This homemade spinach pasta recipe is easier than you might think – and it’s the perfect accompaniment to a classic fettuccine alfredo or red pasta sauce!
In a hurry? Click here to jump straight to the recipe!
I seriously can’t say enough about my love for my new pasta rollers
I make a ton of fresh pasta every two weeks-ish now, which is amazing. I used to have to plan an entire Saturday for pasta-making because my little hand crank took so long, made such a mess, gouged a hole in the bottom of my table with the screw-attach-y-thingy, and hurt my back from bending over the crank.
Me and my old pasta roller could totally be in one of those infomercials as the miserable scene in black and white before the new, cool thingamajigg arrives. And then this new pasta roller comes in, and everything turns to color a la Wizard of Oz, and suddenly my life is GOLDEN.
But seriously. Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. PLUS, I crank my mixer’s speed up super high and the pasta basically flies through the rollers. It takes me less than ten minutes to roll and cut a whole batch.
My friend Maddie (Hiiiiii, Maddie) just got the cutest dog EVER. Which totally doesn’t help curb my give-me-a-puppy-right-now affliction.
But, see, even if we did get a dog, we’d have to fight over a million names for it. Kyle really wants a dog named Ramekin. You know, like the ceramic baking dish. Totally serious. He also wants a dog named Odysseus. His reasoning is that those are really good names to yell into the wind. “RAMEKIIIIIIINNNNNNNN!!!!!” You get my drift. Very “SPARTAAAAAA” a la 300.
Personally, I’d also like to have a teacup pig. Because 1. pigs are the coolest and 2. they are cute and small (even though apparently they get kind of big eventually- WHAT) and 3. I could get it little rain boots. And we could have a dog named Ramekin and a teacup pig (his name will be Snake, because he’s tough and cool and would probably have tattoos and a motorcycle if he was a person) and they could be best friends. These are the dreams I have for my life. Yup. I’M THE COOLEST.
Anywho. Maybe I should talk about this pasta a bit. It’s super good. You can taste the spinach, but it’s nice and subtle rather than overpowering. Also, the pasta is this GORGEOUS green color. How fancy.
I also saved some of this spinach fettuccine dough for a batch of cheese-filled spinach tortellini, which were kind of amazing. That recipe will be coming later this week, so stay tuned! In the meantime, you can wolf down some of this fettuccine and, if you’re anything like me, google cute puppy pictures while you make a mental list of all the things you should be doing instead. Because WE ARE THE COOLEST.
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 recipe simple white sauce or mushroom garlic sauce (or whatever sauce you’d like! Be creative)
- Boil 4-6 cups of water in a medium-sized pot. When water has come to a boil, add a pinch of salt and toss in the spinach. Cook for 3-5 minutes until spinach is wilted and bright green. Drain the water (I actually just pulled the spinach out with some tongs) and place the spinach on a paper towel or tea towel to cool off and dry a bit (about 10 minutes).
- When spinach is cool enough to handle, toss it in a food processor with salt, pepper, and the flour. Pulse a few times to chop up the spinach, until the flour turns a light green color.
- Add eggs one at a time, pulsing for a few seconds in between each addition. When all eggs have been added, stream olive oil in while the processor is running. The mixture won’t totally come together in the food processor – it should be a bit mealy, but when you pinch the dough together it should stick!
- Pull dough out of food processor onto a lightly floured cutting board. Knead it with your hands for two or three minutes until the mixture comes together and forms a smooth dough. (Note: if your dough is too dry, knead in a bit of water to help it come together. Too wet? Knead in a few teaspoons of flour!)
- Put one handful of the dough at a time through a pasta roller, starting on the thickest/widest setting and working your way down to a thinner setting, until it reaches your desired thickness. I use a KitchenAid pasta attachment and roll my dough until it’s a #5 thickness. (Side note: I actually can’t believe how much I’m in love with this electric pasta roller. I’m making pasta every two weeks instead of every few months because it is just SO quick and easy. Plus, cleanup is a breeze. Kyle, you are the best gift giver ever! I don’t think I can ever go back to a hand crank after this attachment).
- Once you’ve rolled the dough to your desired thickness, run it through the fettuccine cutter attachment on your pasta roller (if you have one). If you don’t have a pasta roller, roll the dough out with a rolling pin and slice it into strips with a paring knife.
- Cook the pasta immediately for 5-7 minutes in salty, boiling water and top with a sauce of choice. I like to cover it in this simple white sauce…YUM. If you don’t want to eat right away, let the pasta dry for a few hours on the counter or freeze it for a quick meal anytime!
Delicious! Thanks!
Hi Stephanie, so glad to hear you enjoyed the dish!
I adapted this recipe so it could be kneaded by my bread machine (use 3 eggs & e Tbsp olive oil. Worked beautifully and very tasty recipe!
I’m so glad you liked it – thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
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