Possibly the most dramatic of pastas, pasta nero or black pasta, died with squid ink, is easier to make than one might think. A tablespoon of ink for every cup of flour and egg is all you need. How to serve it? Try our Pasta Nero recipe, full of bold Mediterranean flavors: kalamata olives, peppadews, capers, mint, and others.
Using beets to dye your pasta red or pink not only makes them look cool, it adds an earthy level of flavor. We know what a quarter of you are going to say: "But I HATE beets." The beets mainly lend their color to the noodles, and while there is a level of earthiness to be had with these noodles, they don't really taste like beets. We paired ours with a rich mole sauce and venison to really complement the earthy tones in our Roasted Beetroot Pasta with Mole & Braised Venison recipe.
The key difference between spaghetti and ramen noodles is alkaline. True ramen noodles are made with alkaline salt (you can find it at most asian markets), however: baking your standard, household baking soda in the oven for an hour will get you the same result. Check out our Wild Boar Ramen recipe for a homemade ramen noodle how-to.
Rice flour, tapioca starch and boiling water are all you need to be on your way to homemade rice noodles. Snag our Rice Noodle how to from our Pho recipe. Oh, and make sure you don't boil these things - just steam them (they're like Houdini when they hit boiling water).
What makes spelt pasta different from standard egg pasta? Spelt flour, duh! Still, don't be too quick to substitute spelt flour into your next pasta making adventure. Spelt flour makes for a stiffer dough, so our flour:egg ratio is different, plus we added a little olive oil. Our Spelt Noodle recipe is a two-fer: we also show you how to make bowtie noodles.
Like spelt pasta, whole wheat dough is slightly tougher to work with. Again, we change our egg:flour ratio and this time add a little wine to get the more elastic pasta dough texture that will be more friendly to your hands and your pasta machine.
Soba noodles, aka buckwheat noodles are a thin Japanese noodle often enjoyed cold. They're made with... you guessed it: buckwheat flour, in addition to a little all purpose and some water (no eggs in this one). Let our Homemade Soba Noodles with Peanut Butter Banana Sauce recipe be your guide.
Most of our list is comprised of traditional styles of pasta that have been around for years: ramen, whole wheat, rice noodle... This one we made up (though we're sure we weren't the first to dream them up) and we think they deserve the same fan fare as their more traditional counterparts. The key to these noodles is, of course: sriracha, but to pack the heat & bold garlic notes true to pure sriracha, you'll need a little help from a few more ingredients. You'll find them in our Sriracha Noodle How To (and also in our Stir Fry recipe).
True: you could just make spaghetti and call it lo mein. But the key to our super umami, ultra delicious lo mein is soy sauce. Both in the dough and in the boiling water. Check out our Lo Mein recipe for all the details.
You don't much need a recipe for this. Combine a cup of flour, an egg, and your favorite herb(s) to make the dough. Need some inspiration? Try our Garlic & Parsley Noodles (part of our Pasta Carbonara recipe) or Italian Herb Pasta (part of our venison stew recipe).
