How To Make Homemade Pasta Without Machine

Name: How to Make Pasta Without Machine
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 3 min
Total time: 33 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 300g flour (and a little more for dusting the counter); 100g semolina flour (and a little more to sprinkle over the fresh pasta); 4 large eggs

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If you want to make homemade pasta without machine, this recipe is for you! We have developed the perfect recipe for fresh pasta dough that uses simple ingredients and that is extremely easy to make without a pasta maker. You can even get the kids involved!

Here is an easy homemade pasta recipe you can make without machine and use with several of our pasta recipes. And we would highly recommend making oyster mushroom pasta and tomato sauce fettuccine using this handmade pasta recipe.

Close shot of nested fresh pasta dough strips.

Can you make pasta without a machine? This might be the question in your mind. Our answer is a big YES! Aaand it’s not as hard as you think.

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Why We Like This Recipe
About The Ingredients
How To Make
How To Cook
How To Store
Expert Tips
FAQs
More Pasta Recipes
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

Why We Like This Recipe

It only uses a few ingredients. All you need is flour, semolina flour, and eggs. These ingredients are easy to find and very affordable, arguably saving you money in the long run.
It is a very easy homemade pasta recipe to make. This recipe doesn’t require any extra steps. All you have to do is mix, rest, roll, and shape, then finally cook the pasta.
To make this homemade pasta, no machine is needed! All you need is a rolling pin and your hands!
The recipe is very versatile. It can be used to make virtually any type and shape of pasta you want.
We store some of the fresh pasta we make and it’s a great option when we need a quick meal.

About The Ingredients

The following ingredients are for a basic pasta dough recipe. No matter if you use a pasta maker or not, make your perfect homemade pasta with these basic ingredients.

Flour in a large mixing bowl, semolina flour in a small bowl and eggs accompany on a grey background.

Flour: Can you make pasta with plain flour? Yes, you can! The most common type of flour people use at home is all purpose flour. It is easy to get your hands on, very affordable and has enough protein to help develop nice gluten strands.

If you don’t know what flour to use for pasta making, you can just go with plain flour. Also, you can look for "00" flour if you want to make it like a pro. This Italian milled flour is known to be the best flour for pasta making. 00 flour is very refined and creates a silky pasta with a still al dente texture.

We use a mixture of two different flours in this recipe: plain flour and semolina flour. And the result is always great.

Semolina Flour: Semolina flour helps add some heartiness and a rougher texture to your pasta. This will essentially help sauces cling to the pasta much better. It also has a fantastic gluten content which is essential for making your own pasta.

Eggs: Always use large eggs to make a fresh pasta dough recipe. They help enrich diy pasta, give it a beautiful color, and most importantly, help make the dough soft and elastic. It is the binding ingredient that helps hold together the flours while you knead the dough to develop the gluten.

How To Make

This recipe explains perfectly how to make pasta without a pasta machine. It is so easy that even your kids will be able to make it! You can use this homemade pasta dough to create virtually any pasta shape and even use it in a wide variety of delicious dishes!

Flour in a glass bowl and eggs in the middle of it.

First, combine the ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and semolina. Make a hole in the center of the flours and break the eggs directly into it.

Flour and egg mixture in a glass mixing bowl and a fork inside it.

Then, using a fork or the tips of your fingers, combine the ingredients until a dough forms. You can use your food processor for this step.

Homemade pasta dough covered with plastic wrap on a grey background.

Second, knead and rest the dough: Knead the dough on a lightly floured clean work surface for roughly 5 minutes or until you get a smooth dough ball. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rest in the refrigerator.

Third, divide and roll the dough. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut it into 4 pieces. Grab a piece of dough and cover the rest with a kitchen towel.

Pasta dough rolled out in an oval shape and a rolling pin on it.

Lightly flour the surface so that rolling the pasta dough is easier. Roll it out and try to give it an oval or rectangular shape. Make sure to roll the dough into a thin pasta sheet that is also even in thickness.

Pasta dough sheets piled, one sheet rolled and cut, three nests of dough strips and a knife on a grey background.

Fourth, shape the dough. Sprinkle a little flour, or preferably, semolina flour over the dough and cut it into 4 or 5 long strips. Use a very sharp knife or a pizza cutter. Grab one strip and roll it up before cutting it into thin strips. Repeat with the remaining strips. You can even make various pasta shapes without a machine.

Sprinkle some more semolina flour over the freshly cut pasta and gently separate the strips with your fingers. Sprinkle a bit of flour on a baking sheet and place them in portions on it. Then let them dry for about 15 minutes on the floured baking sheet before cooking. They keep their shape better this way.

How To Cook

Cooking freshly made pasta is extremely easy and will take much less time compared to store-bought dry pasta.

Boil the water: Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Make sure to season the water with some salt. We also like to add some olive oil to the water to help prevent the strips from clumping together while they cook.

Cook the pasta: Add the pasta strips to a pot and allow them to cook for roughly 3 minutes. The thinner the strips, the less time it will take for them to cook. Thick pasta will take longer to fully cook.

Drain the pasta and use it immediately to make delicious pasta recipes like fettuccine with salmon, parmesan pasta or sun-dried tomato pasta.

How To Store

After learning how to make pasta without a pasta maker, it is time to learn how to store it.

You can dry uncooked fresh pasta: Place the pasta in a single layer on a baking sheet and leave it uncovered in a dry area for 12-24 hours. It should be completely dry and crispy after this time. Turning the pasta nests or shapes over every few hours will help them dry evenly. If it is still bending when you twist, keep drying. Then, store in airtight containers at room temperature for several months.

You can freeze your freshly made uncooked pasta: Place the pasta strips on a baking sheet for 15 minutes so they dry out slightly – this will help prevent them from sticking too much. Then, place the dried pasta into airtight containers or bags and store them in the freezer for up to a month. You don’t need to defrost when you are ready to cook. Just throw them into the boiling water.

Store in the refrigerator: If you simply want to keep it a few days, place the uncooked fresh pasta strips inside an airtight container and keep it inside the fridge for a couple of days.

If you have already cooked the pasta, we wouldn’t recommend freezing it. Rather place it in an airtight container inside the fridge and use it within a couple of days.

Expert Tips

We knead the dough by hand, but you can use a stand mixer if you have one. Make sure to use the dough hook attachment.
Lightly flour the dough as needed. Then you can easily roll it out.
Let the dough rest when you are making fresh pasta from scratch. It helps relax the gluten strands which will make it easier to roll out later. If the gluten isn’t relaxed, the dough will tear when you are trying to roll it out.
Cut the sheet of dough on a floured surface.
A pizza cutter works best for pasta cutting.
Semolina flour works best to help prevent the fresh pasta strips from sticking to each other. So sprinkle some over them.

FAQs

Should I dry fresh pasta before cooking?

Yes, it is better to let the homemade pasta sit for 15 minutes on a lightly floured tray and then cook. They keep their shape better.

Why is my homemade pasta chewy?

This happens mainly because of two reasons. The first is that your pasta hasn’t been rolled thin enough – especially when making a homemade pasta recipe without machine! Evenly thinly rolled pasta is essential to help the entire piece (and collective group) to cook evenly. Otherwise, the outside will overcook while the inside is still chewy.
The second reason is that the pasta isn’t cooking properly. You have to make sure to use a pot that is large enough to leave enough space for all the pieces to cook in boiling water.

Does all homemade pasta have eggs?

Virtually every homemade pasta has eggs. The most common types that don’t contain any eggs are commercially made dry pasta, however, they contain a bunch of chemical stabilizers.

What can I make with pasta dough scraps?

Don’t throw away any remaining dough pieces! You can re-roll it once or twice to make more pasta, however, most people use it to make other pasta shapes like bow-tie. Alternatively, you can dry them and keep in the fridge to use in soups like lentil spinach soup or chicken noodle soup. Just add them in the simmering soup. Those pasta dough scraps will give a nice thickness and flavor to your soups.

More Pasta Recipes

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📖 Recipe

How to Make Pasta Without Machine

Nested long strips of fresh pasta on a grey background.

Print Recipe

Fresh pasta made with 3 ingredients and a rolling pin.

Author: Zerrin & Yusuf
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Total Time: 33 minutes
Yield: 6
Category: Side Dish
Method: Cooking
Cuisine: Italian
Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

300g flour (and a little more for dusting the counter)
100g semolina flour (and a little more to sprinkle over the fresh pasta)
4 large eggs

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk flour and semolina. Make a hole in the center and break the eggs into it.
Use your fingers and combine flour and semolina with eggs.
Sprinkle a little flour over the counter and transfer the dough on it.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until you get a smooth ball.
Wrap the dough ball with plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for 30 min.This will help the gluten in the dough come out and rolling out the dough will be easier.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut it into 4.
Grab one of the balls and cover the remaining balls with a kitchen towel.
Sprinkle a little flour on the counter and roll the dough ball out oval or rectangular shape and as thin as you can.
Sprinkle a little semolina flour over the dough and cut it into 4 or 5 strips.
Grab one of the strips. Roll it up and cut it into thin slices. Repeat for the remaining strips.
Sprinkle a little semolina flour on the freshly cut pasta and separate the stripes with your fingers and put them in portions on a floured baking sheet.
Let them sit for 15 minutes before cooking.
Cook fresh pasta in boiling water in a pot for 3 minutes.(See the notes below for storing).

Notes

We knead the dough by hand, but if you have a stand mixer, you can make the dough in it using its dough hook.
We use a rolling pin because we don’t have a pasta maker. And it works just fine. Just lightly flour the dough as needed and roll it out as thin as you can.
Semolina flour is better to prevent fresh pasta strips from sticking to one another. So we dust the freshly cut pasta with semolina flour.
If you want to store some of the fresh pasta you make, you can do so.

To keep it in the refrigerator: After letting the fresh pasta strips sit for 15 minutes, put them inside an airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

To dry the pasta: Place the pasta in a single layer on a baking sheet and leave it uncovered in a dry area for 12-24 hours. They should be completely dry and crispy after this time. Turning the pasta nests or shapes over every few hours will help them dry evenly. Then, store in airtight containers at room temperature for several months.

To Freeze the pasta: Place the pasta strips on a baking sheet for 15 minutes so they dry out slightly – this will help prevent them from sticking too much. Then, place the pasta into airtight containers or bags and store them in the freezer for up to a month. You don’t need to defrost when you are ready to cook. Just throw them into the boiling water.

Nutrition

Serving Size:
Calories: 224
Sugar: 0.2 g
Sodium: 48 mg
Fat: 3.7 g
Carbohydrates: 36.4 g
Protein: 9.9 g
Cholesterol: 124 mg

Keywords: homemade pasta without machine, homemade fresh pasta