Fresh pasta needs only a few ingredients, but the rest and rolling stages matter. Keep unused dough covered, use flour sparingly and have the sauce ready before cooking the ribbons.
Cook · Recipe
Homemade Fettuccine
Fresh egg pasta made from flour, eggs and a little salt, rolled thin and cut into ribbons for a quick two-to-three-minute cook.
At a glance
Recipe summary
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 5 min
- Rest
- 30 min
- Total
- 1 hr
- Serves
- Serves 4
- Skill
- Moderate
What you need
Ingredients
Metric US Ingredient
250 g 8¾ oz plain flour or Italian 00 flour Plus extra for dusting.
3 large 3 large eggs
Pinch Pinch fine salt
15 ml 1 tbsp olive oil Optional, for a slightly softer dough.
How to make it
Method
- Tip the 250 g flour onto a clean work surface and make a wide well in the centre.
- Crack the 3 eggs into the well. Add the salt and optional 15 ml olive oil.
- Beat the eggs with a fork, gradually drawing flour in from the sides until a rough dough forms.
- Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add only a light dusting of flour if it feels sticky.
- Wrap the dough and leave it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into four pieces. Keep the pieces you are not using covered so they do not dry out.
- Roll each piece through a pasta machine, gradually reducing the setting, or use a rolling pin until the sheet is thin enough to see the outline of your hand through it.
- Dust the sheets lightly with flour, then cut them into fettuccine ribbons using the machine cutter or a sharp knife.
- Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil. Cook the fresh fettuccine for 2 to 3 minutes until al dente, then drain and serve with your chosen sauce.
Useful notes
Equipment
- Clean work surface or large mixing bowl
- Fork
- Pasta machine or rolling pin
- Sharp knife or pasta cutter
- Large saucepan
- Colander
Substitutions
- Use Italian 00 flour for a particularly smooth dough, or ordinary plain flour for an accessible result.
- Omit the olive oil for a firmer traditional egg pasta dough.
Allergen notes
- Contains wheat and egg.
Storage
Fresh fettuccine can be dusted with flour, formed into loose nests and refrigerated in a covered container for up to 1 day. It can also be frozen in nests and cooked from frozen. Cooked pasta should be cooled promptly and used within 2 days.
Tips
- Resting the dough is essential because it relaxes the gluten and makes rolling much easier.
- Work with one portion at a time and keep the rest covered to prevent a dry skin forming.
- Fresh pasta cooks far faster than dried pasta, so have the sauce ready before it goes into the water.