Easy Potato Pasta (naturally Purple & Healthy)

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Today I'll show you how to use mashed potatoes to make tasty & healthy pasta, that also happens to look cute.

Not that there's any need to upcycle mashed potatoes, yummy as they are...but I like getting crafty with food, so here we go!

This recipe was born when I had too many mashed potatoes leftovers in the fridge but I was craving pasta instead...and if you don't do something about cravings, they tend to get worse. So I tried making pasta using that creamy mash & it turned out really tasty! Whatever style of mashed potatoes you make--french, fluffy, cheesy, creamy, spicy, southern, etc. these pastas will turn out your style of yumminess!

You will need only three main ingredients & one of them is NOT white flour...so we can call this a healthier version! They get the purple-pink color from raw beetroots. If you don't like beetroots or the color purple (as if!), you can use spinach to create green pasta! If you want to skip the colors & vegetables altogether, just replace the colored paste with plain water or milk.

Note: I didn't have any leftovers this time, so steamed a fresh potato for this instructable. It's a plain mash; so I used light seasoning, which you can skip or not as per your preference.

Let's get started!

Main ingredients:

1 cup mashed potatoes
½ cup beetroot paste (1 raw beetroot blended with very little water to get a pulpy texture)
1 cup wheat semolina flour

Optional Seasoning (can skip if using pre-seasoned potatoes)

½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp pink salt

Take the mashed potatoes in a bowl & mix in the seasoning & beetroot pulp.

If the semolina is very coarse, blend to get a fine powder. Add the semolina little at a time in the potato mix, till you get a slightly loose & sticky dough as shown in the video.

Note: you don't have to use up the entire cup of flour, unless your potatoes have a very thin consistency. Use just enough to bind everything together but keep the dough slightly wet.

Cover the dough & keep aside for 15 - 30 minutes. This will allow the semolina to absorb excess moisture and the pasta dough will turn out softer & more elastic.

Dust a clean surface or plate with dry flour.

Take small portions of the potato dough and start moulding into your favorite pasta shapes. If the dough is a little sticky, use dry flour to shape easily.

Place the pasta on the flour dusted surface.

You can also place the dough in a noodle maker to make potato spaghetti!

The pretty pasta is ready to go into your favorite dishes....Use it like you would regular pasta. Boil & pan toss in olive oil & garlic for a quick snack or make some potato pasta mac-n-cheese!

My favourite way to use these is to drop them in a variety of soups.. in addition to a dash of color, the potato starch in the pasta helps thicken the soup without any add-ons.

Hope you enjoyed this instructable and let me know if you try the recipe. Feedback & suggestions are more than welcome :)

Have a delicious day!