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Fuel your runs with fresh homemade pasta with these electric and manual machines.

Whether you’re gearing up for a goal marathon, a weekend long run, or just a fun event, at one point or another, you (like most runners) have probably fueled up on pasta the night before. And while there’s nothing wrong with dropping a box of dried pasta into a pot of boiling water in a pinch, making your own fresh noodles is a deeply gratifying way to nourish yourself and delight your taste buds. And, surprise! It’s easier than you might think.

With a high-quality pasta maker in your kitchen, you can churn out restaurant-quality dishes with your favorite sauces, fillings, and flavorings. Not only will your friends and family be impressed, but you’ll also have more control over the ingredients and nutrients in your pre-run fuel. When you make your own pasta dough, you can incorporate more whole grains and flavor-packed superfoods (like beets, herbs, and squash), and experiment with a variety of noodle shapes and sizes.

So if you’re ready to take your carb-loading routine into your own hands, here’s what you need to know to find the absolute best pasta maker.

The pasta maker you buy will determine the noodle shapes you can produce. The two main camps of pasta makers are extruders and sheeters. Extruders squeeze out circular pasta shapes like bucatini and spaghetti. It’s a faster process because there’s no need to start with pasta sheets—whether rolled by hand or with a sheeter.

The sheet-and-cut style of pasta maker presses globs of soft pasta dough into wide, rectangular ribbons, then slices them into flat fettuccine (or thinner) noodles. Though this kind of machine requires the extra step of sheeting dough, the pasta tends to come out more uniform. Sheeting produces a more reliable result that’s easier to cut into identical noodles. You may run into more problems pushing dough through an extruder machine, and extruded noodles tend to break more easily if the dough is dry.

When you use a sheeter, you also have the option of making rustic hand-cut pasta shapes. All you’ll need is a pasta dough cutter or pastry wheel to make delicate lasagna noodles, farfalle (bowties), or fusilli.

The question of whether to get an electric or manual machine comes down to how much effort you want to put into your homemade pasta and whether you have an extra set of hands to help you. Electric machines do much of the work for a faster and smoother-running process. With a hand-run pasta maker, you’ll need to manually crank the pasta dough through the machine, which can be tricky to do on your own, as you need to handle the pasta going in and coming out.

Electric pasta makers can be either standalone machines or attachments that work with some stand mixers, such as both KitchenAid models on our list. Check your owner’s manual to see if your stand mixer can accept pasta attachments. Even if they’re sold separately, which they usually are, attachments are a less expensive way to make pasta quickly without manual cranking.

Every sheet-style pasta maker offers a range of thicknesses, which are usually represented by numbers on a dial. If you plan to make filled pasta, like tortellini and ravioli, you’ll want a pasta maker that offers at least seven thickness options (many Italian chefs prefer super-thin, 1.5mm sheets to create translucent noodles that offer a sneak peek at the filling).

Most pasta makers, electric or not, must be washed by hand. This can be more difficult if you’re working with a more complex machine. For easier maintenance, look for a pasta maker that comes with a cleaning brush or other tools made specifically for the job or one with at least a few dishwasher-safe parts. It’s very important to keep your pasta maker clean and free of dough between uses. Otherwise, you risk jamming up the machine.

As a professional chef who spends most of my time in the kitchen, I depend on appliances that do their job well and are built to last. As an avid pasta lover (mile-high piles of pillowy ravioli are my favorite), I don’t like fighting with my pasta maker to push dough through, and I’d rather spend more time perfecting a rich tomato sauce than separating stuck-together noodles coming through the cutter. I also think that making homemade pasta is a deeply satisfying, accessible, and creative experiment that home cooks of every level can excel at. I’ve recommended the pasta makers here based on personal product testing, research, and customer reviews and ratings so that you can find a machine that will hold up for years of your famous bolognese nights.

This hand-crank pasta maker is one of the most well-made and versatile options. It has attachments for flat noodles, round noodles, and sheets. The machine clamps tightly onto a table or countertop and stays in place, even with fast-paced pasta-rolling. Choose from nine thickness settings (from .75mm to 5mm) to find your perfect noodle.

This double-sided pasta maker is a budget-friendly option for hand-cranking 2 or 4mm-wide noodles. The machine has seven thickness settings and is easy to clean by rolling a small piece of dough through the machine. It has non-slip rubber feet and comes with a clamp to secure it to a counter.

If you already have a KitchenAid stand mixer, this trio of pasta attachments—a roller for 6-inch sheets, a spaghetti cutter, and a fettuccine cutter—is a great investment and my go-to pasta maker. It fits all household KitchenAid stand mixers and churns out smooth, supple pasta sheets and cleanly cuts noodles. When the machine is doing the work, all you have to focus on is carefully feeding it dough.

This do-it-all countertop appliance lets you make creative and colorful homemade pasta as hands-off as possible. Not only does the automatic machine mix and knead your dough from scratch, but it also extrudes perfectly smooth, fresh pasta in as little as 10 minutes. The included recipe booklet offers 15 ways to flavor and color your pasta with fresh herbs, spices, and seasonings. When you’re done, cleanup and storage is easy: The parts are dishwasher safe and the machine has a drawer to keep the cutting discs neat and organized.

This flashy, red countertop pasta maker takes the work out of creating smooth sheets of pasta. It has a dual-sized cutting head to make wide fettuccine or skinny spaghetti and adjusts to nine thickness levels. The machine also comes with an adjustable-wheel pasta cutter and a cleaning brush designed specifically to remove flour and pasta from between the rollers. The motor has two speed settings to match your pace.

This KitchenAid mixer attachment goes beyond the standard long noodles, and it’s my personal favorite for making fun short-cut pasta shapes. Six interchangeable stainless-steel discs produce chewy and springy noodles. The attachment (which fits most KitchenAid mixers) also has a built-in wire cutter for slicing custom pasta shapes and the machine comes with a cleaning tool to remove dough from small spaces. Store the six cutting discs inside the pasta press to avoid losing any parts.

This board is the key to making delicately rolled potato gnocchi or curly cavatelli at home. It has ridges at the exact right depth to make traditional indents in your raw gnocchi, which helps your sauce coat the cooked pasta better. All you’ll need is a bit of flour on the board to prevent the dough from sticking.

Experiment with your favorite ravioli fillings at home with this easy-to-use stamp. This ravioli maker produces plump, large pillows that are tightly crimped around every edge. That way, you can rest assured that nothing will burst open during cooking. Pair this ravioli press with a sheeter, such as the Delihom or KitchenAid mixer attachment above, to roll your pasta dough nice and thin before filling and cutting.

With one purchase, you get a premium stainless-steel hand-crank pasta maker and a wooden drying tree to hold your freshly cut noodles. This high-quality machine is manufactured in Italy and produces pasta sheets and long noodles with the help of manual cranking. It also has a design to match its performance, with a fire-engine red enamel finish.