Homemade Egg Noodles

Making homemade noodles, especially Amish-Style egg noodles, are very easy to make and you don't need any special equipment. I will never go back to store bought egg noodles after finding out just how simple it is and it doesn't take that much time. In fact, I made the egg noodles for my Chicken & Noodles while the chicken was cooking. All you need is a few ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry and refrigerator as well as a sharp knife, a rolling pin, and a plate or a large bowl.

I took a pasta making class from an Italian chef and applied all the tricks and techniques to this recipe and the noodles were perfect.

These homemade egg noodles are great for homemade chicken noodle soup or any noodle soups for that matter. What I love most about making my own homemade noodles is I can make them as wide or as thin as I want to and I control the thickness. This same recipe can be used to make thicker style noodles like are sometimes used in chicken and dumplings. You can leave them long or cut them for shorter noodles, depending on the recipe.

Once you make your own fresh noodles, you may not go back to store bought!

Ingredients & Substitutions

Ingredients

I used all purpose flour in this recipe, but another great option would be 00 flour, which is often used in making pasta noodles.

I have not tried this recipe with Gluten Free flour, so I'm not sure how it would work. If you want to try to make it gluten free, use a gluten free flour that is 1:1 substitute for all purpose flour. It needs to have the extra ingredients like xanthan gum or another binder for it to work. I understand that (affiliate link)Bob's Red Mill has a very good Gluten Free Flour.

Things like coconut flour or almond flour will not work on their own.

Eggs

I used whole eggs in this recipe, but many people make their homemade egg noodles with just the egg yolks or 1 whole egg and a couple of extra yolks. This will give a brighter yellow color to the noodles and a richer taste.

You can skip the eggs in the recipe and replace them with olive oil and water, but of course they won't be egg noodles, it would be regular pasta.

Water & Salt

I like to add a little salt into my egg noodle dough, but you can omit it if you prefer. I use a fine grind sea salt, so if you are using table salt, you will want to reduce the amount to ½ teaspoon. Many people rely on salted water to flavor their noodles and that works great if you are simply boiling the noodles to make buttered noodles, but because I add them into things like chicken soup and chicken and noodles, I like to add the salt as I make the dough.

Water is used to hydrate the flour and bring all of the other ingredients together. You can omit the water, which I understand many Amish recipes for egg noodles do and replace all the liquid with eggs.

How to Make Homemade Egg Noodles

Mise En Place

• Measure out flour and add in some extra for flouring your work surface or adding to the dough as needed. I like to have at least 2½ cups.
• Grab a large dinner plate, a fork, an 8" knife or pizza cutter, a rolling pin, and measure out the remaining ingredients.
• Prepare a clean work surface that is fairly large so you can roll out the dough. A clean countertop works great.

You can certainly use a pasta machine to roll out the dough, but I kind of like the old-school way of using a rolling pin. You can also use a pasta drying rack, but it isn't necessary.

Making the Dough

I prefer to make the dough by hand and it only takes 5-10 minutes, but you can use your stand mixer, if you prefer.

Add 2 cups of flour to your plate and make a well in the center. Crack one of the eggs into the center and add about ⅓ of the salt. Using the fork, start to whisk the eggs into the sides of the flour. Add a little water at a time and continue to use the fork to whisk the flour and eggs with the water.

I learned the plate trick from the Italian chef who taught me how to make homemade pasta and it's genius. If you "break the dam" by bringing too much flour into the center, you don't have to worry about your liquids running all over the place, the plate keeps it all contained.

Once the flour is mixed with the first egg and water, add in the second egg, ⅓ of the salt, and a little more water. Repeat the same process until the dough starts to thicken up. Using your hands, bring the the rest of the flour from the edges of the plate into the dough and fold to incorporate.

The dough will be very sticky at this point and it's time to start adding in more flour, but only add in 1-2 Tablespoons at a time. If you are like me and can't stand to have sticky dough on your hands, put 1-2 Tablespoons of flour into your hands and "wash" your hands over the plate. By that, I mean rub them together like you would if you were washing your hands under running water. This is another trick I learned from the Italian chef it works great to remove all the sticky dough from your hands and get it back where it needs to be, on the plate.

I usually use about 2 ½ cups of flour when making this recipe, but go by the texture of the dough more than measurements. Continue to incorporate the flour 1-2 Tablespoons at a time until the dough is soft, but not too sticky. This is when I remove the dough from the plate and move to a larger work surface that is lightly floured. If the dough is still a little sticky, add 1 Tablespoon of flour at a time until you have a dough ball that is soft and pliable, but not tacky. It takes about 5-10 minutes to make the dough.

If the dough is sticking to your work surface, add a little more flour to the work surface.

It's best to wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let the dough rest 15-30 minutes, but I usually don't. The resting time will relax the dough a bit and make it easier to roll out. You can also put the dough into the refrigerator, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap if you are making the noodles later in the day or the next day. Just make sure to bring the dough to room temperature before trying to roll it out.

Rolling the Dough

Cut the dough ball into 4 equal parts and cover three of them with plastic wrap.

Make sure your work surface is floured and press out the small dough ball. Roll the dough with the rolling pin. The dough should be a large rectangle and you can roll to any thickness you want.

If the dough is sticking to the work surface or to the rolling pin lightly flour the work surface and the dough. You don't want to incorporate the flour into the dough at this point, just sprinkle it on top and on the work surface.

I like to get it to about ¼" thick and I can start to see my hands through the dough.

Cutting the Noodles

Once the dough is your desired thickness, it's time to cut the noodles. There are different ways you can go about cutting the noodles, but my favorite way for nice and even noodles is the scroll method.

Lay the pasta sheet on a lightly floured surface and begin to roll from one end until you reach the middle. Then repeat from the other side until you meet in the middle. It will look like a scroll.

Trim off the ends so they are even. Cut straight down through the scroll and how far apart the cuts are will determine the noodle width. I usually make the cuts between ¼-½" apart. However, you can make the closer together or further apart, it all depends on your desired width and how you are using the noodles.

Once the scroll is cut, slide the flat side of your knife under the noodles and flip the knife so the noodles unroll.

Place the cut noodles on a lightly floured surface and cut them to the desired length.

Once cut, lightly dust the noodles with flour so they won't stick together.

Or, you can skip the scroll method and simply use a pizza cutter or long knife to cut the noodles to the width and length you want. Either way works fine, but I prefer the scroll method because it's so fun to watch the noodles unroll and it makes them very uniform in width.

You can use them right away or store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a day or so.

You can also freeze them, but I recommend spreading them out on a parchment-lined cookie tray or sheet pan and freezing for 4 hours before placing them in a freezer bag for longer storage.

How to Cook Homemade Egg Noodles

You can use your homemade egg noodles in any recipe that calls for dried egg noodles, but you can also use them to make buttered noodles as a side dish.

Fresh egg noodles weigh twice as much as dry egg noodles, so if you are using them in a recipe that calls for dry egg noodles, you will use twice as much. 8 ounces of dry egg noodles is equal to 16 ounces of fresh noodles.

To cook as a side dish or to pair with your favorite sauce, bring a large pot of water to a boil. You will want to salt the water to add flavor to the egg noodles.

When the pot has come to a rolling boil, drop a handful of noodles at a time into the boiling water and give a little stir so they don't clump together. Repeat until all the noodles are in the pot.

Boil for about 8 minutes or until they have reached your desired texture. Drain the water from the noodles.

Add butter, salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. Serve & Enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions

Recipes that compliment your Egg Noodles

Egg noodles are delicious when they are boiled in salted water and dressed with simple butter, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. However, they can also be used in other ways.

Use them in your favorite beef stroganoff recipe or instead of rice in beef tips and rice. Use them with pasta sauce or marinara or in the ultimate comfort food, Chicken and Noodles. The possibilities are endless.