Egg Noodles vs. Pasta: What Are the Differences?

Pasta is a flour-based food cut or extruded into ribbons or shapes, typically cooked in boiling water and served with sauce, meat, or vegetables. The word “pasta” means “paste” in Italian, a reference to the initial appearance of the durum wheat-based dough, which contains salt, water, and sometimes eggs.

Although durum wheat is the standard carb in “regular pasta,” some traditional pasta types use other flours, like buckwheat-based pizzoccheri. Most grocery stores sell dried pasta, though you can also find fresh pasta options in their refrigerated sections.

Egg noodles are ribbons of egg- and flour-based dough. The word “noodle” refers to their shape, which is usually long: In fact, many people refer to long pasta shapes as noodles. These types of noodles are a staple in Asian, German, Jewish, and Turkish cuisine. While each culture has its own egg noodle recipes, standard grocery stores most often sell egg noodles that are wide, flat, yellow, and dried.

Both egg noodles and pasta are unleavened dough products. Here are some of the differences:

• Ingredients: The main difference between egg noodles and pasta is that the former must contain eggs. While many homemade pasta recipes include eggs, most dried pasta from the supermarket does not.
• Cooked texture: Many egg noodle recipes call for cooking the noodles until they’re soft and tender. For the most part, Italian pasta gets cooked “al dente,” meaning that it still has some chew.
• Shapes: Noodles are usually ribbon-shaped, while pasta can have almost any shape, including rigatoni, macaroni, and bucatini. Pasta also comes in filled varieties, like ravioli.
• Dishes: Egg noodles are a staple worldwide, and you can stir-fry, bake, or add them into soups and sauces from all different cuisines. Pasta works best with Italian flavors and techniques.

Here’s how to make homemade pasta, step by step:

1. 1. Mix the ingredients. Start with a mound of durum wheat flour. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients, such as eggs, olive oil, or water. Using a fork, whisk, or your fingers, mix the ingredients until they form a shaggy dough.
2. 2. Knead the dough. Knead the dough by hand, pressing and punching it on the work surface until the coarse dough forms a smooth, shiny ball.
3. 3. Let the dough rest. After kneading, let the dough rest to hydrate the flour and relax the gluten.
4. 4. Shape the dough. Pasta comes in many shapes, from long shapes like spaghetti, angel hair, and fettuccine to smaller shapes like penne or farfalle. There are several tools for shaping pasta, including hand-cranked pasta rollers, which produce sheets of pasta dough, and the chitarra pasta cutter, which can cut through rolled pasta dough to make fettuccine or linguine.
5. 5. Dry or freeze the pasta. In Italy, home cooks prepare their pasta fresh, cooking it the same day. However, you can also dry or freeze homemade pasta to extend its shelf life.

The word “pasta” refers to pasta noodles and a variety of dishes featuring cooked pasta. Some of the most popular types of pasta include:

1. 1. Thick-sauce pasta: One of the easiest ways to prepare Italian pasta is to mix the freshly cooked pasta with a thick sauce—for example, creamy mushroom pasta, spaghetti with marinara sauce, or broccoli pesto pasta. Adding a little pasta water during the mixing will help the sauce adhere to the noodles.
2. 2. Thin-sauce pasta: Some pasta recipes, like lemon pasta or frutti di mare, call for a basic, thin sauce (usually oil- or acid-based) to coat the pasta without overpowering the natural wheat flavor.
3. 3. Soup with pasta: Try adding pasta to your favorite soup and stew recipes for a hearty serving of carbohydrates. Popular options include chicken noodle soup and pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans).
4. 4. Baked pasta: Certain pasta shapes are perfect for casserole-style layering with sauce and cheese, baked in an oven. Two of the most common baked pasta dishes are pasta al forno and lasagna.

A simple egg noodle recipe requires the following steps:

1. 1. Mix the ingredients. Start by combining the ingredients (typically fine flour, salt, water, and eggs) with a fork, whisk, or your fingers until it forms a shaggy dough.
2. 2. Knead the dough. Knead the dough by hand until it becomes smooth and shiny, then shape it into a bar.
3. 3. Let the dough rest. After kneading, rest the dough to hydrate the flour and relax the gluten.
4. 4. Shape the dough. You can form egg noodles into many shapes, from long noodles (like ramen or lo mein) or small shapes like spätzle (German twisted egg noodles). Depending on the desired shape, roll the dough with a pasta roller or stretch the noodles into thin strips by hand.
5. 5. Dry or freeze the noodles. For the best flavor, cook egg noodles the same day you make the dough. You can also dry or freeze homemade egg noodles to extend their shelf life.

Pasta is Italian, but egg noodles are popular around the world.

1. 1. Chow mein: Chow mein is a Chinese-American dish that gets its name from “chao mian” (“stir-fried noodles”). Stir-fry parboiled Chinese egg noodles with vegetables and sometimes meat to make takeout-style chow mein.
2. 2. Spätzle: Spätzle (also spelled spaetzle) is a German egg noodle pasta with a chewy, dumpling-like texture. The short noodles are a simple batter of eggs, flour (all-purpose or semolina), and milk or water. Cooks traditionally form spätzle by hand into knöpfle (“little buttons”) or more irregular shapes.
3. 3. Stroganoff: Beef stroganoff is a popular Russian dish consisting of bite-sized pieces of beef sautéed in a sour cream-based sauce and served over egg noodles. Mushroom stroganoff swaps the beef for meaty mushrooms, such as cremini, oysters, maitakes, shiitakes, or portobellos.

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