This recipe has been on the site for years. And for about the same amount of time, I've felt like I needed to give it better photos. Making pasta at home doesn't have to be hard. In fact, I believe it's one of those items that after you make it a few times, it becomes easy. It might take a few tries to get the feel of the dough right. But once you do, it's fresh pasta whenever you want. And trust me, the flavor is so much better (or I should say, there is a flavor!).
You don't really need fancy tools to make pasta. But I love having an attachment for my stand mixer and a pasta drying rack. Or, if you don't have a stand mixer, you can always try out a pasta machine.
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Step away from buying store-bought pasta with this easy homemade whole wheat pasta. This pasta can be made with or without a pasta maker and is ready in about 45 minutes!
Tips & Tricks:
You can make pasta without an attachment, use a rolling pin to flatten into thin sheets. You want a dough that is not sticky but also not too stiff.
The more I make this dough, the more I realized I needed to add more flour. If you're hand rolling, you can do without the extra flour but for machines, the dough cannot have any stick to it. This is especially true if you're using an attachment to make macaroni or rigatoni. I've had to go up to 2 1/2 cup of flour to insure the right pasta consistency. Go by feel, test a bit of dough and if it sticks, add more flour.
Nutrition: See the information
This whole wheat pasta recipe is really my one and only. In fact, any time I make pasta, it's this recipe. From there, I can doctor it up as I desire. I usually find myself adding black pepper but you can really play with the flavors. However, this pasta is great as is, just the simple whole wheat pasta has a nice flavor. You can also try your hand at a Semolina (vegan) version or a gluten-free version as well.
Add-ins: This recipe serves as a great base. However, I love to add fresh herbs into the pasta, a hefty scoop of black pepper, or even cooked spinach.
Flours: I usually stick with white whole wheat flour but einkorn, spelt, or farro flour work as well (einkorn makes wonderful pasta). Also, regular whole wheat flour will work as well- I just find the white whole wheat a bit easier to work with.
Play with shapes: this pasta is perfect for ravioli, long noodles, and even short noodles. You don't need special tools because ravioli, long noodles, and even some short noodles are easily made by hand.
Recipe originally published on April 26th, 2010. Last updated on November 8th, 2015.
The pasta looks fantastic!! I need to make some pasta this week.
Beautiful photography of the pasta making process! I think I definitely need the pasta attachment to my kitchenaid now!
I love my kitchen aid attachment and would highly recommend it!
I love my kitchen aid attachment and would highly recommend it!
Thank you for such a great recipe. Sometimes it's too easy to go with white pasta. I definitely want to try this.
[...] What you need for better pasta: - Salty, salty water. Boil your water and then add enough salt to where it resembles sea water. And don’t add olive oil! I think people add olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking, but this only keeps the sauce from absorbing into the pasta. Instead, stir your pasta every now and then to prevent it from sticking. - Don’t overcook! When pasta is cooked for too long, it tastes rubbery. Take your pasta out of the boiling water a little on the early side, when it’s al dente. - Make fresh pasta! It’s not that hard, I promise, and it’s just so much better than boxed pasta. I have an Imperia Pasta Machine with a bunch of attachments, but having a machine isn’t completely necessary – you can also roll the dough and just cut it. My favorite dough to make right now is black pepper whole wheat pasta. [...]
I think it does! It definitely has different taste and texture but I think it adds to the meal!
[...] I found. I’m not sure which one she used, exactly, but when I looked them up, I found one at Naturally Ella that looks very similar to the one we had. I won’t post the whole thing on here because it [...]
[...] Whole Wheat Pasta (or Ravioli!) Marshmallows Granola Fruit Leather Kettle Corn Homemade Larabars [...]
what flour did you use
will this dough go through the macaroni/spaghetti attachement? I don't have the flat attachment.
Hi Mary, Apologies for the delay. If you can roll it out thin enough, you might be okay. I use the flat attachment to knead and flatten the down into wide noodles and then after that I run it through the spaghetti attachment.
Can't wait to try this recipe! I was wondering, how long would the pasta last after you dry it out? Like, how long can I keep it before I use it?
Hi Jess,
I've never really tried to keep pasta- I always use it fresh right after making. But from what I've read, several months as long as the pasta is completely dried. I've also been a bit paranoid about homemade pasta with eggs but Fine Cooking has a quick overview on that (http://www.finecooking.com/item/11717/dried-egg-pasta-hidden-danger-or-perfectly-safe).
Homemade pasta - makes any pasta dish extra special. I find the process very therapeutic as well 🙂
Oh how I love homemade pasta! Not just because it's pasta, which makes it great anyways but also because it's one of those store-bought staples which you can actually quite easily make at home. I think I'll just have to go and make a batch right now - it looks to good 😉
I've made homemade dumling style pasta many times but I've never tried doing it all perfect and beautiful with a pasta machine. Thanks for inspiring me to try this!
Amazing! I've been eating store bought whole wheat pasta for such a long time but I suspect that I'm seriously missing out on the real deal!
Homemade pasta. It sounds amazing. I have never made my own pasta but I think I will try this.
I've always fretted about my counter being clean enough, or having a board that as big enough, and then I see that you just put down what looks like parchment? Mind blown. I have actually never considered this before.
Just what I was looking for! I want to get back in to making pasta. I never really dried it though, in the past. How long does one dry it for?
I've always used it fresh but The Kitchn has good info on drying it and I agree with some of the commenters- I let it dry until I'm done making it, toss it with flour, and then freeze it. I've never stored it at room temperature because of the raw egg!
Thank you for the fast reply! 🙂
using whole wheat always causes it to fall to bits when I try to roll it through. I haven't gotten the knack of it after many tries. I need help!!! any tips for me?
I've found the white wheat works better than the hearty/grainy brown wheat and I've also found a bit of extra moisture helps- you don't want the dough to be stiff. Just add enough flour for it to not be sticky because you can always add more if needed. Hope that helps!
I tried this recipe to make lasagna noodles and it worked like a charm! Now I was wondering how much spinach you add to the recipe? And do you alter anything else?
Thank you!
PS: The site wouldn't let me give you 5 stars for the recipe? I would have done so otherwise!
I usually wilt about 4 ounces on spinach, chop it well, and add it into the pasta. You will need a little extra flour but it's great! (and oh no! What browser are you using?)
I'm using Chrome. Thanks for the recipe! It's so easy and delicious!
PS: It just let me give you 5 stars. No clue. But now it works..?
I want to make home made pasta. I have kitchen aid stand mixer. Problem is we are total vegetarian,we don't consume eggs. Is there an alternative for eggs? Thanks.
Yes- you would just use water: http://minimalistbaker.com/homemade-vegan-pasta/
Do you just put the dampened towel directly on the dough or you put the dough on a bowl then cover it?
I just put it over the dough.
This worked perfectly! I left the Salt out of the dough, as I've heard this can lead to tough cooked pasta (I heavily salt the boiling water instead for flavor). I'm glad I looked for a recipe for whole wheat flour! I'll be using this more than all purpose flour. Next up: semolina.
Hi, I have a question: How much olive oil do you use while making the dough? I mean when you make the well and whisk the eggs with olive oil? I couldn't find it in the recipe.
Hi Ally- sorry about that. I recently updated the recipe and removed the olive oil- I found I didn't need it in the dough. I've updated the instructions to reflect!
Oh, I see 🙂 It's totally okay and thanks for the quick reply!
Mine is resting right now, I measured the flour on my scale ... and wound up having to put in an extra egg ? Of course I don’t know what I’m doing or what too stiff or bouncing back means ? so we shall see ??
The recipe misstates the weight of the flour. One cup of flour weighs 128g. So 2.25 cups is 288 grams, not 315. I used the 315g stated in the recipe and like you had to add an egg, plus some more flour. With 4 eggs, the ratio would suggest using 384g.
I’m new at making pasta. I just got a mill to make my own flour and going to give this recipe a whirl!
My question: Do you know if there is an adjustment for high altitude? More egg, less flour? Happy cooking all!
You might need extra egg or egg yolk-the key is moisture. Are you going to use a pasta roller or roll by hand? I've found with some pasta tools (like a kitchen aid attachment) the dough needs to be tough- so it would be a balance between moisture and non-stickiness.
This is absolutely delicious and will be my go-to recipe going forward. I used a scale to measure the flour and had to add water in order to incorporate all of the flour, but after an initial panic it turned out great! Next time I’ll try slightly reducing the flour added at the beginning. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much for basically starting with the recipe and not making readers scroll down 5 pages filled with stuff nobody needs to know (like WAY too many food bloggers).
This is a solid recipe with good ideas and I really enjoyed making it.
Good Job!
This recipe is perfect as is, although I will add pepper next time, as it sounds delicious. I thought I put too much flour in initially, as the dough was quite stiff. However, after rolling it out, I found it was perfect to work with and the pasta came out great! Thank you for a great recipe.
Hi! Thank you for the share! But I have a question what can I use to replace eggs?
We were planning to do this week but without the attachment -- just a rolling pin. Given this, should we stick with the whole wheat white or would it be better to switch to whole wheat pastry dough.
Excited to try this!
I've done by hand with the white whole wheat with success!
To avoid eggs just add vital wheat gluten, fabulous results
Hi Ella, I was wondering if you use OO strength flour? Thanks 😊
I don't- I tend to use freshly milled spelt or whole wheat flour.
I wanted to make whole wheat pasta for my 8 month old baby without salt. This recipe was super easy to follow and the pasta came out perfect, even without the salt. My little one loved it. I tried fettuccine. Will try ravioli next time for the family too. Thank you !
Ended up having to throw away three eggs and 1 3/4 cup of flour because it ended up being way too flaky and wont become a dough. What a waste of food
Works great!