Best Pasta Makers 2024 - Forbes Vetted

Whether you want to embrace your Italian heritage or learn a new culinary skill, making pasta from scratch is a worthwhile pursuit. While the task might be intimidating at first, the best pasta makers are designed to make the process easy and fun. For those who are ready to start churning out fresh fettuccine, spaghetti and lasagna noodles at home, the Marcato Atlas 150 Aluminum Pasta Machine is an iconic, Italian-made piece that’s built to last and highly recommended by chefs.

With one of the best pasta makers, you can churn out homemade spaghetti, fettuccini and lasagna ... [+] that's infinitely better than dried noodles.

These days, most pasta makers fall into one of two categories: manual (which are operated using a hand crank) and electric (which extrude dough in a variety of shapes). If you opt for the former, which are more traditional and affordable, “look for a machine that’s made in Italy of steel, rather than aluminum,” says Domenica Marchetti, author of The Glorious Pasta of Italy. “It should be weighty and sturdy, not flimsy.” If you’re seeking something especially beginner-friendly, electric models do much of the work for you—just keep in mind that they’re pricier. Ahead, here are the best pasta makers to support you on your culinary journey, as recommended by the pros. (Just make sure you have your additional pasta-making tools on deck.)

Amazon

Type: Manual | Material: Stainless steel | Size: 8 x 8 x 7 inches

Made in Italy, this timeless manual pasta maker is popular among top chefs and in-the-know home cooks. To start, it’s made from durable chrome-plated steel that can hold up to heavy use. It’s also versatile, as it can rolls sheets of dough at 10 different thicknesses, ranging from 0.6 to 4.8 millimeters. “I have been using the same standard hand-crank Marcato Atlas pasta machine for 25-plus years, and it continues to serve me well,” says Marchetti. “It's intuitive, the rollers run smoothly and there are lots of attachments for cutting different shapes.” (Those attachments include accessories to make linguine, spaghetti, ravioli and other popular pasta varieties.) Linda Miller Nicholson, author of the cookbook Pasta, Pretty Please, is another fan of this piece.

Amazon

Type: Manual | Material: Stainless steel | Size: 7.5 x 8 x 6 inches

The Imperia 150 Pasta Machine is another hand-crack model that comes highly recommended by chefs. “The first time I ever made fresh pasta was 1987, and I used a hand-crank Imperia pasta machine,” says chef Bill Dorrler of Osteria Morini, an Italian restaurant with locations around the country. To this day, he still uses the same machine, and he loves that it’s “easy to use, efficient and extremely well made.” Crafted in Italy from chromed steel, this heavy-duty machine has a 6-inch roller and includes a double cutter for tagliatelle or fettuccini. And if another type of pasta is more your speed, there are additional attachments for angel hair, spaghetti, trenette, lasagnette and ravioli (that can be purchased separately).

Amazon

Type: Extruder | Materials: Stainless steel, plastic | Size: 13 x 15.5 x 11.9 inches

Also known as extruders, electric pasta makers are a cinch to use: All you have to do is add the ingredients into the machine, and it automatically mixes, kneads and shapes the dough. In just 18 minutes, the Philips Viva Collection Pasta And Noodle Maker can prepare two to three servings of fresh pasta in three classic styles: spaghetti, penne and fettuccine. And though this model is bigger than manual pasta makers, it’s relatively small for an electric machine. Plus, it has a built-in storage department, where you can nest the shaping discs.

KitchenAid

Type: Attachment | Material: Stainless steel | Size: Depends on attachment

If you own a KitchenAid stand mixer, you can purchase a variety of pasta-making attachments that attach to the machine’s power hub, including this chef-approved set that includes a pasta roller, spaghetti cutter and fettuccine cutter. (It’s our favorite KitchenAid attachment—period.) “With this kit, you can roll pasta sheets for lasagna or ravioli or use the cutters to make spaghetti or tagliatelle," says David Schwartz, executive chef of Formento's in Chicago. Though the set is somewhat expensive, the attachments are made from stainless steel—in other words, just like the brand’s mixers, they’re built to last.

Amazon

Type: Attachment | Material: Stainless steel | Size: 4.8 x 5.7 x 8.4 inches

Compared to the aforementioned KitchenAid attachment, the Gourmet Pasta Press Attachment is slightly more versatile: It comes with six discs that allow you to make spaghetti, small and large macaroni, bucatini, fusilli and rigatoni. It’s also, as you might expect, a little more expensive than the Pasta Roller And Cutter Set—though it’s worth the extra cost. Sweetening the deal, it also comes with a built-in wire cutter to lop off your freshly extruded noodles.

Forbes Vetted’s writers, editors and contributors have spent countless hours researching and reviewing kitchen items, from toaster ovens to ice cream makers to hand mixers. Through this work, we’ve gotten to know what separates an okay product from one that’s truly great. To ensure all the items we recommend are also expert-approved, we make sure to consult the pros to get their recommendations and shopping tips. For this piece, we also spoke with five culinary professionals: Bill Dorrler, chef of Osteria Morini; Domenica Marchetti, author of The Glorious Pasta of Italy; Linda Miller Nicholson, author of the cookbook Pasta, Pretty Please; Jessica Randhawa of the food blog The Forked Spoon; and David Schwartz, executive chef of Formento's.

To determine the best pasta makers, we started by speaking with the aforementioned professionals to learn which models they rely on to make fresh pasta at home. Therefore, most of the products that make list come recommended by chefs, full-time food bloggers and cookbook authors. We researched the most popular models from trusted brands like Marcato, Imperia and KitchenAid, and took a close look at each pasta maker’s ease of use and durability.

It’s possible to make homemade pasta without a pasta maker—you can get the job done with a rolling pin and knife if you’re so inclined—but if you’re planning to make your own pasta on a regular basis, a pasta machine is a worthwhile investment. Not only do these gadgets make the process quicker and easier, they also help to ensure your pasta is the right size, shape, consistency and texture, which will make your meals taste that much better.