When I was 23, I got my tonsils out during the last Christmas break of my college career and it was pretty much the most miserable two weeks ever. It didn’t help things that my doctor prescribed me steroids which, I didn’t know at the time but have come to discover since, make me ravenously hungry, but eating stuff hurt. So I ate noodles. A lot of noodles. When I’m sick or scared or sad or otherwise eating my feelings, it’s almost always in the form of noodles. When it comes to carbs, I can take or leave candy and most bread, but noodles are my ultimate comfort food.
My daughter got her tonsils out last week and I was fully prepared for an experience similar to the one I had when I got mine out. I mean, I know they say it’s harder for adults than kids, but she can be very mature sometimes and I was afraid that that maturity would manifest itself in the form of tonsillectomy recovery, but she was actually great. Fine. Very nearly unbothered by the whole thing. Until it came time to go back to school, and then she was suddenly incapacitated and also in need of noodles. She clearly is my daughter.
Chicken noodle soup is my favorite sick food ever. Ever ever. And really, I’m in it for the noodles just as much as anything else. My go-to recipe is this recipe from the darkest corners of the OBB archives. Up until about a year ago, I always used packaged noodles, but my ability to find my favorite noodles is fairly hit and miss, so I decided to learn to make my own noodles. I present you with my Rory Gilmore Pro-Con list of homemade noodles:
CONS:Â
-You have to, you know, make them
-They’re not as pretty. When I say “not as pretty,” I mean “pretty ugly.”
-They make a bigger mess
PROS:
-If you cook them before drying them, they don’t absorb liquid like regular noodles, so if you leave them in your soup, they’re less likely to soak up all the broth.
-It’s fun and highly satisfying to make them.
-They are surprisingly easy.
-They’re so delicious. Much like homemade tortillas, once you start making your own noodles, it’s hard to go back to not-homemade noodles.
You’re going to need 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, egg yolks, a whole egg, milk, and some cold water.
Whisk together the flour and salt. Make a well in the center
and add the egg yolks, eggs,
and milk.
Using a fork, start lightly blending the mixture until it is evenly moistened and looks pebbly (kind of like scrambled eggs.)
Drizzle water, about 1 tablespoon at a time, over the mixture and mix until it starts to come together in a ball (you’ll have to use your hands at some point.) Keep mixing until all the flour has been incorporated but it’s not overly sticky. It’s hard to add too much flour here–the noodle dough will take what it needs and leave the rest.
Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of flour on a clean work surface, having more flour handy if necessary.
Roll half of the dough out onto the work surface, flouring everything along the way (your hands, rolling pin, additional flour for the work surface, etc.) Flour is your friend here–at this point, the dough won’t take in any more than it needs, but it will keep your noodles from sticking to anything and everything. Any excess will just fall off in the cooking or drying process.
Roll the dough until it is paper thin, about 1/16″.
Using a pizza wheel, cut the dough into strips (anywhere from skinny to very wide).
You can also cut the noodles to the desired length, especially if you’re cooking them right away.
You can either cook these immediately in boiling liquid (about 2-3 minutes or until they pop up to the top) or drape them on a clean dowel or pasta drying rack and allow them to dry completely. When dry, break into pieces (or don’t if you don’t want to) Â and then store them in an airtight bag.
Cook for about 3-5 minutes or until tender.
Serve in your favorite noodle soup or with stroganoff, stew, or whatever else you like eating your egg noodles with!
How to Make Homemade Egg Noodles
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
2 tablespoons milk
1/4-1/2 cup cold water
Instructions:
Whisk together the flour and salt. Make a well in the center and add the egg yolks, eggs, and milk. Using a fork, start lightly blending the mixture until it is evenly moistened and looks pebbly (kind of like scrambled eggs.) Drizzle water, about 1 tablespoon at a time, over the mixture and mix until it starts to come together in a ball (you’ll have to use your hands at some point.) Keep mixing until all the flour has been incorporated but it’s not overly sticky.
Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of flour on a clean work surface, having more flour handy if necessary. Roll half of the dough out onto the work surface, flouring everything along the way (your hands, rolling pin, additional flour for the work surface, etc.) Roll the dough until it is paper thin, about 1/16″. Using a pizza wheel, cut the dough into strips (anywhere from skinny to very wide). You can also cut the noodles to the desired length, especially if you’re cooking them right away.
You can either cook these immediately in boiling liquid (about 2-3 minutes or until they pop up to the top) or drape them on a clean dowel or pasta drying rack and allow them to dry completely. When dry, break into pieces (or don’t if you don’t want to) Â and then store them in an airtight bag. Cook for about 3-5 minutes or until tender.
These noodles were wonderful. I’ve always been afraid to try to make noodles because I am not good at pastry dough! But these were a breeze. My husband loved them!
So glad to find your recipe. Just what was needed for dinner tonight. Quick and easy…and yes, a little messy. But it was completely worth it – every bite. Kids raved and I will keep this in my recipe book from now on. Thanks for sharing.
Just made these noodles. A whole lot easier than I thought! A tip from my mom-in-law is to lay the noodles out on a paper bag then put them in the oven at the lowest temperature to dry quicker. I did not do this because I had my beef soup ready to add the noodles to. Thanks I will keep this for future soups!
Hey Kate – check out this egg noodle recipe from King Arthur Flour: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2013/08/09/homemade-egg-noodles/
It uses a bit of baking powder and a food proscessor.
Surprisingly, these sound pretty easy to make…might have to try it out! TFS!
I made these the other night and they were delicious! I have always wanted to make noodles, but thought it would be too difficult without a pasta machine. Your recipe was easy to follow and the family loved them in my chicken noodle soup. Thank you! A couple of notes: I needed almost no extra water, the egg was almost enough by itself. I also used a half sheet pan silpat and wish I would have rolled the dough out in three batches and not two, so it would have fit on the silpat a little better. Last, it made enough for an extra batch to store for later. Thanks again!
Your timing is PERFECT! I have actually never had egg noodles before (please don’t ban me from the website;-) ), but I recently found a recipe for Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff Soup that calls for egg noodles. Since I’m “cheating” on the ease of the soup, I think I should try these out instead of buying a package!
My husband would always tell me about having chicken noodle soup at his grandma’s on Christmas eve and I didn’t know what the big deal was (we were Campbell’s soup people too.) I learned to make her soup before she passed and now I get it, homemade noodles make it amazing!!! They are the ultimate comfort food at our house too!
I cheat and make the dough in the food processor. I don’t even use the dough blade, just the metal blade. I pulse the dry ingredients, then add and pulse the liquid ingredients until the dough forms a ball. I have never had any problems with the dough and it’s so much faster.
I think they look lovely actually!
A little on the thick and doughy side but I am definitely going to give this a try!
Christine
http://www.meatiefoodie.blogspot.com
Of course, a few questions! Do you have any trouble cutting with a metal pizza cutter on your Roulpat? I’m always afraid to use any sort of knife on it, which makes cutting rolls, etc. such a pain since the Roulpat is totally awesome! Next questions, how long would you store the ones you dried? Should you freeze them or just leave them in their ziplock bag in the pantry?
I actually have a plastic pizza cutter that I use on my Roul’pat. And storing them in the freezer isn’t a bad idea at all–I’m a tiny bit paranoid. But SUPPOSEDLY they’re safe in the pantry.
If you want to cut more than one row of noodle at a time. I finally found a great one after years of looking. I have looked high and low for a good hand-held egg noodle cutter since my last one broke over a year ago. This one is made in Italy and imported through Fantes Kitchen Wares in Philadelphia. I has a wooden handle and steel to cut about 6 noodles at one time. I’m so excited to make some of my homemade noodles again. They are on the web, check them out for great supplies.
“Do no mock the pro-con list”. Love it.
So if you dry the noodles, how long do they keep?
They’ll store in the freezer for a LONG time–probably up to a year. That’s where I keep mine, but supposedly they’re safe in the pantry. But I’m not sure for how long. 🙂
I use a different egg noodle recipe every time i make chx noodle soup. I am so excited to try yours. My friend adds white pepper to her noodles. It adds a yummy pepper flavor without giving your noodles black speckles. Now if only the weather would cool off…
How important is the gluten (from the wheat flour) in this recipe? Do you have any idea how wheel it would work with a gluten free all purpose flour? I think what my daughter misses most since being diagnosed with Celiac is egg noodles.
It’s pretty essential–the gluten in the flour is what makes this dough so resilient. I’ll poke around the interwebs, though, and see if I can find a gluten free egg noodle recipe. 🙂
I found this recipe, but I have no idea if it’s any good or not:
http://glutenfreerecipebox.com/gluten-free-egg-noodles/
I also found these gluten free noodles that seem to have good reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gluten+free+egg+noodles&sprefix=gluten+free+egg%2Caps%2C251
(you can also buy them in bulk from walmart.com and are about $12 cheaper, at least right this second, haha.)
Good luck!
Ok I’m trusting you here! I’ve been wanting to try making my own egg noodles and this looks easy enough! Thank you for alleviating my noodle making fears!
Yes, I’ve had some epic noodle fails in the past, too. I was scared, but I’m not scared anymore, haha.
I tried making homemade egg noodles a couple years ago, and they turned out horrible! They were like big fat worms, and they turned GREEN when I cooked them. It was seriously scary. Thank you so much for this! I’m sure these ones will turn out great!
Green??? No! That’s crazy! I wonder what happened? Hahaha! I’m not laughing at you, promise. Just with you. 🙂
I love love love homemade noodles! My favorite was chicken & noodles as a kid, so yummy and comforting. I’m so glad you posted this, as the recipe I use calls for canned milk, part of a can anyway. So, I’m glad I now have a recipe that has stuff that I always have on hand.
Awesome!! Let us know how they turn out! 🙂
Rory Gilmore. You know how to put a smile on a girls face. PS. I love homemade noodles.
🙂
Rory Gilmore pro con list on the day Gilmore girls goes on Netflix!! Perfection.
I totally forgot!!! Celebration, haha!
I’m am old welder and I just jumped in here to say I love your noodles!! Thanks so much for being you! Michael
Thank you, Michael! 🙂
I had my tonsils out at about the same age as you. I thought I was going to die, literally. It was horrible. And the worst part was starting about 10 days after it was over, it just got worse…I’m so glad your daughter did well with it!
It is the WORST–like way worse than any of my c-sections. It took me forever to recover!!
Right now our house is on the market and we are getting ready to move and I teach early morning seminary and we’re getting ready for my son’s Eagle court of honor and my daughter’s baptism and company coming for the big events, but as soon as my life calms down I totally want to try making these. I’ve been doing a lot of 1 egg plus 1 egg white omelets and I’ve been throwing away the extra yolks, but this will be a perfect use for them.
Have you ever made them with all or part whole wheat flour? Do you know if it requires any changes to the recipe? Oh, and how many noodles does it make? Is this equivalent to a 1 pound bag?
I’ve never tried it with wheat noodles, but I’m almost positive you can even use all wheat flour. Once you get the hang of it, it’s a very forgiving recipe, so just play around with it and see what works! 🙂 And I’d say an entire recipe is about equivalent to a 1-pound bag–I usually use half of the noodles right away and dry the other half for later.
Thanks! I love it that you guys always answer our questions.
My second son had almost no pain following his tonsillectomy recovery either which blew me away!
Another way to cut the noodles is to roll the dough up and then slice (as if you are making cinnamon rolls, but way thinner slices).
Awesome tip!! Thank you! 🙂
Perfect! I was going to suggest the same thing but couldn’t think how to describe it. Roll the noodles and slice like cinnamon rolls. Way to figure it out of my head for me!
Sorry about the tonsils, not fun at all!!
But you blew me away with these noodles, don’t mind the ugliness at all, I’m loving how you said they won’t as easily suck up all the juices, how can that be? That is ALWAYS my struggle with chicken noodle soup, store bought noodles get HUUUUUUUUGE and ruin the soup. Thanks for this inspiration!!
Right?? It’s always more like chicken noodle casserole the next night. That no one wants to eat. 🙂
These look so good! Maybe I’ll finally try making my own pasta. What is that material you are rolling on?
It’s a Roul’pat–basically a silicone mat for rolling. 🙂
http://www.amazon.com/Non-Stick-Silicone-Countertop-16-5-Inch-24-5-Inch/dp/B00008T961/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412174822&sr=8-1&keywords=roulpat