This post will show you how to make gluten-free pasta with two ingredients and features a recap of my gluten-free pasta-making class. This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosures.
Yummy pasta.
Us gluten-free folk sure to love our pasta, don’t we?
OK, I know it’s not the healthiest food because of the white flour and high carb content, but when I prepare it at home, I use only fresh and clean ingredients and I slather it in a healthy tomato sauce to bump up the nutrition factor.
Plus, I’m not eating meat when I eat homemade pasta, which is a good thing for your body and overall health.
I love making homemade gluten-free pasta, so I decided to host a gluten-free pasta-making class in my home. We made gluten-free pasta (from scratch) and homemade marinara sauce.
I’d like to share a bit about how I make gluten-free pasta, from scratch, and share my recipe below with you too.
How to Make Gluten-Free Pasta from Scratch
Making gluten-free pasta is fairly easy if you use a gluten-free flour substitute that measures like real flour.
I personally use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour. It is the gluten-free flour I use in most of my baking recipes and it pretty much always works like a charm in all my recipes.
Remember, when baking gluten-free, you must use a mix of flours, starches and gums. Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour has measured out the perfect amount of each to make a wonderful gluten-free flour blend I’ve come to depend on.
Getting the measurement for my homemade gluten-free pasta recipe right took me some time. I had to find just the right mix of eggs and flour.
You’ll see (in the printable recipe below 👇) that I’ve settled up these measurements:
- 1.25 cups + 2 tablespoons of Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour
- 3 large eggs
- Pinch of Kosher salt
You combine the eggs and flour in your food processor until you get just the right texture. The mixture will be sticky but as you mix it a bit more by hand on your counter, you’ll be incorporating a bit more flour into the mix (so it’s good that it’s a bit sticky to begin with).
Once you have the gluten-free pasta dough made, sprinkle some flour on your countertop and spend about a minute incorporating a bit more flour into your dough. You want the dough a little wet but not sticky.
Most regular pasta dough needs to be kneaded for a few minutes in order to develop the gluten, but there’s no gluten here, so just a few seconds will do in order to get all the flour mixed in well.
Again, you don’t want your gluten-free pasta dough to be too wet because it will stick to the pasta machine rollers. Conversely, it can’t be too dry because it will crack and fall apart. Your gluten-free pasta dough needs to be just right. Getting the texture just right comes with time and practice.
At my cooking class, I showed everyone how to roll the dough through my electric pasta machine from Marcato. This pasta machine is something I think every gluten-free home chef should have!
I’m grateful that my mother-in-law purchased one for me as a birthday gift in the year following my celiac disease diagnosis – she knew how much I loved pasta, so this gift was perfect!
This pasta machine first works by flattening the dough into long, even lasagna noodles. Then you run the flat pieces through the pasta machine again and it cuts it into even strips. When you use a pasta machine, your pasta is uniform and just-right.
However, I know most people don’t have an electric pasta machine, so alternatively, you can roll out the dough with a rolling pin into a nice thin layer (on a floured surface, you don’t want the dough to stick), and then use a pizza cutter to cut it into even strips. Your pasta won’t be uniform, but it will still taste delicious. (Just be sure to make the dough thin so you don’t have a thick, doughy pasta.)
I encouraged my students to try rolling and cutting the dough by hand and in my electric pasta machine. There’s something special about seeing the pasta you made come out of the pasta machine for the first time… there’s quite a sense of pride, accomplishment and excitement.
Can you believe this pile of gluten-free noodles we created?!? Beautiful, right?
We boiled the noodles for about two minutes in heavily salted water and then they were ready to eat it topped with my homemade marinara sauce.
The Taste Test
These gluten-free noodles taste homemade, doughy and fresh. If you miss pasta and the store-bought pastas aren’t doing it for you, then try making your own, at home, from scratch. A little gluten-free flour, a few eggs and pinch of salt is all you need to have homemade pasta ready in minutes. Enjoy!
Two-Ingredient Gluten-Free Pasta Dough
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour + a little extra flour for workspace
- 3 large eggs
- Kosher salt (pinch) for boiling water – do NOT add to pasta dough
Instructions
- Add 1 cup + ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour and eggs to a food processor using the dough blade. Mix well until dough forms. Do not overwork dough.
- Remove dough from food processor and place on a floured surface.
- If dough is sticky, add a sprinkle of flour and knead the dough for 30 seconds until the texture is still wet but not sticky. Remember, gluten-free dough doesn't need kneading since there is no gluten to develop.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and set aside as you prepare your pasta machine or workspace. You want your dough to stay moist and air will dry it out.
If Using a Pasta Machine:
- Work dough in batches (I divide into four balls).
- On a floured surface, use your rolling pin to slightly flatten one the dough so it fits through your pasta machine.
- Run the slightly flattened dough through your pasta roller on the largest setting (0), working dough in batches. Then run the dough through the roller on setting 1, then setting 2 until you have lasagna strips to the desired thickness.
- Now run the dough through pasta maker on the linguine or spaghetti setting to get your dough cut just right. Set dough aside and repeat until all dough is cut into desired thickness and strands.
If Rolling Dough by Hand (no pasta machine):
- Cut dough into four sections and roll out first section on a flour surface until desired thickness.
- Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into pasta strips and set aside. Make pasta strips as even as possible (use a ruler to help you cut straight edges if you like).
- Work dough in batches until all dough is in desired shape.
Cooking Pasta:
- Add unraveled pasta strands to salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Do not overcrowd pan (work in batches if necessary depending on your pan size). The pasta cooks fast so watch it carefully and be ready to remove the pasta from the water quickly to avoid overcooking it.
- Drain and rinse noodles with cold water. Serve immediately with your favorite sauce.
Notes
- When making the dough, remember you want it to be wet but not sticky. It must be wet enough to work with, but not too wet that it sticks to the pasta machine or your countertop.
- To get the pasta looking so cook, I'll often cut off frayed edges. I'll use leftover pasta dough and run it through the pasta machine again until I use up all the excess dough.
- Cook pasta in batches. It may stick together when boiling, so you want to make sure you don't overcrowd your pot.
- To prevent pasta from sticking together once cooked, coat it with a drizzle of olive oil. The oil will keep the pasta from sticking and mushing together. Ideally you would eat the pasta right away after cooking. The taste and texture is the best right after boiling the pasta in water for 1-2 minutes.
Nutrition
You could try it! I haven’t tried it yet with the APF
My daughter was recently diagnosed with an allergy to wheat and rice. The Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 has rice flour but his All Purpose GF doesn’t. Do you have suggestions about using that? Thank you!
I am SO excited to try this recipe out – I might actually finally invest in that pasta machine I’ve been eyeing off! I hate the fact that being gluten free restricts us from so much home-cooking, and home-made things like pasta. But if this recipe is as good as it looks, I’m glad that will be able to change! xx
I haven’t tried but so let us know if it works!
can I use black bean flour?
Regular pasta can be frozen after it has been cut so I see no reason why this can’t. We use to dry regular pasta and store it on a shelf even with eggs in it but there was not as much problem with food recalls because of contamination so I would not do that now. The frozen is better. More like fresh. You put the pasta into little serving size piles and freeze it then put it in a freezer bag to store. Bring it to room temperature on the kitchen counter before you cook it or use the microwave.
I’m excited for you to try it. Enjoy!!
Thanks so much for the easy pasta recipe. Can’t wait to try it. I’m going to check if Bob’s One to One has zantham gum so I can add it to the one-for-one that I’ve been using. I’m not home, now, and i can’t remember the name of mine.
You can mix with a fork and then knead by hand. Put your flour on a clean surface, carve a hole in the middle of the flour to hold your eggs, then incorporate the flour into the eggs little by little with a fork.
What would work instead of a food processor?