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. This Homemade Spinach-Basil Pasta is 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.
Ingredients and Equipment Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Ingredients
- Egg – This is used as the binder here.
- Water
- Fresh spinach leaves – I have only tried this with fresh spinach. I imagine frozen spinach would be too wet.
- Fresh basil leaves – You can find fresh basil in the produce section, usually next to the tomatoes. It will not be refrigerated like other fresh herbs, as it’s too sensitive for refrigerator temps.
- 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.
- Additional serving ingredients – As desired: olive oil, fresh lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, kosher salt, black pepper, etc. These are great with some sautéed cherry tomatoes and grilled chicken. Pesto would be delicious, too!
Equipment
- Work surface – 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.
- Blender or food processor – This dough can come together all the way in a high powered blender or food processor. You will need to puree your spinach and basil, but the rest of the process can be done by hand if you prefer.
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.
I’m using a Twister Jar, for my Blendtec Blender as seen below.
How to Make Homemade Spinach-Basil Pasta
- 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 can use any ratio of spinach to basil you prefer. 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. 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. I spray my silicone mat with nonstick cooking spray as well as my rolling pin and the top of the dough.
- 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.
Storing and Other Tips
- To store leftovers, toss noodles in a little oil to prevent sticking, then store in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-5 days for best results.
- 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can wrap the prepared dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate up to 24 hours. When ready to cook, allow dough to sit at room temp for 20-30 minutes before unwrapping, then just roll, cut, and boil.
You can also roll and cut the noodles, then allow them to sit out for 30 minutes at room temperature, form noodles into loose nests, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before boiling, or in the freezer for up to 2-3 months. Cook directly from frozen.
Yes. While I can’t promise every variety will behave exactly the same, we’ve had readers have good luck incorporating things like kale! Any mixture of herbs would likely work well, as long as you aren’t introducing a lot of extra moisture into the dough.
Not really. These noodles contain quite a bit of moisture, making them a poor candidate for safe drying, as they may mold.
You can try, but this dough is a little stickier than most pasta doughs and you may need to add extra flour, which could change the final texture. I recommend hand rolling and cutting!
Homemade Spinach-Basil Pasta
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
Pasta
- 1 egg large
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 cups spinach leaves loosely packed
- 1 cup basil leaves loosely packed
- 1 ¼ cups flour
For Serving
- extra virgin olive oil
- fresh lemon juice
- Parmesan cheese
- kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- 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 ¼ 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.
Notes
- You can use any ratio of basil to spinach, including all spinach and I would recommend up to 50% basil.
- 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.
- To store leftovers, toss noodles in a little oil to prevent sticking, then store in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-5 days for best results.
- Nutrition information is calculated for 1/3 of pasta recipe, without additional serving ingredients.
Questions & Reviews
That looks utterly delicious! Thanks for the blender method…haven’t seen it done that way yet.
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!!