add the gnocchi in an even layer, generously spray with oil and air fry for 8 minutes until the gnocchi is a little golden, turning them halfway through.
3. Meanwhile, combine the pesto, parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried tomato oil, salt and pepper in a small dish.
4. Add the pesto mixture and frozen peas to the gnocchi in the air fryer and turn everything over a few times until the gnocchi are well coated. Air fry for 4 minutes, turn everything over once more, then scatter the pine nuts on top and air fry for a final 3 minutes or until the pine nuts are lightly golden brown.
5. Optionally, serve scattered with fresh basil and rocket (arugula).

Note

• You can find a recipe for homemade gnocchi in my first book, How to Make Anything Gluten Free. The supermarket gluten-free gnocchi I use is fresh and stored in the refrigerated section along with all the other gluten-containing pasta. You can often find ambient (non-chilled) gluten-free gnocchi in the free-from aisle too – the ambient version isn’t ‘fresh’ so you’ll need to prepare it according to the packet instructions before using it in this recipe.
• To make this dairy-free, use dairy-free pesto and a smoked dairy-free cheese instead of parmesan.
• Once cooked and cooled, freeze for up to 3 months. Air fry from frozen at 180°C (350°F) for 6–7 minutes until piping hot.
• This recipe was created using a 9.5 litre (10 quart) air fryer with two 4.75 litre (5 quart) drawers that measure 15 x 20 cm (8 x 6 inches). Cooking times may vary depending on the model you use.

Recipe and image from Gluten Free Air Fryer by Becky Excell (Quadrille). Photography by Hannah Hughes.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.