2 Ingredient Keto Pasta
You only need 2 ingredients for this Keto Pasta Recipe! No low carb flour alternatives or special keto ingredients are needed. It’s a quick and easy substitute for regular pasta.
This quick and easy past really is just two ingredients. And you don’t need any special keto ingredients to make it. In fact, you may likely already have the ingredients necessary.
Taste and Texture
I want to make clear that this does not taste the same as traditional pasta made with wheat flour. But it does taste something that resembles noodles–just a bit more cheesy.
The noodles hold up fairly well once they cool. You won’t be able to twirl them around your fork as they aren’t quite as flexible, but they do have a chewy bounciness to them like regular pasta.
This post is a little bit lengthy, but it’s because I want to make sure I share enough details so that you know what to expect, and so it turns out well.
Keto Pasta Ingredients
All you need for this pasta is:
- Mozzarella cheese
- Egg yolk
This low carb pasta dough is actually very similar to the cheese dough base used in many keto recipes like keto breadsticks and keto bagels.
Steps for Making the Keto Pasta Dough
The cheese is melted down and mixed with the egg to form a dough. You can then roll the dough out and slice it into thin strips pasta strips.
The dough then needs to sit in the fridge to dry out. So even though the noodles only take a few minutes to make, you will need to prepare this ahead of time. I put mine in the fridge overnight.
The noodles are then cooked in boiling water very briefly. If you cook them too long, they begin to break apart and will just turn into a melty cheese lump.
Keto pasta noodles must be cooled down over cold water. This will prevent them from sticking together. It will also firm the noodles back up from their melted cheese state.
Serve it with marinara or tomato sauce (or pasta sauce of your choice) and it will cover up some of that pure cheese flavor. As I mentioned above, my husband didn’t even suspect anything! He just thought it was a cheesy pasta dish.
Recipe now updated with video! You can also find all my recipe videos on my youtube channel.
More Keto Pasta Recipes
2 Ingredient Keto Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 cup shredded part skim low moisture mozzarella cheese
- 1 large egg yolk
Instructions
- Add the mozzarella to a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 1 minute. Stir until cheese is completely melted. If needed, heat for an additional 30 seconds or until cheese is completely melted.
- Allow the mozzarella to cool for 1 minute, so that it will not cook the egg. You don't want to cool the cheese too long though because it needs to stay melted.
- Add in egg yolk and stir and mix into the cheese, until you have a uniform yellow dough.
- Place your dough on a flat surface lined with parchment paper. Place another parchment paper on top of the dough.
- Use a rolling pin over the top piece of parchment paper, and roll dough until it is 1/8 inch thick.
- Remove the top piece of parchment and cut the dough into ½ inch wide strips. Refrigerate the pasta for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- When ready to cook, bring a pot of water to boil. Do not add salt to the water. Add in pasta. Cook for about 40 seconds to 1 minute. Be careful not to cook too long, otherwise the pasta will lose its form, break down and become a melted cheese mess.
- Remove pasta from pot and run under cold water to cool it down. Gently separate strands sticking together. Allow pasta to cool until it is only slightly warm to the touch. When the pasta cools, it will firm back up, so that it is no longer just melty cheese and it will taste more like pasta rather than just cheese sticks. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Tasty
- Allow pasta to cool before serving, so that the noodles firm up again after they are cooked.
- Make sure to use packaged pre-shredded part skim low moisture mozzarella. Regular mozzarella has too much moisture. Packaged shredded mozzarella is treated with an anti-caking agent which is needed to help keep these noodles stay solid during cooking.
- Your noodles must be completely dried in the fridge before attempting to cook them. Keep them uncovered in the fridge for at least 6 hours, but I prefer overnight.
- Keep the pasta in the fridge until you are ready to cook them. Don't let them sit out too long at room temperature before cooking them.
Yea I don’t know about this recipe. I’ve tried melting the cheese a dozen different ways and it always comes out COMPLETELY different than what’s in the video.
We’re sorry to hear that! It may depend how you are melting the cheese or what kind of cheese you are using. We used a microwave for about 1 minute. Stir until cheese is completely melted. If needed, heat for an additional 30 seconds or until cheese is completely melted.
Hello, Do you think this recipe will work with dairy free mozzarella. It rough being keto and lactose intolerant. Thanks!
Sorry I don’t know
I can’t wait to try it!
I am considering using my tortilla press to flatten my dough before cutting the noodles
I hope it works out for you!
Was just wondering if you could use a pasta machine to form the dough
We haven’t tried using a pasta machine. If you do, please let us know how it worked for you!
Instead of boiling, can you bake noodles in the oven?
Sorry, but we haven’t tried that.
Have you tried using this dough to make ravioli?
We haven’t and can’t say how it would work. If you try it, please let us know how it went!
About the parchment sticking….
I haven’t had much energy to cook lately, but this recipe made me sit up and take notice! Thank you for sharing it! I’m looking forward to trying it and even shared it with my sister who’s on a Keto diet (with an invite request added lol).
Reading through the comments, I noticed several people mentioning issues with the pasta sticking to the parchment paper. I’d recommend investing in good parchment paper as a potential solution.
Tried cheap parchment paper from Walmart (Great Value brand) because they were out of Reynold’s (the only one I’d had experience with before), and had problems with seep-through (had to fold the paper not just twice, but four times [!!!] to avoid seepage) and the paper would give wetter food a chemical taste…plus, the paper burned super easily and would stink up the kitchen! This happened with both packages. Buyer beware. Bought some from one of our local wholesale clubs (BJ’s), as soon as I found it in stock, and it’s *much* better.
Maybe that’s what’s contributing to the pasta sticking, a lower-quality parchment…?
Thanks for the tips! I hadn’t thought of that, but that makes sense. I use Kirkland parchment paper and nothing sticks to it so I was having a hard time figuring out why some people are having sticking issues.
Would wax paper work for this?
We don’t recommend wax paper as it will likely cause the dough to stick
could you use this to make perogy’s?
Without testing it we can’t say if it will work.
My husband was very glad I found this recipe. He was not happy without his noodles, and this was a very close replacement. I DO have problems with the dough sticking to the paper, but it is what it is. I deal with it and move on. I do have a question for you. My husband just asked about making batches in advance and storing. I usually make noodles on the weekend due to time constraints during the week. Can you make several batches ahead of time and store them for later in the week somehow? Also, what about “doubling” or “tripling” a batch….does it work out okay?
We’ve only tried leaving the noodles in the refrigerator overnight and can’t say how they’ll hold up longer than that. As far as doubling or tripling the batch, it would probably be easier to make two or three separate batches instead of one big batch. They will be easier to roll out.
2 of my fave foods.
Glad you liked it!
Quite a far cry away from the suggested outcome.
Perhaps a bit more accurate or descriptive guide would help “cooked in boiling water very briefly”
As described in the recipe card, they should be boiled for 40 seconds to 1 minute. Hope that helps!
Do you think this would work if I use low moisture, part skim shredded mozzarella which also contains cream cheese (says on bag that it melts better?
Thanks, in advance, for a response!
Sorry, but we haven’t tried that so can’t say if it will work.
I tried the “noodles” for dinner tonight. Talk about a major fiasco! I made the “noodles” yesterday and left them in the refrigerator. I barely had them in hot water for 25 seconds and it was a gobbly mess. I tried small batches that would fit on a spoon with holes and would immediately put in cold water. It didn’t work for me at all.
Sorry to hear that but these noodles have turned out well for us and other readers. Did you use pre-shredded mozzarella cheese? Packaged pre-shredded mozzarella is treated with an anti-caking agent which is needed to help keep these noodles stay solid during cooking.
Here’s a tip; Lightly spray bowl and parchment papers with cooking spray to help prevent sticking.
thanks for sharing!
So easy, and so good! Thank you for bringing “pasta” back into my life.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Just wondering, I don’t have pre shredded mozzarella cheese but the block. Can you just shred it and put it in the fridge to dry out? If so, how would you? Spread it out on a piece of paper towel maybe?
Sorry I have not had success with mozzarella block so I dont know
I have made this twice and I also have had the dough stick to the parchment paper. But I was able to scrape the dough off the parchment paper and then formed it with my hands on one piece of parchment paper. I then used a pizza cutter and scored the dough. I then placed the scored dough that was still on the parchment on a plate and placed it in the refrigerator overnight to dry out. When I take it out the next day I rescore the dough with the pizza cutter (overlaying the previous scoring) and then I am very careful to peel away each “pasta” strand and then place it on a plate. I then put the plate back in the refrigerator and let sit for about two to four hours more (depends upon when I will cook it that night). I then make sure I get water up to a boil and then drop all of the strands in the boiling water for 40 seconds and then dump in all in a colander and run cool water over it. I place it back into the pot (without water) and then pour the sauce in and stir. I usually cook a roast in the Instant Pot and then place the roast on top of the pasta. But it is a lot of work. By the way I have used low moisture block mozzarella cheese. I think the next time I make this I may use a bit of xanthan gum as well. Sure wish it wouldn’t stick to the parchment. But even if it sticks it is still salvageable. Scrap it up with the end of a fork and put it back in a ball and just form it into shape with your hands without the top parchment paper.
Hi, I’m glad you got it to work for you. I’m sorry to hear you are having sticking issues. I think it may because you are using a block of cheese. I used already pre-shredded mozzarella and that is what I recommend in the recipe notes. Pre-shredded mozzarella does have a little bit of cornstarch or something similar added to keep the shreds from sticking together. I think that also makes a difference when making these noodles as I haven’t had them stick to parchment before.
Oh my! I am so impressed! This turned out delicious and my husband loved it as well! Thank you!!
I’m glad you both enjoyed it!
I have also been having issues with it sticking to the paper! The first time, I used whole milk mozzarella so I thought that was why. I made sure to get part skim this time, and it’s still sticking! My dough looks exactly like yours does. The only thing I did differently was double the recipe. I’m wondering if I added the egg yolks too soon and they got partially cooked, or maybe the opposite happened? But I thought I remembered reading on one of the variations of this recipe that you don’t want the yolks to get cooked. I’ll experiment with different things and report back.
I’m sorry to hear you are having issues with your dough sticking. I haven’t ever had that happen.
I followed this recipe to the letter. Are you leaving out a step to grease the parchment paper? Tried twice, the dough stuck to the parchment both times. Scraped what was left off of both pieces and retried with wax paper. Sticks to wax paper too.
Am I missing something?
it shouldn’t stick to the parchment paper. and no I have not ever needed to grease it.
How much cheese do you use for recipe? And is recipe one serving?
the recipe box provides the amount of cheese and serving
Tried it two times 1 minute burned the cheese and the second time it stuck to the parchment paper. Waste of ingredients. Read all the notes and followed to a t…
I’m sorry you had issues with the recipe. I have not had issues with the cheese burning at 1 minute. I also haven’t had issues with the dough sticking. It is very oily so it definitely shouldn’t stick
Just a thought that if you add about 1/4 teaspoon of Xanthan Gum it may improve the flexibility of the noodles (makes a dough more bendable). I have not tried it yet, but I will. I am relieved to know that your husband didn’t suspect anything…well done!
Well here’s to me totally not following instructions! So I used shredded Monterey Jack cheese and melted it in a double boiler. Cooled it for a minute and put it into a glass bowl. Mixed in my egg yolk, tho this took some effort! Put it on the ax paper and rolled it out. Stuck it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Peeled top layer off “dough”, noted it was “sticking” to the waxed paper, so pulled out another sheet of waxed paper and carefully peeled it off the first sheet and put it on the second one before proceeding. Cut into noodle shapes. Dropped into the water I’d left boiling on the stove. “Cooked” for about 30 seconds- just till it floated to the top. Quickly drained and dumped into ice water bowl. Results? Delicious! Fantastic! Amazing. I don’t have time to prep and wait overnight for noodles. But may try this version to freeze for when the mood strikes me.
I’m so glad it worked even with the modifications!
Making it into farfalle noodles almost worked. It made gobs of cheesy stuff instead. Alas!
can this be prepped the day before and reheat it in the microwave the next day?
I haven’t tried but I think that should be fine as long as you don’t heat the noodles up too much
I tried this twice but both times the cheese was melted and the egg just wouldn’t blend in. It really just seemed like I was moving melted cheese around on the yolk. I guess now after reading that I should drain any water from the cheese after melting before mixing the yolk in. I will try again. How melted does the cheese need to be? In the video it looks like dough. Mine did not. Thanks!!
What kind of cheese are you using? There should be no water that needs to be drained when the cheese is melted if you are using the cheese specified in the recipe. When the mozzarella is melted, it should look like a dough just like the video. Make sure you are not using fresh/wet mozzarella.
Hey, thank you for this recipe! I decided to try this very spontaneously. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to work out. Finally it actually did, and I am happy with this. The taste, however, is nothing like pasta, of course, but I can say it is very interesting to try and I’d repeat! A nice tip might be to put a little tiny bit of salt in the formed “dough”, it might ameliorate the taste in my opinion. Enjoy your cooking and don’t give up on it if it didn’t work out from the first time!
I’m glad it worked for you!
I made this the other day. I cut the noodles until little rectangles and layered it in between a meat sauce with a little extra Parmesan and baked it and baked it for 30 minutes at 3:50. It was delicious. Thinking about other ways I can use this pasta recipe. Thank you for sharing
Yum, that’s such a great idea!
Hi I look forward to following the actual recipe next time! I used a whole egg and it was too liquidy. I saved my .oodles by adding almond and coconut flour on table and rolling. I was able to roll out and cut. Then baked in oven for 30 minutes as fridge time was too long. Kinda a fried noodle and will add to chicken soup.
using just the egg yolk will make a huge difference. hope you try it again!
Has anyone fired these noodles? We used to eat fried egg noodles till they got crispy, and I know that some of the cheese dough recipes can be put in the waffle iron until crispy. Was wondering if I could fry these instead of boiling.
I have not tried frying but I don’t think it will work for this recipe.
This was such a simple recipe, thank you! It turned exactly as pictured and written. I’ll enjoy it once in a while, it’s pretty heavy since it’s all fat. I had a half-portion with keto bechamel sauce and it really did remind me of Fettucine Alfredo, hit the spot!
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Not sure what I did wrong, but the pasta sticked on to the parliament paper so I changed to wax paper and it sticks to the wax paper as well.
I finally was able to take it out into strips and refrigerate for a couple of days. After only 20 seconds in the hot water, but it all fell apart.
I followed the instructions to the t, using only egg yolk and allowed the cheese to melt and cool off as instructed. Help!
I’m sorry to hear your first attempt did not go well. It sounds like your dough was too wet. Moisture is your enemy for this recipe. Make sure that you use a low moisture mozzarella. Regular mozzarella has too much moisture and will cause the dough to be too wet. Also make sure your cheese is fresh and not frozen. I had a reader who was using frozen cheese which also had too much moisture.
I sprayed my hands and parchment paper with coconut oil, helped with the sticking
great tip!
Do you know if this would work using a pasta extruder? (Like the kind that can punch out rigatoni and macaroni)
I wouldn’t recommend it. The dough is much stickier than normal pasta which is why it needs to be rolled out between two sheets of parchment paper. It would likely get stuck if you tried to use a pasta extruder.
After making this, the “dough” will not come off the parchment! It’s just kind of smearing between both pieces. It won’t come off clean! I put it in the freezer to see if cooling will help. Did no-one else have this happen? I’m so upset about it because I made multiple servings! That’s a lot of money to waste! I’ll update if the feeezing works! Cross your fingers for me!
I haven’t had the dough get stuck on parchment before. I hope it helped once you put it in the freezer
It worked perfectly!
Yay! So happy to hear that
I followed the directions carefully but did not get a dough…it was still extremely loose…
Did you add in the egg when the cheese is still melted and warm? If so, the egg should blend into the cheese easily. It should not cause the dough to become loose.
Can cheddar cheese be used for this pasta recipe!
the dough needs mozzarella
Hi, I’m very interested in trying this but a bit confused about the cooling in cold water once boiled, will this not result in a Luke warm meal?
You only cool the noodles down enough to firm them up. They are still warm to the touch and once you add your hot pasta sauce your meal should not be lukewarm.
Is the 6hr fridge time necessary? Or can I flash freeze them for an hr and that will be enough?
The key to the noodles working is drying them out which is why they are placed in the fridge for that long.
Do you cover it overnight or just leave it uncovered in the fridge?
I left mine uncovered.
Did you try it yet, Hazel?
Anyone try using a using chedder or even marble as an alternative to mozzarella?
I tried to make this tonight and I failed miserably. Not sure where I went wrong. I couldn’t get the egg to blend with the mozzarella easily. I ended up kneading it together with my hands and it still had chunks of cheese. Couldn’t cut them cause it was so sticky. Help!
When you melt the cheese, make sure to stir it until it becomes uniform. Let it cool only for about 1 minute and immediately stir in the egg. You need to do this while the cheese is still warm. You should be able to fully work the egg into the cheese simply using a spatula and stirring. Make sure your cheese is still very warm, otherwise if the cheese starts to firm up, then you won’t be able to mix anything into it
Exact same thing happened for us … the melted cheese and egg yolks would not combine, no matter how much we stirred. Tried kneading with hands to no avail. Cheese was fully melted and uniform. Not sure what else to try in order to make this work … is there a specific brand or type of mozzarella that works better?
It shouldn’t need a specific brand. But it does need to be pre-shredded low moisture mozzarella. Using fresh or a block of mozzarella has too much moisture.
Make sure you only use the egg yolk. I think that info is missing in the directions. I used a whole egg twice and failed both times. Used the yolk only and worked out perfectly.
I used the block cheese and shredded it myself. The recipe didn’t work because there was too much moisture.
Doesn’t the shredded cheese have something added to it to keep it from sticking? Does that something add carbs to the cheese?
Yes pre-shredded cheese usually has a little starch added to it to prevent it from sticking. That is already factored into the estimated nutrition.
Can you boil them and then microwave them the next day? I meal prep my meals for the week.
yes
This is eggcellent! Hahaha.. but that’s the problem for me, do you think I could add a different binder in place of the egg? I know vinegar and baking powder can replace eggs in certain recipes and wondered if you knew if it might work. I would looove to have easy low carb pasta like this!
sorry I’m not sure what else you can use in place of egg for binding agent.
You can use xantham gum to bind it.
You could try unflavored gelatin
Was wondering if this tasted eggy at all? Thank you in advanced!
it does not taste eggy
I made a larger batch and froze them. Thawed and. cooked and was great!
that’s great! Thanks for sharing! It’s good to know this freezes well
When you freeze the noodles for later, do you bag them and put them in freezer before putting them in boiling water? Or are they blanched first.
Can you make several batches ahead of time and freeze the dried noodles?
I have not tried, but I think it should work
Can you use duck eggs yokes?? Thank you!!
I have not tried with duck egg yolks.
What is the serving size for those nutrition facts? Is the whole recipe considered one serving?
The serving size listed in nutrition facts is for the whole recipe. As stated in the yield section, the recipe serves 1.
Can this be used as lasagna noodles? How would it hold up in the oven?
I would not recommend using this for lasagna noodles as it works best in small strips. Also you would need a lot of cheese to achieve large wide noodles. It also does not hold up well in the oven because the noodles would just melt and lose their form. These are cooked for less than a minute.
I did as lagasna and it tasted fabulous. I do it as a casserole. mix the pasta & layered with everyhting else and it does dissolve but tatse great!!!!
I’m glad it worked out for you!
I highly recommend this keto lasagna. We don’t do keto anymore, but this was one of our absolute favorite & best keto meals when we did. https://peaceloveandlowcarb.com/just-like-the-real-thing-lasagna/
This2-ingredient pasta looks great though for normal pasta dishes!
Can I shred a block of mozzarella or does it have to be packaged that way already?
If you can find low moisture block of mozzarella cheese, then yes you can shred it to use, but my experience has beenthe block ones are not usually low moisture.