How to Make Spinach Fettuccine. Beautifully green and flavorful, these fettuccine are made with the usual eggs, flour, and a pinch of salt, with the addition of spinach in the dough.
Song of the day: Green Eyes - Coldplay
One of our most favorite Sunday lunches involves homemade fettuccine. It was the type of pasta my nonna would make for all our family gatherings, Pranzo della Domenica, or special occasions, completely by hand, so precise and beautiful, a true work of art. Today I am adding a touch of color to the dough, to bring some joyfulness to these dreary days.
Spinach fettuccine
In order to obtain that beautiful green color, you need some fresh spinach: first, blanch them, then let them cool, squeeze thoroughly, chop finely, and lastly add them when making the dough.
TIP: Since the spinach adds moisture, you might need to add more flour (regular or semolina) when kneading the dough and rolling the sheet. If you want to use frozen spinach, cut the quantity in half and make sure you squeeze them even more thoroughly, since they have more moisture than fresh spinach.
Dough time
- On a flat surface (I like to use a wood board), pour the flour in a pile. I usually use half 00 flour and half semolina, to give some rough texture to the fettuccine. Make a well in the middle and crack both eggs inside.
- Beat the eggs with a fork, then add the chopped spinach.
- Blend the eggs and the spinach, then slowly start pulling the flour into the mixture.
- Gradually, add more flour from the sides, mixing until a raggedy dough starts to form.
- Then, with your hands, start kneading it over onto itself, turning and folding. Use some good force to get it nice and smooth.
- Work the dough for at least 5 minutes, adding more flour (or semolina) until the dough is not too sticky. The texture should be soft and smooth. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with a bowl and let rest for 30 minutes.
Cutting time
- Take the dough and cut a piece, leaving the rest of the dough under the bowl so it doesn't dry out).
- Using one piece at a time, lightly dust it with semolina flour and flatten it. Roll the piece of dough in a pasta machine, starting from the lowest number on your machine, increasing one notch at a time until you reach number 5 (pretty thin). TIP: Before each increase, sprinkle more semolina on the sheet.
- Lay sheets on semolina floured surface (not overlapping) and dust with more flour. Repeat until all dough is finished.
- Attach the Fettuccine pasta cutting attachment to the pasta maker. Starting with the sheet you made first, cut sheets with the fettuccine attachment, running each sheet through. Lay the fettuccine on a tray, dusting more semolina flour to prevent from sticking.
Sauce suggestions
Spinach fettuccine are good with almost any sauce, from a simple basil tomato sauce to ragù, or vegetable ragù -either red or white- and cream sauces.
Here is an idea of the white sauce my father made: half a leek, 1 small zucchini, a few romanesco broccoli florets (blanched), some radicchio leaves, evo oil, butter, some milk (or cream if you have it), chopped walnuts, Parmigiano, and cubes of soft cheese that melt beautifully.
Cooking time
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fresh fettuccine pasta to the boiling water, stir gently and cook until al dente or until the pasta starts to float to the top (about 3-5 minutes).
- Drain and add the fresh pasta to the sauce, tossing gently, letting the sauce coat the noodles.
- Plate, add some more sauce on top and enjoy!
Spinach Fettuccine are visually stunning with that cheerful green color. They taste amazing, especially with that white sauce full of flavor.
This is a dish that will definitely bring a wow factor to your table. Enjoy!
Song of the day: Green Eyes - Coldplay
Print
How to Make Spinach Fettuccine
How to Make Spinach Fettuccine. Beautifully green and flavorful, these fettuccine are made with the usual eggs, flour, and a pinch of salt, with the addition of spinach in the dough.
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 people 1x
Ingredients
- 100 g type 0 flour
- 100 g semolina flour, plus more when kneading and rolling
- 2 eggs
- 50 g boiled spinach, well-drained and finely chopped
- pinch of salt
Instructions
The dough:
- On a flat surface (I like to use a wood board), pour the flour in a pile. Make a well in the middle and crack both eggs inside.
- Beat the eggs with a fork, then add the chopped spinach.
- Blend the eggs and the spinach, then slowly start pulling the flour into the mixture.
- Gradually, add more flour from the sides, mixing until a raggedy dough starts to form.
- Then, with your hands, start kneading it over onto itself, turning and folding. Use some good force to get it nice and smooth.
- Work the dough for at least 5 minutes, adding more flour (or semolina) until the dough is not too sticky. The texture should be soft and the dough velvety to the touch and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with a bowl and let rest for 30 minutes.
- After the resting time, take the dough and cut a piece, leaving the rest of the dough under the bowl to prevent form drying.
- Using one piece at a time, lightly dust it with semolina flour and flatten it. Roll the piece of dough in a pasta machine, starting from the lowest number on your machine, increasing one notch at a time until number 5 (pretty thin). TIP: Before each increase, sprinkle more semolina on the sheet.
- Lay sheet on semolina floured surface (not overlapping) and dust with more flour. Repeat until all dough is finished.
- Attach the Fettuccine pasta cutting attachment to the pasta maker. Cut sheets with the fettuccine attachment running each sheet through. Lay the fettuccine on a tray and dust more semolina flour to prevent from sticking.
Cooking the fettuccine
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fresh fettuccine pasta to the boiling water, stir gently and cook until al dente or until the pasta starts to float to the top (about 3-5 minutes).
- Drain and add the fresh pasta to the sauce, tossing gently, letting the sauce coat the noodles.
- Plate, add some more sauce on top and enjoy!
Notes
Spinach fettuccine are good with almost any sauce, from a simple basil tomato sauce to ragù, vegetarian ragù -either red or white- and cream sauces.
Here is an idea of the white sauce we made to dress our spinach fettuccine: half a leek, 1 small zucchini, a few romanesco broccoli florets (blanched), some radicchio leaves, evo oil, butter, some milk (or cream if you have it), chopped walnuts, Parmigiano, and cubes of soft cheese that melt beautifully.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Pasta, Vegetarian
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: homemade, pasta, fettuccine, spinach, eggs, flour, Italian
I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.
chefkreso says
Love making homemade pasta, I've made spinach gnocchi, but never fettucine, looks so delicious!
★★★★★
And I've never made spinach gnocchi, so now I want to try that! 🙂 Thank you for your your comment!
Varun Sharma says
One of the healthy and delicious recipe..!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
★★★★★
Thank you! Yes, it is a delicious and healthy recipe and you can choose many sauces to go with it.
Colleen says
This is an awesome recipe. I love the step by step instructions and the end result is so amazing!
★★★★★
Thank you, Colleen! I am not into videos yet, so I thought at least a photo step by step would help 🙂 . They're really good!!
Bernice Hill says
Such great instructions! I have never made spinach pasta and always thought it was dried spinach powder added! I'm going to have to try it for sure now.
★★★★★
Thank you, Bernice! This is how we've always made it, and I know other Italian bloggers always use fresh spinach, but I guess the powder would work well, mostly because it doesn't add any moisture that you have to compensate by adding flour. Hope you try, the flavor is amazing!
Fouzia Husainy says
I love hand made fresh pasta and I haven't tried it out with spinach yet. Thanks for the step by step instructions, I am going to try it out soon, once I get my hands on the spinach.
★★★★★
You're welcome! Hope you try the recipe and love the results! Thank you for the comment!
Matt - Total Feasts says
I love homemade pasta, but I've never made it with spinach before. I bet this would be delicious in a carbonara. Yummy!
★★★★★
Thanks, Matt! Adventurous, you are! 🙂 It might indeed be good, although for traditional Carbonara only a few specific pasta shapes are used (or they won't let me back in Rome 😉 ).
Cynthia says
I have made spinach linguini before but I have yet to make fetuccini. My kids love pasta. Hiding vegetables in pasta is always a great idea -- either in the noodles or in the sauce. We usually hide them in the sauce. I just so happened to have bought semolina flour from Italian Centre, so I will give this recipe a try!
Perfect! Hope you have fun making fettuccine and your kids enjoy them! Thanks!
Kelly Neil says
Ooooooooh! I love fresh pasta but I've been too intimidated to add anything to it! You make it look so easy. Thank you!
★★★★★
It's not that bad 🙂 Hope the step by step helps. And anyway, it is always practice practice practice :-). Thank you!