Let me just get one thing out of the way: I’m not the kind of girl who makes her own pasta. I don’t even bake my own bread. I like buying stuff at the store in nice convenient packages. So if you’re like me and saw this post title and immediately became uninterested, well turn around and become interested for 2 more minutes. I’m not suggesting you go all I-make-everything-from-scratch here. I’m suggesting you go all dude-I-just-made-my-own-freaking-noodles-for-dinner-because-I’m-awesome here. Making pasta sounds kind of scary, and most people think you need a big ol’ pasta cranker machine thingy and 7 free hours in a day, but it’s not so! Believe it or not (no, seriously, believe it) making noodles is actually sooooo easy. Like, 3 ingredient and 5 minutes easy. For real. It’s a super fun thing to try for a special dinner, or a fun project to make with your kids, or simply to learn a new skill in the kitchen so you can casually drop into everyday conversations things like, “One time, when I was making my own noodles from scratch…” My boys thought it was SO cool that we turned green goo into green playdough and green playdough into green noodles. Which we then ate for lunch.
You can make pasta by hand or in a food processor, so don’t worry if you don’t have any special appliances. You’ll see in my photos that I’m making mine in my Blendtec Blender. Blendtec just came out with this new Twister Jar. Those of you with Blendtecs, have you seen these yet?? You need one. It’s a smaller jar, you can see the size comparison in the photo below, and the tines at the bottom are designed to scrape everything of the bottom and reach all the way to the sides of the jar. It also has an extra lid with 2 prongs that go down. You can turn the knob on the lid as the blender processes and it scrapes everything off the sides of the jar and pushes it into the middle. The new Twister Jar is specially designed to make thick things like nut butters, thick ice cream and milkshakes, baby food, hummus, and doughs much easier to blend. It’s also great for smaller portions, like single serve smoothies or a little batch of salad dressing.
No, this isn’t an advertisement or sponsored post- I just want you to see how awesome the Twister is so you’ll want one. Just in case we ever give one way. Like tomorrow. What? You wish we’d give away 2? Okay. Huh? If you get a Twister Jar then you need a Blendtec to go with it? Fine, whatever. Two of those too. But only because you asked nicely.
So, super-powered blender or food processor, either one works. Pasta is super basic, we’ll start with an egg and a little water.
Add a big bunch of spinach, and if you like- some fresh basil leaves too. You need about 3 cups total; I use 2 cups spinach leaves and 1 cup basil. It all looks the same, so you can play around with that ratio if you want.
Just roughly tear up the leaves as you pop them in your machine.
Push the leaves down and pulse until it’s nice and smooth and vibrantly green. Scrape down the sides if you need to.
Then add a little flour. We’re just using regular all purpose flour here. Some pastas use semolina, others a blend of the two. All purpose white flour works great here and makes a very tender noodle.
Pulse that until the dough comes together and is well mixed, it should form into a ball on it’s own. If it doesn’t, no worries. Don’t add more flour, just scrape it into a ball yourself. If you’re making the dough by hand, you’ll still need to somehow puree the spinach and egg mixture, but after that you can use a fork to mix and then knead by hand.
The dough will be pretty soft, and a little sticky, but you want to avoid adding a lot of extra flour because that will make your pasta tough and we want to keep it nice and delicate. If you have a silicone baking mat, use that. I spray my mat with nonstick spray, and then I spray my rolling pin and the top of the dough with spray as well. If you’re using a regular cutting board (and not a silicone mat) I’d suggest a very lightly floured board and then spray top of dough and rolling pin with nonstick spray.
Now. Here’s the trick to homemade pasta, and you better be listening. You have to roll it thin. Like, paper thin. As thin as you can roll it without it breaking. It will plump up when it cooks, so if you cut it thick it ends up being chewy and gummy and then you’ll be mad at me. Make it right and it’s delish. Roll it thin and it’s soft and tender. I suggest rolling out half of the dough at a time so you can get it pretty thin. Just use a pizza cutter to slice thin strips. (Yes, I cut on my silpat– I’m crazy like that. Livin’ on the edge, baby! My pizza cutter is super dull so it’s no biggy. If you’re worried, get one of these.)
Simmer the noodles in salted water for about 5 minutes and drain. Make sure to liberally salt your water, there’s no salt in the dough so the water really adds flavor too. How fun is that color?
That’s it! You’ve got amazing homemade pasta. That you made yourself. With your own hands. Because you’re awesome like that. Make sure you tell everyone at least 8 times during this meal that you made the noodles yourself.
With a flavorful homemade noodle like this, I think it’s a shame to drown it in heavy sauce. So my favorite topping for this is a drizzle of olive oil, a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper, and a liberal amount of Parmesan cheese.
Right after I took this photo, I tossed in some roasted tomatoes and grilled chicken, and it was amazing.
It’s also super yummy with pesto.
Homemade Spinach-Basil Pasta
Recipe by Our Best Bites, Adapted from Blendtec
Ingredients
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
2 cups loosely packed spinach leaves
1 cup loosely packed basil leaves*
1 1/4 cups flour
For serving:
extra virgin olive oil
fresh lemon juice
Parmesan cheese
kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
*You can use any ratio of basil to spinach, including all spinach and I would recommend up to 50% basil.
Instructions
Note: This is a small batch of dough. If you are using a large food processor, you may want to double the recipe in order to get enough mass to process in your machine.
Place egg, water, spinach, and basil in a food processor. Pulse until smooth,
scraping down sides if necessary. Add flour and pulse until dough comes together into a ball.
Turn dough out onto either a very lightly floured cutting board, or a silicone baking mat that has been sprayed lightly with nonstick spray. Form dough into a ball and spray rolling pin with nonstick spray. Roll dough out into a very thin layer. It may be helpful to roll out only half of dough at a time. Roll as thin as possible and then cut into thin strips (about 1/4 inch wide.) Let strips sit for about 20 minutes.
In the mean time, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and boil for 5-7 minutes. Drain. Toss hot pasta with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and Parmesan to taste. Add other add-ins if desired. Also great with pesto, or with roasted tomatoes and sliced chicken.
Makes 9 ounces pasta, serves 4-6 sides or 2-3 main dish.
Nutritional Info for 3 oz portion (1/3 of total recipe, pasta only)
Calories: 218, Protein: 8 g Fat: 2 g Carbs: 40 g
Fo’ realz…you want a Blendtec? You want the Twister jar too? Be here tomorrow for details. If you leave a comment on this post trying to enter a giveaway that doesn’t exist yet, we can no longer be friends. Consider yourself warned.
Questions & Reviews
I love making homemade pasta! And I don’t find that using the kitchenaid attachment takes too much time though your method is much faster. And with spinach and Basil? That sounds like a great combine to try!
this is AMAZING!! I showed it to my dad and we can’t wait to try it out!!
XO Sahra
EffortlessCool
Wow! Had no idea making your own pasta was cool! 🙂
This looks delicious. You talked in one of your posts about how to add pasta to a soup without the pasta sucking up all the broth. I have looked everywhere and can’t find that post! Can you help me?
um, I’m not sure! Maybe we talked about boiling the noodles before hand?
One of my favorite memories was the first time my (then) new husband and I went to visit his grandparents. She had a tiny kitchen in a double-wide, a bowl, a spoon, and a rolling pin, and she made the most wonderful noodles I’d ever eaten! In my even tinier kitchen, I rarely get out all the stuff to make homemade noodles, but these might just get me to do it.
Have you ever made spaetzel? It’s even easier, since you don’t have to roll it out. I use the large holes in my ricer to make it.
WOW! I used to be able to buy a delish fresh spinach pasta in the market, but it is no longer available! Cannot wait to try this one! Thank you for all the wonderful ideas and instructions!
OH GREAT! No I totally want to run out and by the OXO pizza cutter! Thanks for making me want something I didn’t even know existed! 🙂 Cant wait to try this recipe
Two of my favorite things combined, spinach and pasta. Love it. Can’t wait to try this. On top of all that a giveaway tomorrow for a Blendtec Blender. I really want one of those. Thanks for making my day.
That looks utterly delicious! Thanks for the blender method…haven’t seen it done that way yet.
Itching for a Blendtec!
Heck, I’m itching for a new regular blender…. can’t wait!
Is there a way to make this and freeze it? Never made pasta so not sure if you could freeze it before or after cooking/partially cooking?
Yes! Once the pasta is cut, let it sit out and dry longer, like at least an hour. By then it should be dry to the touch and you can place in an airtight container or ziplock bag. You can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Thank you so much!! 🙂 Just made some (Ive never made pasta before) so it was pretty messy and not pretty like yours but VERY good!! Thanks for the recipe – my garden basil thanks you for putting it to good use today!
I tried to make my own pasta earlier this year and it was an epic fail. Maybe I’ll try one last time.
If it makes you feel better, my first try was an epic fail, too!
THis looks delish! I like to make my own pasta, but I am excited to try it with the addition of basil, yum!
My kids love pasta and I need a way to get more veggies into them, so so so going to try this recipe!
i have the same question as Ellie. how far ahead can you make these?
In case you didn’t see my answer:
Yes! Once the pasta is cut, let it sit out and dry longer, like at least an hour. By then it should be dry to the touch and you can place in an airtight container or ziplock bag. You can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
These look amazing and I can’t wait to try them but I have a question, Can you put a different veggie in there – like butternut squash? How much would I need to use? We grow a lot of butternut squash and these noodles mixed with butternut squash noodle — a match made in heaven!
Yes, you definitely can. I’m going to make pumpkin pasta in the next week or so, so I will report back!
Those noodles just look awesome! And to add fresh basil leaves in there too sounds delicious! Can’t wait to give it a try.
YUUUUUUMMMMMMM
I will definitely be back tomorrow but today I wanted to say thank you for helping demystifying the process of making pasta for others. I have to admit it is something I’ve done off and on for years (my grandma taught me when I was a girl but we made our noodles thick so they would hold up in her chicken noodle “soup”, it was more like a stew… so thick and filled with all matter of goodness!) Now I think I am going to have to make up so delicate pasta to be served with our leftover chicken for dinner on this blustery day! Thank you once again!!
This is definitely something I will be making with my girls. Do you think this would work with kale, in place of the spinach?
I tried making pasta a couple of weeks ago and committed the cardinal sin of not rolling it out thin enough, and, yes, I will agree with you that the product was gummy and chewy. My family still ate it though, thank goodness!! I can’t be a domestic goddess every night!!
My husband and I were so excited to get an Atlas as a wedding present this summer; we’ve made homemade pasta every Sunday since. I’m curious to see if this recipe will roll well or not, but the flavors sound delicious!
You guys are so great… And kind… And nice and giving and all things wonderful! 🙂 just hoping the noodles aren’t the only thing that I can butter-up before tomorrow’s big give away!
Ooh, question. Can you make the noodles earlier in the day? Would you leave them out to dry like dry pasta or would you cover and refrigerate so they stay moist? If I can make the noodles early in the day and just cook them for dinner, I might be able to try them today.
I’m totally going to go all dude-I-just-made-my-own-freaking-noodles-for-dinner-because-I’m-awesome, but not until next week because this week is crazy busy and then I have family coming into town and then we have the last of our 6-birthdays-in-one-month and as soon as that’s done I am going to try this. Cant’s wait!
I have just started making my own pasta and it is so easy. I can’t believe I have been buying it for so long.
Would my wildside jar work as well? I only have the small twister jar.
I’ve always made my pasta in a food processor but it never occurred to me to try it in a blender. And I’ve been itching to try a spinach pasta. Thanks for the idea. I will check back for the contest.
I never thought to mix dough in a blender! HUH! I make my own egg noodles for chicken noodle soup, and you’re right—it REALLY isn’t hard, gives it a more rustic feel, and is REALLY fun to brag about! Anyway, love this idea! This would be a great way to get my husband to eat his greens!!
AMAZING! Doing this very very soon!
Totally checking out the Blendtec giveaway whenever you post it. I’ve been secretly desiring one for about 2-3 years now. And, of course, that will save my husband $330+ if I were to win it!! LOL And I will totally make this if I win it!! Along with spinach ice cream, which will be the very first thing my kids request…seriously…..
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