We Pinky Promise These 12 Gluten-Free Pasta Alternatives Taste As Good As The Real Thing
One of them is so popular, it sells out daily.
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If you can dream it, you can noodle it. That seems to be the unofficial motto of today's pasta industry. Because while spaghetti and penne used to be made exclusively from wheat flour, now it's also made from tofu or chickpeas or lentils. The number of pasta alternatives on the market — most are gluten-free and healthier than the traditional stuff — is daunting, so here's your cheat sheet to the best ones.
Chickpea Pasta: Banza
BUY NOW $15 for 6 boxes; amazon.com
This high-protein, high-fiber alternative comes in 11 shapes and counts celebrities (like Kristin Bell) as fans. Follow the package's al dente cooking instructions or the noodles will break.
Cauliflower Pasta: Trader Joe's Cauliflower Gnochhi
The hardest part about cooking this is actually getting your hands on a package. Trader Joe's sells out daily — because it's that good. Pan fry for best results.
Lentil Pasta: Tolerant Simply Legumes
BUY NOW $29 for 6 boxes; amazon.com
There's only one ingredient in Tolerant's lentil pasta: lentils. The brand makes noodles from both the red and green kinds.
Edamame Pasta: Explore Cuisine
BUY NOW $23 for 6 boxes; amazon.com
Fact: Anything that's green automatically seems healthy — and this stuff is. Edamame is a form of soy-based protein, and every serving of Explore Cuisine's pasta packs 24 grams of it.
Tofu Pasta: House Foods
BUY NOW $2; amazon.com
Some people complain about these noodles' slimy texture, but if you prepare them correctly, you won't notice it. Sauté them after you rinse and boil so they'll dry out, then add the sauce of your choice.
Hearts Of Palm Pasta: Palmini
BUY NOW $27 for 6 cans; amazon.com
Shark Tank's Lori Greiner invested in Palmini, which is a zoodle-like take on hearts of palm. It comes canned, so you can stock up in bulk.
Brown Rice Pasta: Lundberg
BUY NOW $4; jet.com
Brown rice isn't carb free, but it is gluten free. You can get Lundberg's rice-based noodles in four different shapes.
Almond Flour Pasta: Capello's
Two Colorado-based friends joined forces in 2011 to create this paleo pasta — before paleo was cool. Capello's even makes lasagna sheets, a difficult noodle shape to find in grain-free varieties. Most Whole Foods carry it.
Black Bean Pasta: Ancient Harvest
BUY NOW $28 for 6 boxes; amazon.com
Mixed with quinoa and rice flours, this black bean pasta packs a good amount of protein: 12 grams per serving, to be exact.
Kelp Pasta: Gold Mine Natural Food Co.
BUY NOW $11; amazon.com
Kelp noodles tick all the buckets: They're gluten-free, vegan, raw, macrobiotic—need we continue?
Zucchini Pasta: Whole Foods Market
BUY NOW $5.50; amazon.com
If spiralizing at home is just too much effort, there's hope yet. Whole Foods sells its pre-zoodled zoodles via Amazon.
Sweet Potato Glass Pasta: Chung Jung One
BUY NOW $10; amazon.com
These "glass noodles" are made from 100 percent potato starch. They'd go well in soup.
