Pumpkin pie, turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, cornbread, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce are just a few dishes to be plated on dinner tables for Thanksgiving. In my household, the main star of Thanksgiving is my mom’s famous egg noodles with gravy, topped with turkey and a side of roasted carrots and mashed potatoes.
Why egg noodles?
Ever since I can remember, I always knew Thanksgiving dinner to be “the dinner with delicious egg noodles and gravy.” It’s just not Thanksgiving without them! But when I talked to other people about our favorite Thanksgiving foods, nobody had egg noodles on their menu.
In my opinion, everyone should. Made with flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt (yes four ingredients) this dough gets rolled out, hand cut into thin noodles, dried out overnight, and then cooked in boiling water on Thanksgiving day.
These noodles, which became a Thanksgiving staple, were a childhood recipe that my mom ate every Thanksgiving. Growing up, her step-dad would make them every year for Thanksgiving as a side dish. “We all loved them so much we just kept making them every year after that,” she told me.
Me and my sisters loved the noodles too; so much, that my mom decided to make the egg noodles as the star of the Thanksgiving meal. Not only are they a fan favorite among everyone who comes over to try them at Thanksgiving, but they also make versatile leftovers.
Egg noodles are the ultimate leftover
If your family is lucky to have leftovers, these versatile noodles can be used to make chicken noodle soup, chicken stroganoff, Swedish meatballs with alfredo, a creamy noodle casserole, a noodle bake, and so much more. Every year, my mom knows how much our family enjoys these noodles, so she makes three extra batches, and makes chicken noodle soup the night following Thanksgiving. After a Thanksgiving of intense preparation, cooking and a lot of eating, chicken noodle soup with noodles that are already prepared is so easy, delicious, and simple.
Give it a try. A few more carbs for your Thanksgiving food coma could not hurt, right? With cheap ingredients and only a few steps to prepare, this dish will not disappoint you. I hope you attempt to make these noodles and start the “egg noodle” tradition for your family as I promise you will all be fighting for leftovers.
4-ingredient egg noodle recipe
Whether it’s for Thanksgiving, another holiday, or just a regular week, give this super-simple and delicious recipe a try!
Ingredients:
-3 cups flour
-5 large eggs
-1/2 tablespoon salt
-1 teaspoon olive oil
-1 teaspoon salt (for the pot of water)
Instructions:
1. Make a well of flour. Mix wet ingredients in the well, slowly incorporating flour, until a ball of dough forms.
2. Knead dough on a floured surface.
3. Cover dough with plastic wrap for 15 minutes at room temperature.
4. Divide dough into 4 parts.
5. Roll out each section to between 1/8 and 1/16 inch thick, then sprinkle with flour.
6. Roll dough up, then cut 1/4 inch wide strips.
7. Unroll the noodles and lay out on a brown paper bag or paper towels. Sprinkle again with flour and dry for one hour, flipping the noodles every 15 minutes.
8. Boil 4-9 minutes or until noodles rise to the top of the boiling water.
9. Drain, but don’t rinse, the noodles. Unstick the noodles with butter, and then season with salt and pepper to taste.
10. Top with gravy or your favorite sauce and enjoy!