I am a starch-carb lover. I love potatoes, perogies, pasta, bread, croissants, scones, cookies, basically everything and anything with gluten. A couple years back I switch to a paleo diet and gave up most starches and grains. I really noticed a difference in my energy levels, instead of feel sluggish after eating, I felt energized.
Grains have slowly worked their way back into my diet, but I am always looking for healthier alternatives. I love spaghetti squash, but it doesn’t quite fulfil my carb cravings. I decided to do a taste test and try a few different gluten free pastas to see which one I like the most.
Explore Cuisine Organic Chickpea Pasta, $6.99
I was pleasantly surprised by this product. The colour is a little bit off putting but the taste is good. The consistency is quite similar to pasta, although it is closer to a whole wheat pasta than a white flour pasta. I dress this one in a pesto avocado sauce with veggies and thoroughly enjoyed it. The only downside is that it tastes pretty gross reheated.
Nutritional Information for 2 oz ServingCalories 200Total Fat 2.5 g
Sodium 30 mg
Total Carbohydrates 35 g
Dietary Fibre 5 g
Protein 11 g
Verdict: Healthy yet enjoyable
Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta, $4.70
This is my usual go-to for a gluten-free pasta. Quinoa pasta in my eyes is the closest you can get to white pasta. The consistency isn’t too grainy and there are no other competing flavours. I can feed this to my boyfriend and he won’t notice the difference.
Nutritional Information for 8 oz Serving
Calories 205
Total Fat 1 g
Sodium 4 mg
Total Carbohydrates 46g
Dietary Fibre 4g
Protein 4g
Verdict: Good taste, very similar to a gluten pasta
NuPasta, $4.29
I had high hopes for this pasta. It is super low calorie, and is made out of Konjac (a type of yam). I also liked that you don’t have to cook you. You just rinse off the noodles and reheat them. I decided to make a carbonara sauce to try the noodles. These noodles are not good…the consistency is off, it reminds me of a rice noodle but with a very strange almost stanky taste. I could barely choke them down. My boyfriend refused to finish his serving. I can’t think of what sauce would be better for these noodles. Perhaps they would work for an asian inspired dish, because it is closer to a rice noodle than traditional pasta and it would mask the very strange taste.
Nutritional Information for 7.4 oz serving
Calories 25
Total Fat 1 g
Sodium 0 mg
Total Carbohydrates 6g
Dietary Fibre 6g
Protein 1g
Verdict: Never buying again!
Pedon More than Pasta Red Lentil Penne, $12.51
This pasta is quite comparable to the chickpea pasta. The noodles itself look very similar to gluten pasta except the pasta is bright red in colour. Gluten noodles tend to be sticky and chewy, the lentil noodles break easily but they are still enjoyable. In comparison to the chickpea noodles, I liked these ones better.
Nutritional Information for 3 oz Serving
Calories 300
Total Fat 1 g
Sodium 15 mg
Total Carbohydrates 53g
Dietary Fibre 11g
Protein 21g
Verdict: I would definitely buy these again
