This 3-ingredient Spinach Pasta is incredibly easy to make! Use this spinach pasta dough to make delicious sheets of homemade ‘lasagna verde’ for Bolognese, silky ribbons of green pappardelle pasta, spinach spaghetti, tagliatelle, fettuccine, ravioli, farfalle, mezzaluna, tortellini, or any favorite pasta shape!
If you’re new to pasta making, you can watch the how-to-make spinach pasta dough video below!
What to Expect With this Spinach Pasta Recipe
In my Homemade Egg Pasta Beginner’s Guide, you learned how to make authentic Italian ‘pasta fresca’ (fresh egg pasta) the way my family here in Italy makes it. In this post, we’re making a slight variation of this basic egg pasta by adding purèed (or finely chopped spinach).
This is a typical Italian spinach pasta dough that uses just 3 ingredients: 00 Flour, frozen spinach, and eggs (no olive oil or fresh spinach needed, but fresh spinach makes a great substitute). And it’s all ready in 1 hour!
Plus, there are 3 ways to knead this dough depending on your preference and the kitchen equipment you may have: knead by hand the old-fashioned way, in a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, or in a food processor.
You may have also tried my homemade Spinach Semolina Pasta Dough recipe which uses 4 ingredients and takes longer to make due to the extended resting time needed for this type of strong flour. It’s a delicious sturdy pasta with great ‘bite’, but if you need a quick homemade spinach pasta dough, you’ll find everything you need in this post.
I’m happy to say, that this spinach pasta dough recipe has passed the “Mama A. flavor test” — she loved it and said it was “molto buono” (very good). She’s been making homemade pasta for 70+ years since she was a little girl in Abruzzo, Italy so this compliment means a lot to me.
Why We Love This Spinach Pasta Dough Recipe
- It’s easy & quick to make (ready in 1 hour and that includes 30 min resting time)
- Uses just 3 ingredients
- Veggie spinach pasta is delicious (and a delight to all the senses)
- It’s a healthy spinach pasta recipe
- You can freeze it for easy pasta dinners throughout the week
- Use it to make just about any spinach noodles or pasta shapes you want
- It makes green pasta that’s perfect for Christmas pasta recipes, St. Paddy’s Day, Easter, Halloween, etc.
Watch This Quick Spinach Pasta Dough Video
If you’re having any reservations about how to make homemade spinach pasta dough (or any pasta for that matter), watch this quick how-to video before you get started. You can see for yourself just how easy it really is to make!
Frozen Spinach vs. Fresh Spinach for Pasta Dough?
I would say frozen spinach is used most often here in Italy to make spinach pasta because it’s convenient (always in your freezer), it produces consistent results, and it produces a very bright green (beautiful) spinach pasta. It’s a myth that you have to use fresh spinach to obtain a bright green pasta as you can see from these photos. But certainly, if you have fresh spinach that you want (or need) to use, it works just as well to make this pasta.
In fact, regarding color, it’s more about how you treat the spinach, and how much spinach you add that determines whether you get a bright green pasta, or something a little darker (see the above photos for just one example of the differences).
For instance, if you don’t blanch frozen spinach before using it, it creates a darker spinach. And if you don’t purée the spinach completely, it creates a beautifully speckled spinach pasta dough (see above photo on the left).
Store-Bought Spinach Pasta vs. Homemade Spinach Pasta
You can definitely use store-bought spinach lasagna if you can find a good brand where you live. When I don’t feel like breaking out the pasta machine and I’m making lasagna Bolognese or another type of pasticcio, I use Barilla Emiliane spinach egg pasta (sold in a yellow box here in Italy (see left photo above). It works great, but nothing compares to the taste and texture of delicious homemade spinach pasta (see above right photo).
Plus, when you make it from scratch, you can make much more than just lasagna noodles! With this healthy spinach pasta, you can make all kinds of shapes like spaghetti, spinach tagliatelle, and spinach ravioli and roll it as thick or thin as you like.
I have two tried and true spinach pasta dough recipes: a semolina spinach pasta dough that is delicious but requires a much longer resting time (due to the stronger semolina flour) and the recipe in this post which uses 00 flour and only needs to rest for 30 minutes. Depending on how much time you have and what ingredients you have on hand, these are both tasty recipes for traditional Italian spinach pasta.
Best Spinach Pasta Sauces (above)
Spinach and pasta go hand in hand! And this homemade pasta pairs well with any kind of sauce depending on the shape of pasta you’re making. A classic pairing with Bolognese sauce is one of my favorites, but a creamy alfredo pasta sauce or a simple pasta al pomodoro sauce are equally as tasty — I’ve even eaten this pasta with a creamy pea and ham sauce.
Best Tips for Making Homemade Spinach Egg Pasta — (Using 00 Flour)
If you haven’t checked out my post for homemade Italian egg pasta for beginner’s, hop over there and check it out. I’ve shared in-depth pasta-making details and techniques that will hopefully help you make the best homemade pasta of your life. Here’s an overview of that helpful information:
Don’t add salt to pasta: I stick to how the Italians make pasta and I don’t add salt because it’s not necessary. Technically you can add a pinch, but there’s no need to when you boil pasta in salted water. Check out the link above to learn why you should never add salt to pasta dough when you’re making homemade ravioli.
I don’t add olive oil to typical all-purpose or 00-flour egg pasta. Although, I do add just a bit of extra virgin olive oil to my homemade semolina spinach pasta dough to add fat and extra flavor.
If your dough is too dry or too wet it’s super easy to remedy. If for any reason your dough seems too dry (it won’t gather into a ball), add some of the reserved spinach liquid (from squeezing your spinach dry) about 1 teaspoon (5g) at a time until the dough comes together into a ball. On the other hand, if your dough seems too wet (it’s sticking to your fingers) sprinkle it with flour and incorporate it a little at a time until it holds together and no longer sticks to your hands.
Knead pasta dough long enough. It’s important to knead pasta dough to activate the gluten which builds a weblike network and strengthens the dough giving it a pleasant chewy “bite”. There’s no exact science for how long this process takes (read more about it here). I like to hand-knead pasta dough because it’s calming for me and it’s a little light workout I enjoy. With all-purpose or 00-flour pasta dough, I typically knead the dough for 10-12 minutes until it’s smooth, no longer sticking to your hands, and it becomes quite smooth. The more you make pasta dough, the easier it is to know when the dough has been properly kneaded.
Rest the pasta dough. I cover and rest this spinach pasta dough for 30 minutes which makes it easier to roll out. Much like pizza dough, resting the dough after kneading it allows the gluten network to relax and reorient itself to be rolled out without pulling back onto itself. But this is a much more soft and pliable dough than the semolina spinach pasta dough and therefore even easier to roll out.
Stages of Making Homemade 00 Flour Spinach Pasta Dough (below)
Spinach Pasta Ingredients (Using 00 Flour)
Here’s a look at the ingredients you’ll need to make spinach pasta right in your kitchen! You can find the full measurements in the recipe card below.
Frozen Spinach (sub sautéed fresh spinach). Frozen spinach is convenient because you don’t have to make a special trip to the store to get it if you decide on a whim you want to make homemade spinach pasta. Blanching the spinach in a pot of boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes will set the color and give you beautiful popping green pasta.
00 Flour (sub King Arthur’s all-purpose flour). 00 flour is superior to all-purpose flour (you can read about why over here) when making Italian egg pasta, but I have used King Arthur’s all-purpose flour in a cooking demonstration using a Kitchen Aid pasta attachment (at The Broadway Panhandler, in NYC) because it works great and it’s what most home cooks already have in their kitchen. If you can buy a good 00 flour use it, if not, substitute a good all-purpose with around 11 to 11.7% protein.
Large Eggs (pasta gialla eggs specifically for making egg pasta are great if you can find them *see photos below). Any large eggs will do, but as with any homemade pasta recipe, the better quality your eggs are, the better the pasta will be.
Overview: How to Make 00 Flour Spinach Pasta Dough — Mix, Knead, Rest, & Roll
This pasta recipe makes 1lb 5 ounces (600g) of fresh spinach pasta. As for desired pasta thickness, I suggest rolling it out to #6 on the pasta machine so that the noodles don’t end up being too thick or too thin. I own an Atlas Marcato 150 pasta machine in Italy and have an Imperia pasta machine back home in the States and I believe their settings are somewhat similar. I suggest testing a couple of different thicknesses by cooking them in boiling water to see what you prefer before rolling out all the dough. *You can find the full instructions in the recipe card.
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- Blanch the spinach in boiling water.
- Form the dough by creating a well in the flour, adding the spinach and eggs to the center, and combining everything.
- Knead the dough until smooth.
- Rest the dough for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough.
- Cut the dough into desired shapes like fettuccine, tagliatelle, pappardelle, farfalle, ravioli, tortelli, tortellini, or lasagna noodles.
How to Make 00 Flour Spinach Pasta Dough step-by-step recipe photos
How to Cook Homemade Fresh Spinach Pasta
Homemade spinach noodles of any shape take much less time to cook than boxed pasta. It’s best practice to allow the fresh pasta to dry a bit (around 20 to 30 minutes) before cooking them. Add fresh pasta to a pot of salted boiling water and be sure to check the doneness after about 1 1/2 minutes of cooking to see how much longer they’ll need. I usually cook homemade spinach egg pasta for 3 to 5 minutes total (even when cooking from frozen).
When par-boiling fresh spinach lasagna noodles, you won’t need to cook them to al dente because they’ll finish cooking in the ove.
How to Store Homemade Fresh Spinach Pasta
If you’re wondering how to store fresh spinach pasta, it can safely be stored in a few ways, although freezing it is my preferred method. You can also dry it completely on a kitchen towel in a single layer (without overlapping the pasta) covered by a linen tea towel for 2 to 3 days in a dry environment. Then add it to an airtight container and use it within 3 or 4 days.
Be careful if you live in an extremely humid environment because if the pasta doesn’t dry properly or thoroughly, the fresh eggs in the dough can harbor bacteria. This makes freezing homemade egg pasta the best, easiest, and safest way to preserve all your hard work. Freshly made frozen spinach pasta can be stored with great results for up to 3 months under the right conditions (although I suggest using it up within 1 to 2 months for the tastiest results).
- To Freeze Homemade Spinach Pasta like spaghetti, tagliatelle, pappardelle, chitarra, fettuccine, etc.: Portion pasta into 3 to 4-ounce portions, dust them with flour, twist them into a “nest” and place them onto a parchment-lined (or flour dusted) baking pan without letting the nests touch. Pop them into the freezer until completely frozen (about 30 minutes), then add the nests to a freezer bag or other airtight container and store them for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to cook the pasta, do not thaw it first. Just add the frozen nests to boiling salted water, and cook until al dente doneness (about 4 minutes).
- To Freeze Homemade Spinach Lasagna sheets: Lay a sheet of flour-dusted lasagna onto a parchment-lined baking tray or platter, add a sheet of parchment paper to fully cover, then add another sheet of lasagna and continue alternating with parchment paper. Cover the tray with sustainable cling film and freeze for up to 3 months until ready to use. Allow the lasagna to rest for 15 minutes or so at room temperature before layering into the lasagna or other pasta al forno dish. Also, you may par-boil the frozen lasagna sheets so they soak up less liquid while baking. Bake as instructed.
- To Dry Homemade Spinach Pasta: While I have dried out egg pasta at room temperature and then sealed it in glass jars or bags, it can take hours or days to fully dry depending on what time of year it is and how humid the environment is. You will need to agitate and turn them over periodically to allow for even drying. Alternatively, you will need to use a pasta drying rack.
- To Dry Homemade Spinach Lasagna sheets. Unless you have quite a bit of space in your kitchen, I don’t recommend drying lasagna sheets but you definitely can by placing a linen or cloth tea towel over a wire rack and placing lasagna sheets in a single layer on top. The sheets need air flow above and below in order to dry properly. So if you have a bunch of wire racks this may be a good option for you.
- Can I refrigerate Fresh Spinach Pasta? It’s not recommended to refrigerate homemade egg pasta (especially filled pasta like ravioli, tortellini, etc.) because the humidity can ruin the pasta and the flavor can change. If you really need to refrigerate homemade egg pasta I recommend doing it for no longer than 24 hours and it’s even better if you can use it within 18 hours.
Looking For More Pasta Recipes?
We love each of these authentic Italian pasta recipes and think you’re family will too!
- Abruzzese Almost-Bolognese (Lasagna al Ragù w/Porcini Béchamel)
- Italian Prosciutto Cotto and Mozzarella Lasagna (Lasagne con Prosciutto Cotto e Mozzarella)
- Asparagus & Ham Lasagna (w/Asparagus Bechamel)
- Classic Lasagna Bolognese (authentic Italian recipe)
- Shrimp Fettuccini Alfredo Pasta Recipe (w/Parmigiano Cream Sauce)
- 15-Minute Shrimp Pasta w/Garganelli (the Italian Way)
- Tagliatelle al Ragù (Northern Italian Beef Ragù w/Pasta)
- Authentic Tortellini in Brodo from Bologna
Let’s get started!
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00 Flour Spinach Pasta Dough (Easy 3-Ingredient Recipe)
- Total Time: 1 hour 4 minutes
- Yield: 1 lb 5 ounces (600g) Spinach Pasta Dough 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This 3-ingredient Spinach Pasta is incredibly easy to make! Use this spinach pasta dough to make delicious sheets of homemade ‘lasagna verde’ for Bolognese, silky ribbons of green pappardelle pasta, spinach spaghetti, tagliatelle, fettuccine, ravioli, farfalle, mezzaluna, tortellini, or any favorite pasta shape!
Ingredients
- 4 ounces frozen or fresh spinach (115g)
- 14 ounces 00 flour (about 3 1/4 cups) (400g)
- 2 large eggs, slightly beaten (50g)
Instructions
- Blanch the spinach. Add the spinach (frozen or fresh) to a pot of boiling water and cook it (blanch it) for about 3 minutes. Strain it reserving the liquid being sure to squeeze out all of the excess liquid. Use a blender, immersion blender, or food processor to purée the spinach to a fine paste and set aside. *Alternatively, finely mince the spinach.
- Make the dough. Add the flour to a countertop or large bread bowl and make a “well” in the middle. Add the eggs, and spinach to the center and begin agitating the mixture to combine it with the flour being sure to keep everything in the center of the “well”. Work in a circular motion incorporating more flour into the center until the mixture is combined and forms a shaggy dough.
- Knead the dough. Remove the dough to a work surface and knead it by turning it clockwise a quarter turn and repeating until the dough becomes softer and more pliable, or about 10 to 12 minutes. It should be much smoother and more elastic at this point. *Alternatively, you may knead the dough using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment on medium-low speed (speed #2 on a KitchenAid).
- Rest the dough. Cover and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and work with one piece at a time covering the other pieces so they don’t dry out. Press down to form a disc just thin enough to be fed through the pasta machine’s widest setting (0 or 1 depending on your pasta machine). Feed the dough through the rollers while turning the crank. If needed, lightly dust both sides of the pasta sheet with flour and fold it like a letter (bringing in the two ends to the middle) to form a more even rectangle. Feed the pasta sheet back through the rollers on (0 or 1) until it is long and rectangular in shape. Set the adjustment knob to 1 and pass the pasta sheet through one time. Set the adjustment knob to 2 and pass the pasta sheet through one time. Set the adjustment knob to 3, pass the pasta sheet through one time, and continue adjusting the knob setting and passing the dough through until you’ve reached the desired thickness (the recommended thickness setting is typically number 6 for fettuccine, tagliatelle, ravioli, lasagna, etc.
- Cut the desired pasta shapes. Attach the pasta shape cutter attachment and run the sheets of pasta through them, sprinkle them with semolina (or other flour) and shape them into a bird’s nest, or hang them on a pasta drying rack. *Alternatively, you may roll up the rectangular sheets of pasta and cut them into the desired thickness for fettuccine or pappardelle, etc. If making lasagna, leave the sheets just as they are or trim them to the desired length. If using immediately, allow the noodles to dry for 10-20 minutes before boiling, and Enjoy!
Notes
- I recommend measuring everything in grams as it is the most precise way to get consisten results. If you don’t have a scale, I’ve given the approximate cups of flour you’ll need.
- I’ve used frozen spinach for this recipe but you can use sautéed or blanched fresh spinach.
- Do not use cold eggs straight out of the refrigerator. Let them warm up to room temperature first. You can speed up this process by covering cold eggs in hot tap water until warmed to the proper temperature.
- If the pasta dough seems too dry, add 1 to 2 teaspoons or more of the reserved spinach water as needed and if it seems too wet, add a little more flour until it no longer sticks to your hands.
- Do not add salt to the dough.
- You can store fully dried homemade dried pasta for up to 1 month in an airtight sealed container. You may also freeze fresh pasta (my preferred method as taught to me by my family here in Italy. Try to use it within 1 month.
- Cook homemade fresh pasta in a good amount of water. I typically cook store-bought pasta in small amounts of water because it really doesn’t need that much water to cook properly. But when I cook pasta fresca or freshly made pasta, I use more water so the fresh noodles have room to cook without sticking together. If you have thoroughly dried homemade pasta first before cooking, you can use less water.
- Never wash your pasta machine with water because the water and flour will act like glue and can clog up the rollers.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Rest Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Mix & Knead
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 ounce serving
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