This recipe for homemade pasta noodles uses only 3 ingredients!
Over the Christmas holiday, my family gifted me with a Kitchenaid Pasta Press attachment — the one that makes the cute little noodle shapes like fusilli, rigatoni, elbow macaroni — yeah — that one. I was so excited to get it because I have been wanting it for years. The thing is — I had NO CLUE how hard it was going to be to find the right dough recipe for making homemade pasta noodles.
But never fear — I finally found the perfect recipe so today I am going to share my tips and tricks with you!
A Foolproof Recipe for Making Homemade Pasta Nooodles
When I first pulled my pasta press out of the box I was so excited to get started making my favorite shaped noodles. However, after making the recipe in the book that comes with the press, I was deeply disappointed. The dough was SO wet that it kept sticking to the inside and would not come out of the press.
Then I tried another dough, and it wound up being too dry. I had no clue what I was going to do. I was at the point that I was ready to pack up my pasta press and send it back to Amazon where it came from.
Then I came upon another recipe that said you could add extra eggs and olive oil to the dough and it would make all the difference in the world. And you know what? It did!
Last night we successfully made over a pound of pasta dough with this easy and simple recipe.
Let me take a moment to explain what extruded pasta is and how it’s different from other pasta. Extruded pasta is made by forcing a dry flour and egg dough through a die.
Spaghetti, rotini, fusilli, penne, bucatini, macaroni, and rigatoni are all examples of extruded pasta. Fresh extruded pasta is rare, but most of the dried pasta sold at the grocery store are actually extruded.
Rolled pasta, like spaghetti and fettucini, on the other hand, is made by rolling out a flour-and-egg dough using your pasta roller attachment, into a thin sheet and then cutting the sheet into strips of the desired width.
Examples of rolled pasta include lasagna, linguini, fettuccini, tagliatelle, and pappardelle. When pasta is made at home, it’s usually the rolled type of pasta.
How to Make the Best Pasta Dough for Extruding Pasta
So — are you wondering what my recipe is? Here's the secret —
You need to use 3 1/2 cups of flour and 5 large eggs to get your dough going. Instead of using water to make it come together, use olive oil!
The olive oil will help the dough stay dry enough to come together and will keep the dough from sticking to the inside of the attachment. This means your noodles will come out perfect and easy every single time.
Now – the amount of olive oil that you use will determine the area where you live. Start with two tablespoons and move on from there. It took me about 3 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of water to make my dough come together.
It turned out beautifully and even cooked up even better!
The Best Recipe for Making Homemade Pasta Noodles (plus a look at the Kitchenaid Pasta Press Attachment)
This recipe is a base for making easy homemade extruded pasta noodles from scratch
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 5 large eggs
- 2 tbsp olive oil (may need more depending on the dryness of your dough)
Instructions
In your Kitchenaid mixer, combine the flour and 5 large eggs and mix. Add in olive oil to make the dough come together just a bit. The dough should be very dry—so dry that it won’t even come together into a single mass.
Pour the dough out onto the work surface and pinch off walnut size pieces to feed into the extruder.
Don't shove it down in there as that will cause a big clog and mess everything up. Larger amounts of dough tend to bind up in the extruder as they reach the auger.
Using the cutter on your attachment, as the pasta comes out, cut it off and lay it in a single layer on a floured surface to dry.
Cook the homemade extruded pasta as you would any other pasta, in a large pot of boiling, salted water until al dente. Cooking time will vary depending on how wet the dough was and how long the pasta was dried. Mine took about 4 minutes.
Finally, disassemble the extruder, remove any large gobs of dough, and let the rest dry overnight before attempting to clean the parts. The dough will flick right off once it’s completely dry.
Remove using a slotted spoon and add to your sauce
Toss to coat the pasta and serve
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Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:
2 ouncesAmount Per Serving: Calories: 75 calories
Stacie
I have to make this! I’ve never tried making my own pasta before. I think this is going to be fun!
Brianne
I am so glad you found the perfect pasta recipe, and are sharing it with us! Too many times I’ve wanted to try to make my own pasta and the recipe wasn’t good.
Carol Bryant
That looks like something to put on the CHristmas wish list here. I love the idea of going hands on for a past that is super yummy and homemade.
Cat
We love it when we have the time to make our own. It’s always so yummy & love that it’s homemade with care <3
Liz Mays
These are looking really good. Being able to work with my own homemade pasta sounds super satisfying.
Mama to 6 Blessings
Wow! This is super cool! I have a Kitchen-Aid I so want this! I need to find a low carb recipe to make noodles now!
krystal
I’d love to try to make my own pasta. It looks so fun and you can control the ingredients!
Celebrate Woman Today
Wow, you used this pasta-making attachment so well. So many pasta possibilities! Yum!
Rachel
I will have to try this recipe. I have the pasta attachment for my KitchenAid, but when I tried to make noodles I made a huge mess.
Catalina
Homemade pasta is so much fun and very very tasty. I love your tips and how easy is making it at home!
Ruth I
Oh wow. This is amazing! I’m thinking of getting one for me. All of us here loves pasta dishes. It will be more special if pasta is homemade!
The Novice
Never tried making my own pasta before but you make it look so easy! I think I’m going to have to invest in a pasta press…
Jennifer
This recipe and advice was a huge help! I just got my kitchenaid pasta press for Xmas and mixed up my usual dough to make my first batch of pasta. Right away I knew it wasn’t going to work. I found your recipe and advice and had a rigatoni made in about 45mins! Thank you so much. Just like you I thought I was going to be returning it.
Jennifer Sikora
That is so awesome!! So glad to hear I was able to help out. That recipe was tricky but it totally works — I did a happy dance the day my noodles came out perfect.
Tina Sherman
I made large macaroni using your recipe, and they turned out perfect! I added another Tbsp of olive oil and 1 Tbsp of water because the first little ball I put in there took way too long to extract. I’m in San Diego in January, typically a very cool, dry month here, so I don’t know if that will make a difference when I make it in August, typically a more hot, humid month here. This is now my go-to pasta extractor recipe. Printing it up and putting it in my recipe folder to make it official!
Jennifer Sikora
I love hearing this!! So glad your pasta came out perfect. Thanks for sharing your win with me!!
Beverly Martin
This absolutely worked!!! Like everyone else.. I was disappointed in the press because the dough would start breaking or not have a pretty shape. I didn’t see how this was going to work being dry and was not sure what the consistency was going to turn out to…but it worked! The rigatoni came out perfect. . Instead of using plain olive oil I used a tuscan herb olive oil… and they smell great. Will add garlic powder to my salted water when I cook them. Thank you SO much for sharing.
Jennifer Sikora
I am so happy this worked for you!! I knew other people might have the same issues as me. Your addition of garlic powder and tuscan olive oil sound amazing
Maura
So excited to try this! I was having a tough time getting the right consistency. Do you think this would work with whole wheat flour too?
Jennifer Sikora
I am not sure because I have not tested it with wheat flour. You will have to try it and see how it goes.
Jodie Reid
Your recipe worked like a gem! I was about to give up on my KA Pasta Press and send it back. My noodles were very sticky and cooked up like a blob! Thank you for sharing!
Jennifer Sikora
So glad to hear that. I think we have all been ready to throw that attachment away for sure!