Making pasta at home is easier than you think. The dough itself comes together with a few ingredients that you’re likely to already have on hand. Other than that, all you need are tools. But narrowing down what to buy is the hardest part. Should you buy a hand-cranked pasta machine, or is it smarter to splurge on an electric model? Do you need a ravioli pin, or will a tablet suffice? What about a drying rack? To figure out which pasta-making tools you really need, we asked six pasta-makers and professional chefs to walk us through everything they use to cut, shape, and cook all sorts of freshly made pasta, from fettuccine to ravioli. And to help you find the tools you’re looking for, we’ve organized the products according to when you would use them in the pasta-making process, starting with tools for working with dough, followed by tools for making pasta, tools for drying and storing pasta, and tools for cooking it. (If you know what type of tool you’re after, simply click on any of the links above to jump straight to that section.)
At the most basic, you will need a kitchen knife and a wooden rolling pin to make egg pasta such as tagliatelle, and just a knife to make vegan pasta such as orecchiette and cavatelli. If you want to spend a little money, then invest in a dough scraper for the knife, and a longer rolling pin.
Tools for making pasta
For most people making fresh pasta at home, an electric pasta machine is overkill. But even if you’re getting a modest analog pasta-maker, it’s important to invest in the right one. Pasta machines are basically made of two rollers, which start at a wider width, then taper inward. “As you reduce the space in between them, that’s what makes the pasta sheet get thinner and thinner, and the calibration on those two rollers is very, very important,” explains Linda Miller Nicholson, the author of Pasta, Pretty Please and the “pasta artist” behind the Instagram account Salty Seattle. “Even if it’s a 64th of a millimeter off, you’ll have one side of the pasta sheet pulling and being a little bit more narrow, whereas the other side doesn’t grab it quite as much.” That will leave your pasta more prone to tearing, which will undo all your hard work. One brand that has very much solved this problem, according to Nicholson, is Marcato Atlas, an Italian company that has been making pasta machines since 1930. Marchetti is another fan of Atlas’s hand-cranked machine, telling us “it’s efficient and especially useful for people with repetitive-strain issues.” According to Marcato Atlas, the machine as is can make lasagna, fettuccine, and tagliolini (and you can buy accessories that let it do even more).
If you do want to invest in an electric machine, Sankofa says this one is “durable and consistent.” And he would know: He says the Imperia is what they use at ESO to make fresh tagliatelle, telling us the machine can cut up to ten pounds of pasta per hour.
If you like the idea of an electric machine but don’t want to shell out so much money, consider the pasta attachments you can buy for your KitchenAid Stand Mixer. The catch, of course, is that you have to own the mixer, but if you do, Feinstein says, this is a nice option. “In all honesty, I use a manual one at home,” she says, “but this works well if you’re really looking for that efficiency.”
If you want to make textured pastas, you’ll need something with a ridged surface to roll the dough over. Marchetti says that in the Abruzzo region of Italy, where her family hails from, “pretty much every cook has a ‘rigagnocchi,’ or a textured board on which to roll and shape gnocchi.” Her favorite rigagnocchi is this one from Fante’s, which can also be used for making garganelli, a hand-formed pennelike pasta. Such a board gives whatever pasta you make on it a texture that “is perfect for catching sauce,” adds Feinstein.
According to Marchetti, this larger cavarola board is used the same way as her favorite rigagnocchi board; it just has a crosshatch pattern instead of ridges. “Beyond shaping gnocchi and cavatelli, the cavarola can also be used to make pretty patterned sheets of pasta that can be used for lasagna, ravioli, or noodles,” she explains. The board’s designer, Terry Mirri, was one of the first to produce artisan-made pasta tools in the U.S., Marchetti adds.
If you have your heart set on mastering ravioli, Nicholson recommends this tray, which is easier to use than a ravioli pin and creates less waste. “The ravioli tablet actually has the perforations on an overlay,” she says. “You roll a pin over, and the pin, in conjunction with those perforations, actually cuts the ravioli in one movement, rather than having a step to cut afterward.” Feinstein adds that if you don’t want to spend money on a ravioli tray, you can use a cookie cutter or a fluted cutter to make square ravioli (more on that below).
You can use spoons to make filled pasta, but a piping bag will help you work much more evenly and efficiently. “For pasta, you don’t need the tip attachments,” says Feinstein. “Just cut the corner off.” If you prefer a reusable bag, we recommend this one, which comes in multiple sizes.
These round stainless-steel cutters are great for making tortellini and cappelletti — pasta shapes that start with circular pieces of dough that are then shaped. But Nicholson says they’re just nice to have in the kitchen: “You can use them for everything — biscuits and cookies and pasta and making funny Halloween shapes of things for my kids. They come in very handy.”
Another pasta-making tool that’s worth investing in is a rolling cutter. “You wind up using them so much that you don’t want the cheapo, stainless-steel ones,” says Nicholson. Also, because those lesser-quality ones are “not ergonomically comfortable, they don’t have the ability to cut nearly as well.” That’s why she likes this brass one with a wooden handle, which is heavy enough to smoothly and evenly slice through dough without tweaking your hand unnecessarily. Thomas McNaughton, the author of Flour + Water: Pasta, calls this rolling cutter “a must” and recommends applying mineral oil to the handle as soon as you get it to help prolong its life; he says this tool can last for generations.
If you want a bunch of even strips or squares of pasta, this funny-looking gadget will get the job done very efficiently. “There are a lot of flimsy models out there,” says Feinstein, “but this one is super-sturdy, stays tight as you work, and is easy to adjust. I’ve had mine for several years.”
Stackable drying tray with net
Although drying pasta and letting it rest on a sheet pan is more than sufficient for most types, Nicholson says filled pastas like ravioli and other delicate shapes may be better placed on a food-drying tray with a net. “Even if you’re lining the sheet pan with parchment and sprinkling it with semolina, if you’re working slow and you have it out at room temperature, filled pasta will still occasionally stick to the parchment,” she explains. “These airy drying racks circulate airflow beneath, and they’re very handy for room-temperature drying over a period of time — say, like an hour, hour and a half.” This dryer is also nice for a little nest of tagliatelle, Nicholson adds, since the airflow ensures that “it doesn’t clump down there on the bottom like it would with a sheet pan.”
The Best Manual Pasta Machines for Fresh Homemade Pasta
FAQ
What piece of equipment is used to pick up pasta?
What materials are needed for pasta?
What equipment is used to boil pasta?
What are the best tools and equipment for making pasta?
This article lists the best tools and equipment for making pasta. Of course, the basics: a pasta machine, pasta cutters and rollers, a drying rack.. but what else do you need to complete your pasta toolset? Some of the tools in this list really are must haves – especially the pasta maker and the pasta cutter.
What are healthier alternatives for pasta?
Regular pasta is made with refined wheat flour, leaving these noodles with scant levels of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Here are six pasta alternatives to traditional pasta which can be enjoyed with out sacrificing vitamins, minerals, proteins and carbs. They are, Zucchini noodles, Squash noodles, Quinoa pasta, Rice pasta, Black bean pasta, Shirataki noodles. Spaghetti squash is an excellent pasta substitute. Spiralized vegetables is an healthier substitute to pasta.
What are the best pasta making gadgets?
For example, one of the best pasta making gadgets is an Imperia pasta maker. Imperia pasta machines are found in professional kitchens all over the world. But don’t worry – this one is small enough to fit in your kitchen at home!
How does a pasta machine work?
This simple machine attaches to your countertop or table and comes with a hand crank that helps push the pasta dough through a sort of press. You can adjust the press to create different thicknesses, allowing you to control how thin or thick you want your sheet of pasta dough to be. Most pasta machines come with 1-6 or 1-8 thickness settings.