It’s been a while since I pulled out my Great Grandmother’s old recipe box. Recently a recipe recently caught my eye and I had to make it. The recipe card reads “Noodles”. I have always wanted to make homemade noodles but with how inexpensive they are at the store I have never felt the need to do it. I think these noodles would be amazing in my homemade creamy chicken noodle soup recipe, but other than that I don’t think I will ever be making homemade noodles again. Yes, they are easy to make but they are just as easy to buy at the store and in my opinion taste just as good. That is just my own personal opinion, I know all you noodle makers are shaking your head in shame.
This recipe caught my eye because it says that the noodles need to be boiled for 20 minutes… weird. Most other homemade noodle recipes I have seen say they only need boiled a few minutes. I wonder why these need to be boiled longer. And when I turned the card over it had some interesting stuff about frying these noodles up in brown butter??!!?! I feel like my Great Grandma could have been a little more descriptive in the name of this recipe. Maybe like “brown butter noodles”, or something like that. Sheesh! I have never seen a recipe for noodles cooked in butter afterwards. Anyways, It intrigued me and I had to make them. Here is how to do it.
Homemade Noodles
First beat 4 egg yolks and 2 egg whites together.
Next add enough flour to roll dough into the bowl. I added 1 cup.
I used a fork and mixed the flour into the eggs.
Continue mixing until dough forms.
Once dough forms knead it a few times just to to form a ball.
Dump out on a heavily floured surface. Dust top of dough with flour.
Roll out dough as thin as you can. The thinner the better.
Cut dough into desired shapes. I used a pizza cutter to do this job. It was quick and easy.
Separate noodles from each other and then add them to boiling water for 20 minutes in salted water.
After noodles are done cooking, drain and rinse with cold water. Next add some butter to a pan and crank the heat up to medium high.
When the butter starts turning brown, add in the noodles.
Fry noodles in hot brown butter until very brown.
My Thoughts…
The noodles themselves were not bad, but frying them up was confusing. I didn’t know how long to cook them for. Was I supposed to cook them until they got crispy? Or cook them just until the brown butter covered the noodles? Anyhow I could have done without that last step of frying them up. I also wonder if these were meant to be served with something specific or just eaten as is?
I really didn’t care for this dish at all, but my husband said that he actually liked it. Have you ever made a dish like this? What did I do wrong? Is my Great Grandmother up in heaven disappointed in my lack of appreciating a good ol’ fashioned brown butter pasta dish? That’s my thoughts, I would love to hear yours. Please share in the comments below if you have ever had a dish like this, or any other thoughts you may have on this homemade pasta.
To see more recipes including ones from my Great Grandmothers recipe box click here.
Homemade Noodles {Great Grandmother's Old Recipe Box}
Ingredients
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup enough flour to roll
Instructions
- Beat eggs together and add flour.
- Roll dough out on a heavily floured surface.
- Cut noodles and then separate.
- Boil noodles for 20 minutes in salted water.
- Put in sieve and pour cold water over them.
- Fry in hot brown butter until very brown.
Nutrition
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About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Donna says
I make my own noodles always. 2 eggs, 2 tbsp water and enough flour to roll. I think you could cut your noodles thinner. I like to make mine 2-3 inches long also. I have never browned the butter, but do add butter, parsley and pass the parmesan. This recipe was given to me years ago by a German friend. ALWAYS for chicken noodle soup! I will try the brown butter. My hubs is a carb addict so think he will approve. If your noodles tear, you do not have enough flour on board. Also, it helps to let them rest for a few minutes before you lift them.
Donna says
PS 1/2 top of salt also.
Chris says
This is the exact same noodle recipe my grandmother made every Sunday. She would cook a beef roast in the oven then use the juices to make beef and noodles. Yum!
Judy Murphy Grimm says
After you boil your noodles drain, put in large skillet, cut up cabbage and onions and simmer in butter ( I use olive oil) til caggage and onions are done. Very good and I cut up Kalbassi also in mine. This is on the salad bar at Pondarosa and I also ate it at a church dinner one time. Very good.
Cammy says
My mother’s homemade chicken and noodles have long been a favorite. She made her noodles in much the same way as the recipe featured here, although she used whole eggs, whisked the eggs with a fork until they were pale yellow then added enough flour to make a stiff consistency, then she’d turn them out on a board and kneed them enough to make the dough into a smooth ball. She dusted the counter with flour and rolled them out, then dusted them with more flour and allowed them to sit for a bit to air dry before cutting them. After 20-30 minutes, Mom would roll the dough into a jellyroll and use a sharp knife to cut thin strips of the dough into noodles. She then separated the noodles and allowed them to continue drying for several hours before dropping them into boiling salted chicken broth until the noodles were cooked about 10-15 minutes.
I’ve never heard of the brown butter noodles but if I were to use these homemade noodles in this dish I would gently brown the butter and pour it over the noodles and toss gently and just until the noodles were coated.
Tracy B in PA says
The way we eat them in PA is to cook the noodles, drain the water off, brown butter in a pan, then mix with the noodles stirring well to make sure all noodles are coated. My family loves them! They are good just like that as a side dish or are also great on top of homemade mashed potatoes! I have never heard of anyone actually frying the noodles in the brown butter. 🙂
Diane says
This recipe is very similar to one that a former MIL s family used to cook. It was called kleese? I believe. The main difference is that the finished noodles were “fried” in bacon grease. Of course it was great on flavor….
Suzanne says
My Grandma and Mother would make these homemade every Thanksgiving. I lost my recipe and am hoping my mother will send it to me again someday. I seem to remember we also had a drying time before we cooked the noodles, but I’m not sure. My family is mainly Norwegian and we just called these buttered noodles, ours also had alot of pepper- very tasty as a side dish 🙂
Tina says
I make homade noodles all the time and I always put them in chicken broth and they make a grate noodle to eat with mash potatos or just by their self I always use the whole egg but that would be something to try.
Jan says
I make these noodled and add them to my homemade chicken soup. Everyone raves because hardly anyone makes homemade noodles anymore. I take out the pieces of chicken when the soup is done and let them cool on a plate for deboning. Then I make the noodles. Just bring the soup broth to a simmering boil and add the noodles. Let them cook until they are soft and they will also thicken the broth nicely. Then I add back the deboned chicken meat, some fresh parsley and green onions and serve. (On another note, I also learned to make noodles from my grandmother. She would use lots of flour on her rolling pin and board, so the noodle dough would not stick when she rolled it out. After you cut the noodles, you can shake off the excess flour before adding noodles to boiling broth. It’s much easier to have too much flour when you are rolling the dough than not enough.)
RuthWW says
This looks similar to how my mom and grandma made noodles….except they added salt to them. I have made them and added them to simmering chicken soup…to cook them. That way you skip a step and sooner to serve!
Jackie says
I have never made noodles before. These look easy and great. I will have to try them. Thanks for sharing.
Sarah B. says
No need to deep-fry them! They’re meant to be just tossed in the butter and sautéed till they’re all coated and yummy, like spaetzle.
CTY says
I just got to make these today. They put my chicken noodle soup over the top! I had some trouble making them though. I used at least double the flour but still had trouble cutting them (they would tear instead of cut). I ended up having to cut them wide. Once boiled they probably doubled in size. They did not look anywhere near pretty as yours–but they tasted great. Even if I cannot perfect my technique I will probably never use store bought again. A half a bowl of soup & I was full–I can see why this dish was popular in your grandmother’s day.
Deb says
Try using a pizza cutter to cut your noodles, it works great.
Cathy says
My grandmother and mother both made homemade noodles but did not fry in the butter. They added them to the beef broth with a pot roast.
They rolled them out and let them dry. Once they had dried enough, they rolled the ‘sheets’ up into a ‘tube’ like a jelly roll. Then they cut them on a slight diagonal. It helps keep them from tearing when you try to cut them.
Carol says
We still do them like that. Sometimes we use chicken broth.
Ruth Eggert says
Hi, brown the butter, cook and keep the noodles and drain,then just toss the noodles with the brown butter do not fry in the butter…also when making noodles if you flour the board…and roll out your noodles. then roll them up like for cinnamon rolls and cut…you may use a little more flour but you can shake it off….my mom used to put a flour sack dish towel over a chair and put the noodles to dry for a few hour…she said they would be less gummy…you can put in soup…or boil and use as any pasta…with red sauce,brown butter, cream sauce…or as a base for swedish meatballs with a gravy…always good with a spinke of Parm. or yes Mazithra as the Spagetti factory does….
Heather says
My German grandmother made them similar to the Pennsylvania Dutch method described above. My kids love homemade noodles tossed in brown butter with julienned kale and garlic.
Rocquelle says
I’m not a cook, but this recipe really caught my eye … because my favorite dish at Old Spaghetti Warehouse in Salem is what I call “naked spaghetti”!
Thanks for posting!
Christine says
Hi Karrie,
This is what I believe is the equivalent of what I grew up to call “Pennsylvania Dutch Brown Butter Noodles” My Grandmother maiden name Vera Agusta Gahagen was Pennsylvania Dutch and her cooking was some of the best food I will ever eat. She made these but she did not fry them in the brown butter she made the noodles drained them then tossed them in the brown butter and sprinkled them with Parmesan cheese, parsley flakes, salt, and pepper. These were a side to a many a different dishes pot roast, fried chicken, baked ham, or fried pork chops. She would serve them in true Pennsylvania Dutch style, served with a side of fresh cottage cheese topped with homemade apple butter!
I do think you need more flour for the ratio of egg.
Grandma taught me to use 2 cups all purpose flour (one to start then add the other gradually) and eggs (one whole egg and two egg yolks(Grandma used to add was a few drops of yellow food coloring to the beaten eggs for a rich color)), 1 tsp. of baking powder, 2 tab. Milk (dribble more if necessary) and a dash a salt. Be careful not to need more than necessary because it will make the noodles tough. Roll to 1/8 in thick cut and drop in salted boiling water cook 10 minutes. Drain well and tossed in the hot browned butter.
Heidi says
I agree on the flour to egg ratio. My grandmother made egg noodles very similar. Actually, we did not always do the browned butter part, and also use them as our general purpose noodles. We will often dry them and then store them (I usually store them in the freezer just because it makes me a bit uncomfortable with the egg just drying and hanging out in the pantry:)
Anyway, our recipe is a bit simpler and uses whole eggs only. I just start with 2 whole eggs whisked. Add a pinch or two of baking powder (unless I forget it. It works fine if you do, though) and a few pinches of salt. (can you tell it is a “grandma recipe”. Pinches as measurements. Then, we would start with about a cup of flour and add as needed. It will be a pretty dry dough, but still holds together. Roll out on floured surface, cut and let dry.
You can cook right away, but grandma almost always dried them first. If she was cooking them that evening, she would roll them out that morning. I like to make double or triple batches and then freeze the extras for a later date.
But, with using two whole eggs (which I believe will be less quantity that this recipe) a cup plus of flour is our typical ratio. I seem to remember Grandma using one large egg to a cup of flour but dripping a bit of water (things were usually tight for her when raising her kids) to moisten if needed.
Karrie says
Wonderful!!!
CTY says
I think you are right—these would be great in chicken soup. I’m going to make it tomorrow–I can’t wait!
Thanks for the post!
My thoughts about frying them is because perhaps if you make a whole bunch of these in one pot they clump together & the only way to separate them in by heating in the butter.
anna morrison says
Farmers in Italy would add a bit of sage or rosemary to the butter and than fry…. Depression era farmers would do the same and add peas. either way is good
jibbers0262 says
I would never use sage to the butter noodles .
Corey Boone says
You got most of the recipe right but in the end instead of putting the noodles into the butter to fry you’re actually supposed to pour the brown butter over the noodles add salt and pepper.That is old fashioned brown butter noodles
Lanie says
Sage butter that has my mouth watering
Irina says
Since you already boiled the noodles, they are already cooked so you don’t have to fry them a lot. Just sauté it for 3-5 minutes. I also mix the noodles with sautéed onions for more taste.
Catherine says
These look like the noodles you get when you order Chinese food! Add them to a soup and see if you like them better!
Kate says
Have you ever been to the Spaghetti Factory? They have an AMAZING dish of noodles in browned butter with Mazithra cheese on top. It is unique and oh-so-delish. Just browned butter might not taste so good, so I can see why these weren’t your favorite. These homemade noodles look great! I will have to try them. Thanks for sharing!