One of the things I really resisted about a vegan diet was giving up eggs - not only are they delicious in their own right but they are key ingredients in so many other foods I enjoy, fresh pasta being one of them.
I did not think it was possible to make a decent fresh pasta dough without eggs…..but then I came up with this recipe and was blown away!
It’s also a great no-waste recipe because it uses aquafaba - the liquid found in canned chickpeas. It’s slightly gelatinous, like eggs, and protein-rich so works as a great binding agent. We honestly couldn’t tell the difference. The dough was silky smooth, went through the pasta machine like a dream, and was absolutely delicious to eat.
You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy this recipe - if you feel like fresh pasta but have no eggs in the house, you’re in luck! If you’re curious, I highly encourage you to give it a try.
Vegan pasta dough
Enough for 4-6 servings
400g pasta tipo 00 flour
200ml aquafaba (or tepid water, or a mixture of both - see instructions)
Large pinch turmeric powder (for colour)
Weigh out the flour and add to the bowl of a food processor, together with the turmeric.
Open a can of chickpeas* and drain the liquid (the aquafaba) into a jug or place a jug/small bowl on digital scales and pour the aquafaba directly into it to measure it that way. You’ll need 200ml of liquid in total. I found that a typical 400g can of chickpeas gave me about 175ml of aquafaba, so I made up the 200ml with some tepid water.
Add the liquid to the flour in the bowl of the food processor.
Turn the food processor on and blend it all together for a minute or so, until a dough begins to form. You may need to pause the processor, scrape down any flour or stray dough from the sides, and whiz again until it all comes together.
Turn the dough out on to a lightly oiled or floured surface and knead together until it’s one large smooth ball. It won’t take very long. In fact, you’ll probably be quite surprised at how fast it comes together!
The dough then needs some time to rest and chill - don’t we all. I don’t buy clingfilm, but I do have a stash of clean plastic bags that bread, etc has come in - I put the dough in one of those, wrap it up and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Note: you can, of course, bring the dough together by hand if you don’t have a food processor, it will just require a bit more effort and elbow grease! Just make a well in the middle of the flour, put the liquid in the centre and then mix together with your hands and knead as above.
Once the dough has had its chilling time, you’re ready to roll!
Cut the dough into six equal pieces - I cut it in half, and then each half into thirds. Feed each piece of dough through your pasta machine according to the instructions, and until it’s at your desired thinness.
Either use the sheets of pasta to make lasagna, cannelloni, ravioli or tortellini, or cut the sheets into your desired pasta shape.
We used four pieces of dough to make pasta sheets that we turned into a lasagna, and the other two pieces we made into thin noodles which we enjoyed with dumplings and green vegetables in a soup.
