A Tip To Easily Add A Colorful Twist To Your Homemade Pasta

Homemade pasta dough might seem like more commitment than you're ready for right now, but believe it or not, it's actually pretty simple to make your own pasta from scratch. If you're taking a stab at date night dinner at home, why not serve up a plate of pink penne or red rigatoni? To give noodles a beautiful boost without food coloring, you can incorporate vibrant veggies, herbs, or spices into your raw dough.

Spinach is a popular ingredient for green noodles, beets or tomatoes yield shades of red, squash makes it orange, and saffron turns noodles yellow. You might have even tried jet black pasta at your favorite Italian spot; the deep color comes from squid or cuttlefish ink. If you'd rather snag some spaghetti at the store, you can also create a colorful meal with a bright sauce such as a blend of beets and goat cheese. The result is a tangy, crayon-colored coating to boost your noodles.

When you're not opting for a classic spaghetti adorned only with a rich all-purpose tomato sauce, you can actually dine on noodles in almost every color of the rainbow. There are hundreds of different pasta shapes, many with fascinating backstories; why not add even more variety with violet, pink, or green pasta?

If you've ever decorated holiday desserts in fuchsia frosting and pink piping, you probably already know you can achieve colorful cakes and cookies with a couple drops of food coloring. Whether you need to use gel or liquid food coloring depends on the recipe and the level of intensity you want to achieve with your hue of choice. However, if you prefer to give dishes a dose of bold color using natural ingredients, there's an entire rainbow of pretty produce and brightly-hued herbs you can incorporate into your cooking. Those infamous celebrity smoothies, for example get their photogenic pastel pigments from additions like blue spirulina and bright berries. Now, you can add a little style to spaghetti night by giving your homemade pasta some extra color.