homemade pasta recipe

This is the most delicate and tender homemade pasta dough. We use plenty of egg yolks and extra-fine 00 flour for fresh pasta that is silky, delicious, and refined.

Whether you’re new to making pasta from scratch or just want to up your game, you’ve come to the right place!

Why I love it:

I’ve been bitten by the pasta bug, hard.

It is a fascinating rabbit hole of tradition and history, mixed with endless freedom to play with textures and flavors.

It’s as humble as can be (sometimes as basic as water and flour), yet it can be elevated to something incredibly ethereal-- like a 20 egg-yolk pasta, tossed with butter and shaved truffles. And everything in between.

While I love the challenge of mastering hand-shaped pasta made from semolina dough, my heart is in the egg dough. I’m captivated by the silkiness of the fresh noodles. The tenderness and delicacy, perfectly offset with bite. Equally light and substantial.

It’s also a treat you can’t really get out in the world unless you have access to a really good Italian restaurant.

If you love eating and cooking delicious food, homemade pasta is a skill worth mastering. And in a day when we all want to feel more connected to the tangible world (and each other, in a real way), working with your hands and making something incredible out of a few ingredients is such a simple and satisfying solution.

Keep reading to learn my absolute favorite pasta dough recipe and pick up a few key tips along the way.

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homemade pasta ingredients:

how to make pasta

• Place flour in a large bowl and use a fork to make a well in the center.
• Add eggs, yolks, and a salt.
• Use a fork to whisk the eggs together, then slowly pull in more and more flour until a shaggy dough forms.
• Knead in the bowl a few times, then knead on a clean surface for 10 minutes.
• Wrap in plastic and rest 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough out to desired thickness (I prefer 7 on the Kitchen Aid attachment)
• Cut into noodles (use a cutter attachment, bicicleta, pasta wheel, or knife).
• Cook, sauce, and enjoy!

why are there so many egg yolks in this recipe?

This is what we'd call a egg-rich pasta dough. I use 6 egg yolks plus 2 full eggs to provide incredible tenderness and richness to the pasta. There are plenty of recipes with even more yolks (even all-yolks!) that take the intensity even further.

Over the years, I've found I prefer the majority of my dough hydration to come from yolks rather than egg whites. A few egg whites can bring structure to the dough and improve workability, but too many make the noodles taste tough.

If you're just getting started with pasta, by all means lower the stakes and start with the standard pasta recipe: 1 egg + 100g flour.

But if you're feeling ready to try something out of this world, then push the envelope. Go big with the egg yolks. You'll love the delicacy, rich color, and silky smooth texture!

fun ways to use the leftover egg whites:

What to do with all those egg whites, you ask? Make meringues! We've got lemon meringues, chocolate meringues, hazelnut meringues, and peppermint meringues all queued up for you.

You can also freeze egg whites and store them up for egg white omelets and frittatas.

Basic pasta making equipment:

There’s no need to go overboard with equipment when you’re just starting out. Buy a machine (if you try to roll it out by hand, you’ll probably never make pasta again) and start super simple:

• Scale: This is so important when you’re starting-- it takes the guesswork out of the dough consistency. I want you to know exactly what the dough should feel like, and the precision of a scale is key. Once you have decades of pasta making experience under your belt like an Italian Nonna, you can go with your gut!
• Pasta machine: Save yourself the hassle and buy an electric version! The KitchenAid attachment is amazing. If you don’t have a stand mixer, the Mercato Electric Pasta Machine is one of the best of the best.
• Sharp knife, cutter wheels, or dough divider: These all offer different ways to cut the dough. Start with a knife and if it turns out you love making pasta, buy some pretty fluted wheels and the bicicleta dough divider.

What is 00 flour and why do I need to use it in egg pasta?

Flour in pasta making can be so confusing, mostly because Italians and Americans categorize their flour differently.

Italians categorize them by the degree of milling (fine to coarse) and American companies categorize them by their use (cake flour, all-purpose flour, bread flour), which is a reference to their protein content. 

00 flour is a term borrowed from Italian companies that refers to very finely ground flour. It will produce fresh pasta that is incredibly silky and smooth. Make sure it’s from soft wheat.

In Italian, you’re looking for “grano tenero tipo 00”.

All-purpose flour works perfectly well for fresh egg dough. The texture will be slightly less delicate and silky because it’s a slightly coarser grind than 00, but it is a wonderful starting place.

how long to cook homemade pasta

• Make sure your sauce is hot and ready before you cook the pasta. 
• Fresh pasta only needs to cook 2- 4 minutes! Watch it very closely and taste as it cooks-- it will be tender and delicate, but not mushy, when ready.
• Always transfer the pasta to the skillet full of hot sauce, add a splash of cooking water, and cook another minute with tossing and stirring to emulsify the sauce. This creates a sauce that drapes over the noodles and “marries” the sauce with the pasta.

how to store homemade pasta:

• Typically, I will make the dough on Day 1 and then roll and shape it on Day 2. We either cook and eat it on Day 2, or freeze it.
• Don’t refrigerate it for longer than 2 days: the egg yolks and flour with react and turn the dough an ugly grey color! 

To freeze fresh pasta, place it on a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until hard. Then transfer to a resealable bag for up to 3 months.

Because egg pasta contains raw eggs, I don’t air dry it. It can be done but the risk of bacterial growth and spoilage is high if the drying conditions aren’t optimal (like the Pacific Northwest!). 

more homemade pasta recipes to try:

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