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
Awesome, thank you. First timer and I’m hooked.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Can you mix this in kitchen aid stand mixer with paddles and run pasta through pasta maker not pasta roller kitchen aid attachment?
I have kitchen aid pasta maker that attaches to mixer.
Hi Linda, the dough is too stiff to work in the mixer, it’s best kneaded by hand.
Are we supposed to unfold the pasta before putting it through the linguine roller?
Hi Ann, no it goes in folded – the reason for the folding is so that the sheet (now that it starts as a rectangle instead of an oval) will be a more even shape when you put it through the cutter. The folding step is not 100% necessary but it keeps the edge pasta noodles from being much shorter and wispier than the middle noodles. I hope that makes sense!
Loved this recipe. For me I had to add an extra egg as well as double the amount of oil and some water to make it work but that was probably because I wasn’t kneading my hand and instead was using my kitchen aid mixer to knead but it came out fabulous. Question though: could I dry out the noodles in the sun and store it afterwards or should it be dried inside the house?
Pasta recipe turned out great! I was a bit nervous as it seemed like it wouldn’t bind; but if you stay with it, it worked!! Had to use a few sprinkles of water to bind it though. Will definitely use this recipe again!
I’m glad you liked it! You did everything perfectly, it’s best to start out too dry because if it starts out too wet you can’t really go back.
Have used this recipe several times. The pasta is very good, but I always do have to add a good amount of liquid to get it to come together. Maybe my eggs are routinely too small? Comes out great with that adjustment for me.
I made these for my Asian Grandpa Mr Alistair they really reminded him of home!! Back in Malaysia.
Very nice! i like it very very much!
My husband loved it, he’s picky. Light, delicate and delicious!
Iam glad!
I used this to make spaghetti noodles and covered it in my families home made sauce recipe. YUM! Easy to follow recipe and easy to make. Came out really well. I’ll use this again to make lasagna noodles!
I put in an extra egg yolk and a tablespoon of water and it came out beautifully ❤️✨
I have made this numerous times now! I use Caputo 00 flour. My family will now no longer eat pasta from a box. This recipe and the kitchenaid mixer together make pasta making fun and delicious!
I’m so glad you and your family have loved it so much!
am wondering is other than grain flour can be used?
what about cassava or something similar?
Hi Tanya, I would specifically search for grain free pasta recipes – it likely won’t be a 1:1 swap.
thanx for the response. will look it up.
How many ounces of fresh pasta does this make?
Once the noodles are made can they be frozen? Or frozen after cooking?
Hi Sherri, I haven’t tried freezing them either way so I’m not sure. I’ve gotten this question a lot so I’ll try it next time I make these.
yes can easily freeze them, if doing noodles (fettecini, or spaghetti) heavily flour after cutting them and gathther them into a small pile then usually stuff 4 piles into a ziploc bag
Once the pasta noodles are made can they be frozen? Or frozen after cooking?
Good
Looks so delicious, my entire family loved it, I will definitely try it your way, looks seem easy to make, hope so :D. Thanks so much for this guide. Looking forward to seeing more recipes.
Instead of doing it by hand can you use a mixer?
Hi Michelle, this dough is very stiff so it’s best done by hand.
1st time making homemade pasta. Great recipe!