The Truth About Trader Joe's Cauliflower Gnocchi

Cauliflower is a godsend if you're on a low-carb diet. It's gone from being known as broccoli's pale cousin to becoming a hearty substitute for anyone looking to have a filling meal without sending their glycemic index into a frenzy. In short, cauliflower is the perfect base ingredient for a range of carb substitutes from rice and pasta to flour.

Trader Joe's belief in this former wallflower of a vegetable has spawned the creation of a whole line of cauliflower-based products including stir-fry, rice, pizza crust, and even gnocchi. 

The grocery chain's cauliflower gnocchi made a splash with its debut in April 2018, and became so instantly popular that it was hard to get your hands on a single package (via The Kitchn). Why all the fuss? It's simple but it's also tasty. The gnocchi is Italian-made and has just five ingredients: about 75 percent cauliflower, cassava flour, potato starch, extra virgin oil, and sea salt. That's it. Because the veggie-based dish doesn't have wheat, sugar, dairy, or eggs, the cauliflower gnocchi carries all of the comforting goodness of classic gnocchi with less carbs, fat, and calories. To serve, Trader Joe's recommends you sauté, boil, or microwave the cauliflower gnocchi before tossing it in butter, fresh sage, and shaved cheese, or a tomato and basil sauce.

As popular as Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi is, the dish has also proven a bit divisive.

Refinery29 says the product fails to deliver on texture and aroma, because the dish is not as fluffy as gnocchi made the original way, and it has a distinctive cauliflower smell to boot. The site also says microwaving the gnocchi turns it into a gummy mess, so sautéing is only way to go. 

Vice warns that the dish is not for everyone — if you don't like cauliflower, or expect it to taste anything like the real thing, you'll be disappointed. Vice does say however, if prepared correctly, the gnocchi has the ability to wow, and recommend it be pan-fried and dressed up with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt before serving. 

While Refinery 29 put the cauliflower gnocchi close to the bottom of its list of cauliflower treats from Trader Joe's, we don't think you should walk past it without giving it a try. During Trader Joe's 10th Annual Customer Choice awards, Vice says customers ranked the cauliflower gnocchi a runner-up across three customer's choice categories, making the dish worth a shot... if you can find it, that is.