Caulipower Gnocchi Review

**This post is not sponsored - just an honest review.

Ok, let’s be real. Finding premade items for our family is a difficult task. It’s ok though. As a result, we make most of our meals from scratch. I’ve set my expectations, learned to batch cook, and become a master at meal planning.

But sometimes, I just want a break and to have a meal someone else cooked. That’s not usually an option, but having convenience food helps bridge that gap.

Before I went vegan, I used to enjoy Caulipower brand pizza. It’s gluten free, but it’s not dairy or egg free. It was delicious and the last thing I ate before going vegan.

I’ve noticed over the last couple years that they keep adding products to their line. Every time I see something new, I pick up the package, check the ingredients, and put it back.

Finally! Something For Us!

So imagine my surprise when when I was looking through the specialty items in the freezer section and came across some new skillet meals. Turns out, the spinach gnocchi with Tuscan-style marinara is safe for us!

Of course I grabbed it and couldn’t wait to get it home and cook it up!

First Impressions…

My first thought when I opened the package, there is no way this would feed more than one person. It would absolutely need to be made as a side, or have a lot of stuff added to it. Unfortunately, while the dish is quite saucy, I don’t think you could add enough stuff to it to adequately split it without ruining the sauce ratio.

The instructions were super easy - just put the contents in a pan with a little water and cover it. I did appreciate the lack of effort required. The dish was ready in under ten minutes so the cook time was a positive as well.

I was also impressed with the amount of onion in the package. It’s a odd thing to appreciate, but often times items marked “contains onion and peppers” (or just one or the other) actually contains only a few tiny pieces. That wasn’t the case here and as someone who loves onion in their sauces, it made me happy.

Final Results

It smelled great and looked decent, I was really excited to finally get to take a bite. The sauce was delightful! I could really taste the garlic, basil and onion.

The gnocchi on the other hand… was quite disappointing. Here’s the thing, I make my own gnocchi. I know it’s a tricky thing to do, but I also know what it should and could taste like.

This wasn’t it. If I had to compare it to something, I thought the gnocchi was more similar to a traditional dumpling. That by itself still leaves room for hope, but it just missed the mark. The texture was gummy and chewy and there just wasn’t any flavor.

Because it took so long to chew, the really delightful flavor of the sauce was long gone and it just left a gluey mess failed dumpling in my mouth.

Not exactly something I enjoyed.

It wasn’t bad enough that we didn’t finish it. Hubby and kiddo both tried it, too, but their assessment was about the same. While it was tolerable, it’s definitely not something we’d buy again.

I’m not going to give up hope on the future Caulipower products, but this one is a pass.

Have you tried any Caulipower products? Let me know what you thought in the comments!