Learn how to make pasta at home! This 4-ingredient homemade pasta recipe is easy to make, and it yields chewy, delicious noodles every time.
This homemade pasta recipe is our new favorite cooking project! Lately, Jack and I have been spending even more time than usual in the kitchen, experimenting with bread, baked goods, and even okonomiyaki. But we keep coming back to homemade pasta. It’s super fun to make together, and it only requires a handful of basic ingredients. Of course, the fact that it’s absolutely delicious doesn’t hurt either. 🙂
My homemade pasta recipe refers to the pasta maker attachment for the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, which is how we roll out our fresh pasta at home. If you don’t have a KitchenAid, don’t worry! You could also roll out this pasta dough according to the instructions on a regular pasta maker. However you make it, I hope you try this recipe. It’s an easy, fun way to spend an hour in the kitchen with someone you love, and at the end, you get to eat a big plate of chewy noodles with a perfect al dente bite.
Homemade Pasta Recipe Ingredients
You only need 4 ingredients to make delicious fresh pasta at home, and there’s a good chance you have all of them on hand already:
- All-purpose flour – In the past, I thought you needed 00 flour or semolina flour to make great fresh pasta, but this homemade pasta recipe proved me wrong. In it, regular all-purpose flour yields chewy, bouncy noodles every time.
- Eggs – The key ingredient for adding richness and moisture to the dough!
- Olive oil – Along with the eggs, a splash of olive oil moistens the dough and helps it come together.
- Salt – Add it to the dough and the pasta water for the best flavor.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Pasta
Ready to learn how to make pasta? Check out this step-by-step guide first, and then find the full recipe at the bottom of this post!
First, make a nest with the flour on a clean work surface. Add the remaining ingredients to the center and use a fork to gently break up the eggs. Try to keep the flour walls intact as best as you can!
Next, use your hands to gently mix in the flour. Continue working the dough to bring it together into a shaggy ball.
Then, knead! At the beginning, the dough should feel pretty dry, but stick with it! It might not feel like it’s going to come together, but after 8-10 minutes of kneading, it should become cohesive and smooth:
If the dough still seems too dry, sprinkle your fingers with water and continue kneading to incorporate it into the dough. If the dough becomes too sticky, dust more flour onto your work surface.
When the dough comes together, shape it into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
After the dough rests, slice it into 4 pieces.
Use a rolling pin or your hands to gently flatten one into an oval disk.
Then, run it through the widest setting of your pasta maker (level 1 on the KitchenAid attachment). I run the dough through the pasta maker 3 times on this setting before proceeding to the next step. If you don’t have the KitchenAid attachment, roll out the dough according to your pasta maker’s instructions.
Next, fold the dough… if you want to. This step is somewhat optional, but it will make your final pasta sheet more rectangular, which will yield more long strands of pasta. Plus, it’s super simple! Just lay the dough flat and fold both short ends in to meet in the center.
Then, fold it in half lengthwise to form a rectangle.
Once you’ve folded the dough, roll it out to your desired thickness. On my KitchenAid attachment, I run it through the pasta roller three times on level 2, three times on level 3, and one time each on levels 4, 5, and 6.
Repeat these steps with the remaining dough pieces. Each time you finish with a piece of dough, lay one half of it on a lightly floured baking sheet. Sprinkle the dough with flour, and fold the other half on top. Sprinkle the top with flour, too!
Finally, cut and cook the pasta. Run the pasta sheets through your desired pasta cutter attachment. Cook the noodles in a pot of boiling salted water for 1 minute, and enjoy!
Homemade Pasta Serving Suggestions
If you’ve never had fresh pasta before, you’re in for a treat! Its chewy, bouncy texture and rich flavor make it so much better than the dried pasta at the store. In fact, these noodles are so good that we usually serve them really simply. They’re fantastic with marinara sauce, pesto, homemade Alfredo sauce, or olive oil and vegan Parmesan or Parmesan cheese.
Of course, they’re delicious in larger pasta dishes, too. Use them instead of dried pasta in any of these recipes:
- Tagliatelle with Asparagus & Peas
- Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
- Fettuccine Alfredo
- Easy Pesto Pasta
- Roasted Vegetable Pasta
- Linguine with Lemon and Tomatoes
- Garlic Herb Mushroom Pasta
Find more of my favorite pasta recipes here!
Homemade Pasta
Equipment
- KitchenAid Mixer (the stand mixer to use the pasta attachment)
- Pasta Attachment (my favorite KitchenAid attachment!)
- Baking Sheets (I use these nonstick ones from Nordic Ware)
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
- 3 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place the flour on a clean work surface and make a nest. Add the eggs, olive oil, and salt to the center and use a fork to gently break up the eggs, keeping the flour walls intact as best as you can. Use your hands to gently bring the flour inward to incorporate. Continue working the dough with your hands to bring it together into a shaggy ball.
- Knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes. At the beginning, the dough should feel pretty dry, but stick with it! It might not feel like it’s going to come together, but after 8-10 minutes of kneading, it should become cohesive and smooth. If the dough still seems too dry, sprinkle your fingers with a tiny bit of water to incorporate. If it’s too sticky, dust more flour onto your work surface. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Dust 2 large baking sheets with flour and set aside.
- Slice the dough into four pieces. Gently flatten one into an oval disk. Run the dough through the Pasta Roller Attachment or a pasta maker three times on level 1 (the widest setting).
- Set the dough piece onto a countertop or work surface. Fold both short ends in to meet in the center, then fold the dough in half to form a rectangle (see photo above).
- Run the dough through the pasta roller three times on level 2, three times on level 3, and one time each on levels 4, 5, and 6.
- Lay half of the pasta sheet onto the floured baking sheet and sprinkle with flour before folding the other half on top. Sprinkle more flour on top of the second half. Every side should be floured so that your final pasta noodles won't stick together.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
- Run the pasta sheets through the Pasta Cutter Attachment (pictured is the fettuccine cutter). Repeat with remaining dough. Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes.
Notes
adapted from Serious Eats
Any substitution for so many eggs? Would like to eliminate as many as possible.
I don’t know of any, but you can use Zucchini as noodles. ?I also like Spaghetti Squash noodles.
Excellent result, easy to follow instructions.
I’m glad your pasta turned out well!
This recipe has become my go to recipe for every kind of pasta I know how to make.
I tried another recipe a few months ago that was highly rated. It was a complete disaster. It took so long to clean my pasta attachments.
I’ll stay with this recipe since it has never failed me.
I’ve probably rated this a few times but it deserves all the stars.
Hi Sharla, I’m so glad you had pasta success!
i will get revenge
Recipe looks great, but what does this mean…?
This recipe is wonderful! Made some v yummy pasta the other week 🙂 I’m wondering if I could use spelt flour instead of all purpose next time? X
Love this recipe for homemade pasta noodles – has anyone tried it for ravioli using the same method but layering the sheets and cutting with a ravioli cutter? Wondering if it’ll hold up the same way once filled. Thanks!
Hi Sarah, yes! We call for this dough in our butternut squash ravioli recipe, and it works great. Feel free to sub another filling if you’d like!
It was very pickalicous
I have made this recipe just yesterday and it’s a big hit ! I would like to know more storage options so perhaps I could freeze ?
I would like to know the ratio of eggs to flour if I want to make the recipe for one person .
Thank you
Hi Flori, you could try making one-third of the recipe, using 1 egg and 2/3 cup flour, but for the best results, I’d recommend still making the full recipe. You can freeze any pasta you don’t want to eat right away. You can cook it straight from frozen in the future!
Can i use the knead attachment on my kitchen aid mixer? (This is what i do when i make bread)
Hi Ashley, it’s a really tight dough so I find it easiest to knead by hand.
This is simple recipe that yields excellent results. Not time intensive either.
Thanks!
Hi Dave, so glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you so much! I’ve been dreading using my pasta maker since I first got it and Augenlid to make spaghetti. It came out broken and crumbly. You woke me up to the settings on my machine and with my garden tomatoes, stewed and Napster with fresh basil, it made for an absolutely amazing dinner!
After traveling to Italy this summer and taking a cooking class, I wanted to make my own pasta when I got home. First two recipes were a fail. This recipe is the only one I will use from now on. So easy to work with and so delicious. I’ve used it make thin spaghetti, fettuccini and ravioli. LOVE this recipe.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Amazing recipe! I’m a newbie to pasta making & I’ve used this recipe 4x in the last 2mo. The only thing I did different was scrambled the eggs in a bowl before adding to the flour nest and that seemed to work better for my skillet. I also tried adding flavored olive oil ( lemon herb butter 1x and basil another time) & it tasted amazing.
Could I make this in bulk batches and freeze?
Hi Jessica, yes! The homemade pasta freezes well. No need to thaw before cooking—you can boil it straight from frozen.
I don’t have plastic wrap. Could I use a kitchen towel over a bowl, like rising bread?
Foolproof recipe with simple flavor and great texture. Tried with both OO and All Purpose flour and they were nearly identical in my family’s blind taste test. Make sure you knead it enough!
Hi Will, so glad the pasta was a hit!
I LOVE this pasta recipe, I use it every time I need to make pasta, I also make this to give as gifts!
I’m so happy to hear it’s been a hit!
More than likely, I have probably already reviewed this pasta dough recipe.
This recipe makes the best pasta dough! I’ve tried a few others and always come back to this one.
It’s perfect especially for an amateur like myself.
This is the perfect combination of ingredients for silky homemade pasta. Thank you.