Philips vs Hamilton Beach Pasta Maker: Homemade Pasta for Beginners

Making good pasta is not as easy as it seems. Of course, you can always buy a package of spaghetti, but you’re missing a lot of the taste, freshness, and overall magic of homemade pasta.

Think for a little about why Italian kitchen is so popular around the globe? It consists mostly of pasta-based dishes. OK, olive oil plays a huge role, too, but it doesn’t matter what other ingredients are used, they are always somehow combined with pasta. But it’s fresh, homemade pasta. Besides, you can use absolutely any flour you want – even the flour combinations. If you ask me, my choice is definitely Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour.

Pasta makers are a great way to feel a dash of real Italian cuisine at home. Especially if you’re familiar with spices and herbs, juices and purees – you can get a whole variety of personalized flavors, but the colors, too. It’s not just taste that matters – we all know that a good meal starts with a nice-looking colorful plate. Also, when it comes to cooking pasta another very useful kitchen utensil I regularly use is the spider strainer, so make sure to get one before you get into the homemade pasta adventure.

Since I assume you have no previous experience in making homemade pasta, I’ve decided to compare these two automatic pasta makers – they are surely easier to use than the manual ones.

Let’s take a look at a comparison chart between Philips Compact Pasta Maker and Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker.

Philips Compact Pasta Maker

Philips Compact Pasta Maker is a fully automatic machine. It comes with three shaping discs, a flour cup, a cutting tool, and a liquid measuring cup. You’re also going to get a recipe book with a lot of dish recipes as well as different flavored pasta recipes. The cups are not standard measuring cups – they are intended for making the best possible homemade pasta.

Assembling the Pasta Maker

It’s really easy to assemble the unit – you really don’t need a manual, common sense will do the job.

Anyway, to make this process as easy as possible I’ll list all the steps just because almost all the similar instructions will work for Hamilton Beach Pasta & Noodle Maker, too. So, here you go:

• slide the mixing chamber onto the main unit;
• make sure that the main unit is aligned and fitted with the openings on the bottom of the mixing chamber;
• put the mixing paddle in the mixing chamber from above;
• insert the mixing tube into the mixing chamber;
• make sure that the big opening on the mixing tube faces up;
• insert the squeezing bar into the mixing chamber making sure it slides through the tube, paddle, and through the opening on the mixing chamber;
• slide a little a mixing paddle to make sure it fits correctly;
• now, you can attach the shaping disc;
• make sure that the arrow on the disc faces upwards when you attach it to the mixing chamber outlet;
• press the shaping disc through the opening of the shaping disc holder;
• turn the holder clockwise to assemble it to the mixing chamber, and put the lid on.

Making the Pasta

When it comes to making pasta, you probably know that basic ingredients are flour and liquid, which usually consists of an egg or two, and water. Here are the steps for making homemade pasta with a pasta maker:

• After you remove the lid from the mixing chamber, put the two cups of flour in. The next step is to whisk the eggs mixed with some water.
• Next, put the machine in automatic mode and press the Play/Pause button.
• Now, incrementally and slowly pour in the liquid along the length of the slot. Do not add other ingredients after adding liquid.
• Pasta maker needs about three minutes to mix and knead the flour and to start extruding the pasta. The extrusion will start automatically.
• Here the cutting tool comes into play again, chop the pasta or noodles to the desired length, toss it with a little flour, and put it in the heavily salted boiling water for about three minutes. The result is fresh pasta in a couple of minutes.

One more feature worth noting is that you can change the shaping discs or plates even during the process of extrusion. Here is how you’re going to do it:

• stop the machine and take off the existing disc;
• use the cutting tool to cut the dough that already got into the disc;
• put the next one and press the Start button again.

Simple, isn’t it?

Cleaning the Pasta Maker

As well as with assembling the pasta maker, I’m going to describe the cleaning process in the detail, just because almost the same instructions can be applied to both pasta makers. I’m going to pay special attention to manual dishwashing, because, you know, I guess you all know how to put removable parts into the dishwasher.

Now, to properly clean your pasta maker, follow the next steps:

• use extra extrusion option to remove leftover dough from the chamber;
• power off the unit;
• disassemble the unit;
• wipe the unit with a dry cloth;
• wash the parts with dishwashing liquid and warm water or in the dishwasher – you can also use the cutting tool during washing the parts manually to get the extra dough out of discs and other pasta maker parts;
• let parts air dry before re-assembling the unit.

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Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker

Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker is another heavy-duty countertop pasta extruder, which automatically mixes, kneads, and extrudes pasta.

It comes with seven different shaping discs for different pasta types, which you already could see from the chart above. Another useful tool that comes with the unit is the cleaning brush, but you don’t get the cutting tool, so you’ll need to use scissors or the good old kitchen knife to cut the pasta to the desired length. Also, the unit comes with onboard storage with enough room for the rest of the shaping discs, which is also an interesting and useful feature.

While the Philips Pasta Maker allows you to make around 1 pound Hamilton Beach Pasta and Noodle Maker has a larger capacity, so you’ll be able to make up to 1.5 pounds of fresh pasta. The unit will take about two minutes to cook it. Since Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker is bigger it takes more space than the Philips unit, but it shouldn’t be a big deal since it does the job. Also, the machine is pretty quiet for this kind of kitchen product.

Making the pasta with Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker

The making pasta process is almost the same as with Philips Pasta Maker but there are some differences:

• first, zero the scale using the Zero Scale button;
• next, add flour, select the program, and the internal scale will automatically weigh the ingredients and calculate the ideal ratio of flour to liquid;
• press the Start button and slowly add in water and egg mixture;
• pasta maker will start extruding process and once extruded, pasta is ready to cook – no drying required;
• put it in heavily salted boiling water, give it a little stir and you should be good.

Before extruding starts put a little bit of flour on the countertop surface, to toss the pasta in, and to avoid pasta getting sticky. Also, pasta should be crumbly, not wet.

Once you get into how it works, feel free to experiment with the unit. Try using vegetable juices, purees, different kinds of flours and spices, to get the personalized flavor and texture.

Cleaning the Unit

Since the process is almost the same as with the Philips unit, I’m going to note just the most important things you should have in mind when cleaning Hamilton Beach Pasta Maker:

• if you get enough pasta extruded out, but there is still dough left inside the pasta maker, turn it off, put it into manual mode, and extrude out what you have left in dough;
• remove dishwasher-safe parts;
• wash them manually using dishwashing soap and warm water or in the dishwasher.

You’ll be very impressed with the machine – the pasta looks really good, it’s dry and it’s not falling apart, it has a nice flavor and nice texture, and the unit is much more affordable than the Philips Compact Pasta Maker.

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The Final Verdict

I must admit that Philips has a lot more elegant look than the Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker, and it’s smaller so it takes less kitchen space, which is always a plus, but on the other side, I would definitely opt-in for Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta Maker.

It’s just a matter of principle – Philips seems too pricey and, on the other side, doesn’t offer any extra features worth the money compared to Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker.

Also, Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker come with more shaping discs than Philips Compact Pasta Maker, and all other features of both pasta makers are almost the same. A good old kitchen knife will make the cutting tool almost useless.

So yes, my final answer is Hamilton Beach Electric Pasta and Noodle Maker.

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Last update on 2024-12-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API