Almond Pasta

almond pasta

So what do you do when there’s a global pandemic and the supermarket is completely sold out of pasta?

Go home and make your own!

Of course ?

I’ve been working on this recipe for a while now.

To keep my little carb lovers happy.

And make their favourite meal more nutritious.

I’ve been using a combo of almond meal and regular flour in an egg pasta dough.

The end result is super delicious and only a little more fragile than regular pasta.

Plus it’s so much fun.

The boys have been loving helping roll out the pasta with the pasta maker.

And I’ve been loving the stash in my freezer because it cooks in less than 2 minutes – so much quicker than dried pasta!

If you don’t have your own pasta maker, it’s also fab for making little ear-shaped orecchiette (see the variations for more details).

almond pasta
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Almond Pasta

Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Keyword almond, egg pasta, home made, pasta, simple
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 2 adults

Ingredients

  • 100 g (3.5oz) almond meal (flour)
  • 110 g (3.6oz) plain all-purpose flour + extra for dusting
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

  1. Place almond meal, flour and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the eggs and oil and process for a minute or until the dough comes together to form a ball.
  2. Generously sprinkle a medium ziplock bag or a piece of cling wrap with flour. Scrape the dough ball out into your bag / onto the cling wrap. Seal and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.
  3. Divide dough into halves. Working with one half at a time, scatter generously with flour and use your hands to press it into a rectangular shape about 1cm (1/2 inch) thick. This is to make it easier to feed into the pasta machine.
  4. Roll through the thickest setting on your pasta maker, then keep dusting with flour and rolling through progressively lower settings until you are about 4 stops away from the finest setting (No 4 on my machine).
  5. Cut the sheet into halves crosswise so it isn’t too long. Then pass each sheet through the cutting teeth. Drape over a coat hanger to hang while you repeat with the remaining dough.
  6. To cook straight away, boil in salted water for 1-2 minutes or until soft. Drain and serve with your favourite sauce.
  7. To freeze, allow pasta to dry on the coat hanger for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Form each length into a nest and place in a ziplock bag dusted generously with flour. Freeze until needed and then cook as per step 6 from frozen.

NET CARBS: 46g / serve.

Variations & Substitutions for Almond Pasta

pantry-friendly – see the egg-free option.

keto / ultra low carb – try spiralized zucchini or have a nice juicy steak ;)

egg-free – replace eggs with 120g (1/2 cup) water. I haven’t tried this but it should work in theory! You may need to adjust the amount of water / flour to get a good dough.

more substantial (carb lovers) – larger serves!

family-friendly – get your family to help roll out the pasta!

higher fiber – add 1-2 tablespoons psyllium husks or ground linseeds (flax) – another idea I’m yet to try but should work in theory.

no pasta machine / orecchiette – after the dough has rested in the refrigerator, rip off a golf ball sized chunk of dough and roll into a snake approx 1cm in diameter. Cut the snake into 5mm wide coins. Dip your thumb in flour and then press into the middle of the coin. Work each piece to form a little cupped ear shape. Place on a tray dusted with extra flour and continue until all the dough has been transformed. Allow to dry for an hour before boiling in salted water for 3-4 minutes or freezing. (see photo below)

almond pasta

Waste Avoidance Strategy

almond meal (flour) / plain all-purpose flour / teaspoon salt / olive oil – keep them in the pantry.

eggs – will keep in the fridge for weeks or use for another meal.

Prepare Ahead

Absolutely! Prepare and freeze as per the recipe. Will keep in the freezer for months. I make a triple or quadruple batch every time.

More Recipes Like Almond Pasta

Have fun in the kitchen!

With love
Jules x

9 Comments

  • Jules, I just love the idea of making orecchiette – not needing a pasta machine. This recipe sounds like a wonderful way to lower carbs and still enjoy pasta. I have not been into my usual grocery store since we got home a few days ago, so I don’t know if they have pasta or not. But I am much happier with something like this, and don’t mind putting the effort into it. As always, I’m grateful for the many ways you make my life easier and healthier.

  • In looking through the variations, I realized that for egg free one could use “flax eggs”, 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water. That’s what vegans use.

  • Just so worth it to make your own pasta. So light and lovely. So lucky to do a cooking tour of Bologna last year , our thoughts are with the lovely people of Italy.
    Love the idea of orrichiette
    I just keep the pasta in my old tupperware pasta holder after drying.

  • Hi Jules
    My cooking week, I had steak on Mon, Tues, with vegetables. A great way to have vegetables is to saut them . example,

    Place your vegys in a wok, or skillet. An onion, 6 okra, 5 chilli. Strips of caps, cabbage, with oil. Cook for 5 or 6 minutes. They wilt. In a seperate skillet, cook with oil, you’re herbs and spices. Coriander seed’s, ts, garlic and herb spice, ts, cummin seeds, ts.fry oil, slight smoke, then add clove of garlic,then add to other greens, and stir .

    • Thanks for sharing Quentin!

      I’m curious – why do you use an extra pan for the herbs and spices? Couldn’t you just cook them with the veg?

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