A simple old-fashioned recipe for making egg noodles. Just 4 ingredients and no mixer or machine needed to make your own at home! Recipe includes a how-to video!
I’m very aware that it’s not particularly easy to find a lot of staples in the grocery store right now. Bread, milk, and pasta are scarce. As is toilet paper. Life’s a little crazy, to say the least.
I’ve been trying to share recipes that you can make when you can’t find what you need in the grocery store. Earlier this week I shared my bread recipe (followed by yesterday’s toast recipe, thanks for everyone who had a good sense of humor on April Fool’s Day 😉). I’m working on a flourless cookie recipe and a yeast-less bread since I know those ingredients can be scarce.* Or expensive, my dad paid over $6 for a 3-pack of yeast sachets earlier this week!
That’s where today’s egg noodle recipe comes in. I know pasta can be tough to find right now, and traditional pasta can be difficult to make and often requires a machine. Today I’ll show you how to make your own egg noodles, perfect for using in any recipe that calls for them, or for boiling and enjoying with butter or your favorite sauce. No machine required.
How to Make Egg Noodles
There’s no mixer or machine needed today. Simply toss together flour, salt, eggs, and a splash of water and use a fork to work the ingredients together until you have a smooth, sticky ball of dough. Add more flour as needed until the dough is tacky to the touch but not overly sticky. Knead with your hands on a well-floured surface for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Let it rest, roll it out, slice it up, and you’re done.
How to Use
Egg noodles are versatile. My mom usually tosses them into her homemade creamy chicken noodle soup and they can also be used with beef stroganoff or any other recipe that calls for egg noodles. I like to cook them, drain them, and then toss with butter, black pepper, and parmesan cheese. Makes for a great side dish!
They can be used immediately after they’re cut or they can be dried and saved to be used later (more on that below).
To cook egg noodles, drop them into a pot of boiling, well-salted water. Cook until tender (they should still be a bit chewy after cooking). How long the noodles take to cook depends on how thick they are and the time can range from 5-15 minutes (or even longer!).
Tips for Making Egg Noodles
I’m going to try to type these tips as coherently as possible, but right now Luke’s experiencing what I can only imagine must be a 4 month sleep regression so forgive me in advance for any typos.
These Noodles are Foolproof:
Dough too sticky? Add more flour, as much as you need, until you get the right consistency. Accidentally added a bit too much flour? Another splash of water will fix things for you.
Rest the dough
This recipe calls for 20 minutes of allowing the dough to rest. This helps keep the dough from shrinking when you roll it out and results in smoother noodles.
When Rolling:
Work with just a portion of the dough (about ¼-1/3) at a time. While rolling out one portion, keep the others covered so they don’t begin to dry out. I like to use a pizza cutter to easily cut the noodles into strips (you can make them whatever width/length you’d like) but a sharp knife will also work.
Roll the noodles paper thin. They’ll plump up as they boil, so get them as thin as you can with a rolling pin. Unless you just happen to like fat noodles, that’s fine too. Keep in mind they’ll just take longer to cook.
Use additional flour liberally so that the noodles don’t stick to your surface, the rolling pin, or each other.
How to Make In Advance
Egg noodles can be made in advance and dried. To dry them you can lay them out over a clean towel or hang them on a pasta drying rack (some people even use coat hangers to dry their pasta, work with what you’ve got!). Once completely dried, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for several months.
Enjoy! And if anyone has tips for getting a 4 month old to sleep through the night, or at least part of the night, I’m all (a very tired set of) ears
More Pantry-Staple Recipes You Might Like:
- My favorite bread recipe
- Biscuits
- No-Bake Cookies
- Crazy Cake
- Bagels
*I’d love to know what kind of other recipes you’d like to see? More pantry staples? Or have you suddenly found yourself with a lot of free time and would you like to learn to master more difficult recipes, like French macarons or croissants? Prefer dinner recipes? Let me know, I want to share the things you’d like to see!
Are you more of a visual learner? Check out my YouTube channel where I show you exactly how I make this recipe step-by-step in my own kitchen.
Egg Noodles Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 2 ½ cups (310 g) all-purpose plain flour, divided, plus additional for rolling
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine 2 cups (250g) flour and salt and whisk together. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add your eggs and water.3 large eggs, 2 ½ cups (310 g) all-purpose, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 Tablespoon water
- Lightly scramble eggs with a fork and then use a fork to work all ingredients together until completely combined.
- Add additional flour as needed (you may need even more than indicated in the ingredients above) until dough forms a tacky (but not too sticky) ball.
- Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 5-10 minutes). Return to bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
- Once dough has rested, divide into 4 pieces. Take one piece (re-cover the remaining pieces), place on a lightly floured surface, and roll into a paper thin sheet with a lightly floured rolling pin.
- Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut into strips of desired width and length. Collect strips and dust with a bit more flour to keep from sticking together. Set aside and repeat with remaining dough.
- To cook, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add noodles to boiling water and cook until tender (how long this will take will depend on how thick or thin your noodles are, it can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes).
- Serve with desired toppings (I like to use butter, pepper, and parmesan).
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Diane L Mazurek
Tender, ez to make and absolutely delicious. Wonderful to make with kids? The best part is that they are versatile.
Ann HInner
Has anyone tried making these gluten free? You just can’t find good gluten free noodles, so I thought I would try making some for my daughter in law. Thanks for any suggestions.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Ann! We haven’t tried this ourselves, so we can’t say for sure how they’d turn out. Hopefully someone who has can chime in 😊
Staci
Do you use iodized salt or kosher when making a dough?
Sam
Hi Staci! I use just regular table salt. 🙂
Elsie
Love these so much
Kelly
So I grew up with my mom and grandma making these so I went searching the internet for a recipe and yours was the closest thing I’ve found. Your mom makes them like my family does. I’ve made them twice now but my dough isn’t thin and light enough. When I try to roll them out it’s too elasticy and I can never get it thin enough and my noodles always come out super thick. Any tips or ideas on what I’m doing wrong?
Sam
Hi Kelly! I’m so sorry this is happening. 🙁 It’s possible there is a little too much flour in them.
Deborah
Kelly, have you tried giving your dough an additional “rest” period? If it’s springing back while you’re rolling it out maybe try giving it 10 minutes or so to “relax” and then try rolling it out again.
Ines
Invest in a pasta machine to use whenever you need to roll out dough. I have a manual one and, in addition, I purchased attachments that go with my Kitchenaid stand mixer. I use my machine to roll out pasta, lasagna noodles, for cannoli shells, and even for my angel wings. You can control the thickness of your dough to your preference.
Dianna
Have you let your dough rest before cutting it? Maybe that is the issue that you are facing and they won’t be so elastic if left to rest for 30 – 60 minutes.
Sheep
I would really like a lemon bar recipe! 🙂
Sam
I will add it to my list! 🙂
Anna
Hi Sam!
About how much salt do I add to the water? Also is there a way to tell when the noodles are cooked?
Thank you! I’m gonna try this later! I love your recipes so much and they’re my go-to ones! Whenever I want to bake something I don’t look up what I want to bake and find a recipe: I go to your blog and search it! I really appreciate your work especially because of the lack of ingredients there are right now. Some blogs are just like ‘forget-it” bc they can’t find them but I love how you are making simple recipes that we can do without a large amount of ingredients.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for being a fan of my recipes, Anna. I am so glad that you have enjoyed them and have found them simple to follow. To cook your noodles immediately, add them to a pot of boiling water (a pinch of salt) and cook until tender to the bite, about 2-3 minutes.
Keep me posted on how they turn out. 🙂
Anna
Thank you! These came out absolutely DELICIOUS 🙂 My whole family loved it! I will definitely make this again.I’d eat these every day. My youngest sister is only 1 and she is crazy about these.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that everyone enjoyed them, Anna, including your little sister. Thanks for trying my recipe! 🙂
Terri D.
Sam, my grandma used to make an apple strudel with raisins. The dough was so thin you could read through it. There were many layers. I wish she was still here to teach me how to make it. I would love to create a recipe for this.
Sam
Hi Terri! That sounds delicious! I will have to see if I can do some research on something like that. I have never had it myself. 🙂
Lisa
I would love to make croissants! I’m with you on the sleep regression. My girl has gotten better this past week after getting up at 4 am every day for weeks! I was running on three hours of sleep a night and it was not fun. Of course our schedules got all messed up with my hubby and older ( and loud!) kids home now on lock down and getting her to nap during the day with so much chaos in the house is not easy. Here’s to some good sleep for you SOON. 😊
Also I couldn’t find yeast anywhere until I found Breadtopia.com. They had 1# bags of yeast for $5.95. They were out of stock so I signed up to be notified when they got some and it was only a day or so til they emailed me. Shipping cost quite a bit- I think $11- but I bought one each of the red label and gold yeast and I’ll be set for awhile now😁
Sugar Spun Run
I will add croissants to my list! Thanks for the recommendation, Lisa! Yes, sleep has been difficult and challenging. I hope that your little one gets back on track soon and you are able to catch up on much-needed sleep. Yeast has been so difficult to find, so hopefully, you get lucky with the site that you found. Thanks for commenting. Sending well wishes to you and your family! 🙂
JB
Try a recliner chair, chaise lounge or something of the sort to lock yourself into position (pillows help), especially if you move a lot while you sleep. Rest the baby across your chest and doze. Extra pillows next to you in case she squirms and rolls a bit.
Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for sharing, JB! I will give that a shot! 🙂
Beth Wall
These look AMAZING! After a serious binge for Easter yesterday (including your biscuit recipe – yum!), I think I would serve my family well by trying a nod to health today. Do you think these would turn out decently with whole wheat flour??? Here’s hoping…
Sugar Spun Run
I haven’t tried using whole wheat flour with this recipe so I am not certain how they will turn out. I think that you should be fine. The taste and texture will be slightly different, however. Keep me posted, Beth! 🙂
Greg
For your Egg Noodles; could I use a mixer with a dough hook and carefully jog it, to just mix the ingredients, then remove from the bowl to knead Also, if you wanted a buttery flavor could you add butter. If so, what would be your recommendation?
Sam
Hi Greg! You could make the egg noodles in a mixer. To flavor them, I would add flavoring when cooking. I wouldn’t add it to the egg noodle dough. 🙂
Kate
Babywise! My kids are bigger now, but I used it with all of them and it was a huge help. They were all great sleepers (still are) and I owe it to the principals I learned using that book. Highly recommend.
Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for sharing, Kate! I will check that out. 🙂
Beachh
I second the “Babywise” book recommendation. It’s all about schedules and caloric intake during the day to help the little ones (and Mommies) sleep through the night. Good luck and thanks for all this yumminess!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you for the recommendation, Beachh! 🙂
Beth Wall
Hear Hear to Babywise! All four of mine were sleeping through the night by six weeks. The only downside – they are now teenagers and sleep REALLY well all the time:) I mean all the time.
Karen
What about storage if I don’t want to use them right away? Do they need to be dried? Can they just be bagged? Love all your recipes!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you, Karen! Egg noodles can be made in advance and dried. To dry them you can lay them out over a clean towel or hang them on a pasta drying rack (some people even use coat hangers to dry their pasta, work with what you’ve got!). Once completely dried, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for several months.
Karen
Thanks!!
Emma
Oh my gosh Sam, this recipe is the bomb! The noodles are amazing and chewy and perfect! Best of all, it’s really easy to make! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Emma! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂