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Simple Homemade Pasta

ByRosemary Molloy
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This Simple Homemade Pasta is made without eggs and only 3 ingredients. Perfect for adding to your favourite soup recipe or tossing with a homemade tomato sauce. Homemade fresh pasta was never so easy.

Fresh pasta on a wooden board.


 

This was one of the simplest homemade pasta recipes I ever learned, thanks again to my mother-in-law. She would make this type of eggless pasta to add to her Minestrone or Pasta e Fagioli recipes but of course you can serve it with a Simple Tomato Sauce or even tossed with olive oil and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

She was always make her homemade pasta by hand, no machine for her. That means from kneading the dough to rolling it out and cutting.

So of course I am showing her way, but you can definitely use a machine from mixing and kneading to rolling it out with your stand mixer to your pasta maker.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Flour – all purpose flour or semolina flour
  • Water – lukewarm water
  • Salt –

How to make A Simple Two Ingredient Pasta Recipe

In a large bowl add the flour, make a well in the middle and add the water and salt, mix with a fork to combine.

flour, water and salt in a glass bowl

Move the mixture to a flat surface and gently knead for about 3-5 minutes to form a compact dough ball. Cover the dough with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.

forming the mixture to a dough ball

Knead the dough a couple of times then roll it out on a lightly floured flat surface.

rolling the dough

With a rolling pin or pasta machine roll to a thin rectangle.

rolled until paper think then cut

Trim the pasta dough, then roll up from the short end.

roll the dough up

Cut the dough with a sharp knife or pasta cutter to the size you want, from pappardelle to fettuccine, thin or thick. Unroll the cut pasta and place on a lightly floured flat surface until the water boil. Then cook and serve with your favorite Spaghetti Sauce.

The dough sliced to make fettuccine.

So if you are looking for a homemade pasta recipe with few ingredients I hope you give this Simple Two Ingredient Homemade Pasta a try and let me know how it goes. Buon Appetito!

More Homemade Pasta Recipes

Pasta cut on a wooden board.
Pasta on a wooden board.

Simple Homemade Pasta

Rosemary Molloy
This Simple Homemade Pasta is made without eggs & only 3 ingredients. Perfect for adding to soups or tossing with a tasty tomato sauce.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 6 minutes
Resting Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 6 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4 servings
Calories 228 kcal
Print Recipe

Ingredients
 
 

  • 2 cups all purpose or semolina flour (320 grams semolina)
  • ½ cup + 2¼ tablespoons water (lukewarm 85F / 35C) (150 grams total, if doubling the recipe then double this amount)
  • ¼-½ teaspoon salt (depends on how salty you like it)

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl add the flour, make a well in the middle and add the water and salt, mix with a fork to combine, then move to a flat surface and gently knead for about 3-5 minutes, form into a compact dough ball, if the dough is too dry then add a little more water (1 tablespoon at a time).
  • Cover the dough with a tea towel or wrap in plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.
  • Knead the dough a couple of times, then roll it out on a lightly floured flat surface. Roll to about an ⅛ inch thickness, roll up and slice to make fettuccine or thicker or thinner or even into squares to add to soup. Cook in boiling salted water for about 6-7 minutes. Enjoy!

Notes

You can actually leave out the salt when making the dough, but be sure to salt the boiling water well before cooking.
When you are using a stand up mixer use the dough hook on speed 2 and knead for about 2-3 minutes. Then continue with the recipe.

What is the best flour to use

Probably the best flour to use for making pasta is semolina flour, which is a flour that is coarsely ground and made from a hard wheat called durum. Although if you can’t find this flour all purpose will work too.

How thin should the pasta be?

You should roll the dough to about 1/8″ about the thickness of pie dough for long pasta, and a bit thinner for stuffed pasta such as ravioli. Be sure to keep the dough well floured so they don’t stick together.

How Long Does It Take To Cook?

Unlike homemade pasta that is made with eggs, this pasta does take longer to cook, approximately 6-8 minutes compared to egg pasta which needs only about 2-4 minutes.
Be sure to cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. Pasta is cooked when it still has a bite to it, you don’t want it to become mushy.

How To Dry This Simple Pasta

Leave the pasta uncovered in a dry area for 12 to 24 hours, carefully turning it every 1-2 hours. The reason for the twelve-hour window is because various factors can affect how long your pasta takes to dry. From the temperature of the room to the thickness of the dough. 
A good idea is to place an electric fan next to your pasta to ensure it dries evenly. Be sure to switch the fan onto a relatively low setting.
Store the dried pasta in an airtight plastic bag or container in a dry cool place it should keep for up to 3 months. If mold starts to form, then the pasta should be discarded.

How To Store It

The homemade pasta can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.
To freeze the pasta, place the cut or shaped pasta well-spaced on a cookie sheet, then put it in the freezer to harden for a couple of hours.
When they are well hardened, put them in freezer safe bags or containers and freeze. When you decide to use them, boil them directly from frozen, stirring often. They may need a minute more to cook.
You can also freeze the dough ball, wrap in plastic and place in a freezer safe bag or container, let the dough thaw in the fridge then bring it to room temperature before rolling out. It will last up to 2-3 months.

Nutrition

Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 67mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 3mg
Did You Make This Recipe?Please leave a comment below or pin it to your Pinterest account!

Updated from May 1, 2020.

99 Comments

  1. I don’t recommend the 6 minute cook time if you’re making linguine. It’ll turn to mush after 1 minute if it’s thin

    The longer cook time works with thicker shapes

    Reply

  2. Hi Rosemary, I am so anxious to try this pasta recipe but I have to eat only gluten free…do you know if this recipe will work with a quality all purpose gluten free flour?

    Reply

  4. 5 stars
    Loved the absolute simplicity of this. I’ve used it for fettuccine (excellent) and also for ravioli – where it also worked admirably. Thanks.(Note: I’m in Australia – and nothing needed to be turned upside down!)

    Reply

  6. 5 stars
    Thank you! I made lasagna with the pasta and it was delicious. I was looking for a pasta recipe that didn’t use eggs. I was amazed how wonderful just water and semolina flour held together so sturdy to produce noodles.I used Kitchenaid mixer to knead for about time suggested.

    I didn’t use salt at all and the noodles still tasted great. Noodles you buy at the store don’t have salt so I thought I would try it.

    I have to watch my cholesterol and salt consumption because of health related issues.This recipe worked out perfectly!

    No more store bought for me unless time is an issue

    Thanks again
    Kathleen

    Reply

  10. 5 stars
    So easy and amazing! My husband won’t eat store bought after cooking with this recipe, entire family raved over it. Have done this recipe with lasagna and spaghetti and both turned out amazing! Game changer with fresh noodles!

    Reply

  11. 5 stars
    Easy to whip up, tastes good to me and my kids, and saves us money from not having to use expensive eggs. Thx!

    Reply

  12. Hi, your US measure vs metric measure don’t match – the US measure says 2 cups flour to half cup water, the metric measure says 250g flour to 120g water. Half cup water is about 80g. Which is correct, please? The water to flour ratio is key, need to know which… not sure how the other people worked it out..

    Reply

    1. Hi CJ, it is correct. I measure myself with my scale, which I just did again 🙂 1/2 cup of water is 120 ml (grams), And 250 grams of flour is 2 cups. Hope that helps.

      Reply

      1. 5 stars
        Thank you so much for the fast reply and the measurements! I did it yesterday it came out superb! Thank you for the recipe 💕

  13. 5 stars
    Thank you so much this recipe saved us today we had nothing for dinner and i googled what to do with just flower and came upon your recipe for pasta we have full tummys and it was so yummmmmmmmm!!!!! We need more recipes like this one looooooove it!!!!!

    Reply
5 from 133 votes (106 ratings without comment)

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