Homemade garganelli pasta with sausage ragu recipe.

Making homemade garganelli pasta is really quite easy and fun. All you need is egg pasta dough sheets cut into squares which you then roll into ridged pasta tubes using a gnocchi board and a wooden dowel.

There are many recipes for garganelli pasta here in Italy. In this post, you will see I have paired it with a traditional sausage ragu in a recipe Italians call garganelli alla Romagnola.

History and origins of garganelli pasta.

Garganelli, also known as maccheroni al pettine, is a traditional pasta shape from Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy. There are various opinions about the origins of garganelli pasta. Some Italians say it was invented in the 1700s, others think it’s much older. There are also different ‘food legends’ to describe how this tubular pasta was invented.

One example is that the cook of Caterina Sforza, Countess of Forli was left without the stuffing for his cappelletti because it had been eaten by a cat! So, he invented garganelli as a way to use the pasta dough sheets! You can read more about the history and origins of this popular egg pasta in my garganelli post.

How to serve garganelli.

In the past, homemade garganelli pasta was served and eaten in beef or capon broth. This is true of many traditional egg pasta types, both flat like tagliatelle and filled like agnolotti. Nowadays, this pasta is more often used in what Italian call ‘pasta asciutta’ recipes, meaning dry pasta but actually with a sauce or condiment.

Among the most popular traditional garganelli recipes are 'alla Romagnola' (see recipe below), 'alla zingara' with bell peppers and with ragù di lonza all’Emiliana (Emilian pork loin ragu). The latter is still on my to-make list! Bolognese sauce is also a typical condiment for garganelli.

Ingredients for homemade garganelli.

Flour: Unlike most other egg pasta, homemade garganelli dough has two types of flour, soft wheat and hard wheat. The soft wheat flour we often use for pasta here in Italy is Italian ‘00’ flour. This is the finest type of soft wheat flour. You can also use all-purpose flour.

The hard wheat or durum wheat flour is called semola rimacinata in Italian. This is a semolina flour. It is higher in gluten than soft wheat flour and helps the pasta keep its shape.

Eggs: As in most egg pasta recipes, the ratio of eggs to flour in this recipe is one egg per 100g (3.5oz) flour. I prefer to use free range organic eggs for their taste and nutritional value. For this recipe, you will need 3 large eggs. If your eggs are small or medium size and the dough seems dry, you can add a little tepid water to make up the liquid content.

Optional ingredients: Not everyone includes salt in their egg pasta dough, but I like to add a pinch. It is optional. Some recipes for homemade garganelli include olive oil in the dough. Most the Italian recipes I found did not.

The sausage ragu.

I served my homemade garganelli pasta with a traditional sausage ragu which is very similar to another typical pasta recipe from Emilia-Romagna ‘gramigna alla salsiccia’. The only difference between the two ragus is the nutmeg in this recipe. This recipe for garganelli pasta with sausage ragu is called ‘alla Romagnola’ in Italian.

Ingredients for the sausage ragu.

Italian sausage: Being an Italian recipe, I used fresh Italian pork sausages known as salamella. This type of sausage often includes pancetta, garlic and wine along with pork shoulder. Of course, you can use other types of fresh pork sausage.

Tomatoes: Both canned peeled whole tomatoes and passata work well in this sausage ragu. I used canned San Marzano tomatoes, probably the best type of Italian sauce tomatoes.

Onion: Use a white or yellow onion. Make sure to slice and chop it finely so you don’t have large pieces of onion in the sauce.

Nutmeg: Freshly grated nutmeg is a common spice in Italian recipes. It adds a warm slightly sweet flavor. However, it is usually used very sparingly as too much can make a recipe taste soapy. Just grate in a little, maybe ¼ of a teaspoon.

White Wine: Use a dry white wine; this helps cut through the richness of the sausage meat, adding more balance and overall flavors.

Parmigiano: I used Parmigiano Reggiano for this recipe since it is a local cheese in Emilia-Romagna! However, you could also use Grana Padano. Freshly grated cheese is best for both flavor and texture!

Step by step instructions for the homemade garganelli pasta.

The best way to make the pasta dough.

First, sift both flours into a large bowl and mix together. Make a well in the flour and break in the eggs. Add a pinch of salt. With a fork, beat the eggs and then incorporate the flour into the eggs until you have the start of a dough.

Use your hand/s to start kneading the dough in the bowl until it no longer sticks to the sides. Turn the dough out onto a flour dusted wooden board and knead for about 5-10 minutes until you have a fairly smooth and elastic dough. Roll it into a ball, wrap it in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Cooks tip: Semolina flour is the best for dusting your work surface, your pasta machine and where you place the ready fresh pasta. It doesn’t stick like soft wheat flour does!

Make the garganelli pasta.

Cut off one third of the dough and rewrap the rest so it doesn’t dry out. Flatten the dough piece with your hands or a rolling pin. Then pass it through your pasta roller machine at the widest setting. (Mine is 7 but some are 1).

Fold the first dough sheet into thirds and pass it through the same setting with the narrowest side first. Repeat this step again twice. Then, pass the dough sheet through two narrower settings (I use 5 then 3, for others it will be 3 then 5). Place the ready dough sheet on a lightly floured board.

Cut your pasta sheets into even 2-inch squares (4 - 5cm). Place the squares of pasta one at a time on your garganelli or gnocchi board so it's a diamond shape in front of you. Place your wooden dowel at the bottom. Then, curl the bottom corner over the dowel and start to roll the pasta square up.

Keep rolling until you have a tube and press down slightly so the top corner sticks. Gently, roll back and forth a couple of times and then slide the ready garganelli off the dowel. It should come off easily. Place your ready homemade garganelli on a flour dusted surface and continue with the rest of the dough.

Cooks tip: If you don’t have the right kind of wooden stick or dowel for garganelli, you can use a wooden pencil or a narrow wooden spoon handle.

Step by step instructions for the sausage ragu.

Decase the sausages by making a shallow lengthways cut with a sharp knife along the sausage from top to bottom. Peel the casing away from the sausage meat and place the latter onto a chopping board. Cut the sausage meat into very small pieces. You can also crumble it with your hands.

Peel and finely slice and chop the onion. Sauté it in a frying pan or skillet with a little olive oil. Once the onion starts to soften, add the sausage meat. Brown the sausage and then add the white wine. Turn up the heat to help the alcohol evaporate.

Next, add the canned peeled tomatoes and some grated nutmeg. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Turn the heat to low and let your sausage ragu simmer for about 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Finish and serve your homemade garganelli pasta alla Romagnola.

When you are ready to finish and serve this recipe, just put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Add salt once it starts to boil and bring to the boil again.

If necessary, reheat the sausage ragu. Then, cook the garganelli in the boiling salted water. Fresh pasta cooks quickly so the pasta will take just 2-3 minutes. Finally, transfer the cooked pasta using a slotted spoon or net strainer to the sausage ragu. Mix together gently and serve immediately with some grated Parmigiano if required.

Cooks tip: You can leave your homemade garganelli to dry for a couple of hours after making them. In fact, this actually helps this tubular pasta to hold its shape when cooked.

What to do with leftovers.

Uncooked fresh garganelli pasta that has dried out can be kept in an airtight container for up to 5 days. For longer storage, it’s best to freeze the pasta and cook from frozen.

Leftover ragu can also be frozen in a sealed container for up to 3 months or kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you have ragu mixed with garganelli left over reheat in the microwave.

Pin for later.

Let me know what you think.

You can use a different sauce with your garganelli pasta (see links below the recipe card) or even a different pasta with the sausage ragu! But, if you are a sausage pasta fan, I recommend trying this recipe as is. It's so very tasty and comforting!

If you make this homemade garganelli pasta recipe, I'd love to know what you think. Please write a comment below after the recipe card or on The Pasta Project Facebook page.

Your feedback means a lot to me.

Buon Appetito from Verona, Italy!

Some other recipes for garganelli.

1. Pasta with tuna Bolognese
2. Traditional Bolognese sauce
3. Garganelli with braised onion sauce.
4. Easy Italian squid pasta with garganelli.
5. Garganelli with Romagna shallots and guanciale