Food & Cooking Our Opinionated Guide to the Best Gluten-Free Pastas to Buy Now If you're looking for a gluten-free pasta, it can be overwhelming because there are many options available. We're here to help, sharing our tasting notes on which brands are worth tossing with your favorite tomato sauce. By Jess Damuck Jess Damuck Jess Damuck is a freelance writer for MarthaStewart.com. Editorial Guidelines Published on July 29, 2021 09:30AM EDT Share Tweet Pin Email We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. Photo: Johnny Miller Because there are more gluten-free pasta options available than ever before, those who avoid gluten no longer have to miss out on the pasta dishes they know and love. In fact, there are so many gluten-free pasta options that choosing one can be a bit overwhelming. From nut-based flours to legumes to ancient grains, you'll find that even a small grocery store is stocked with an array of different varieties; there are options that taste just like the real thing and some ultra-nutritious pastas that have an impressive protein and fiber content. To take the guesswork out of your next shopping experience, we're sharing our taste test results. To come up with our final picks—which include vegetable flour pastas, brown rice pasta, chickpea pasta, lentil pasta, nut flour pasta, quinoa pasta, and pasta made with blends of gluten-free grains—we sampled different options available in grocery stores and online. To make it even easier for you to prepare delicious gluten-free meals, we even note which pasta sauces worked best with each type of pasta and which types of alternative noodles are best for make-ahead dishes or meal prepping. Although these brands offer a variety of pasta shapes, we tested the spaghetti from each for consistency. (One brand didn't offer spaghetti, so we subbed another long thing noodle.) Best Texture and Flavor: Cappello's Grain-Free Spaghetti Closest to Wheat Pasta: Jovial Brown Rice Spaghetti Easiest to Find: Banza Chickpea Spaghetti Best Quinoa Pasta: Andean Dream Quinoa Spaghetti Best for Protein and Fiber: Veggie Craft Spaghetti These Glorious Appetizers Are Also Gluten Free! Best Texture and Flavor Courtesy of Instacart olive oil This is by far the fastest cooking alternative pasta of the bunch, and that's because it's a fresh, frozen variety rather than dried. How fast? Their grain-free spaghetti is ready in just 75 seconds, so be sure to have your timer ready. Cappello's line includes a range of almond flour pastas, pizza crusts, and more, and this spaghetti has a great chew and a mild nutty flavor that tasted good with just a little olive oil, but also works well with pesto or tomato sauce. Nutritionally, it's not the best option of the bunch—a 3/4 cup serving offers one gram of fiber and four grams of protein—but it does have one of the best textures and flavors, making it worth trying. Shop Now: Cappello's Grain-Free Spaghetti, $11.99, freshdirect.com. Closest to Wheat Pasta Courtesy of Walmart make-ahead meals Pressed with bronze dyes like traditional pasta, this brown rice spaghetti has the closest taste and texture to wheat pasta of the alternative pastas we tried. It had a great chew, great taste, and worked well with every type of sauce we paired it with. Another bonus? It held up in the fridge better than some of the nut- or legume-based pastas, making it more suited to enjoy as leftovers or use for make-ahead meals. Shop Now: Jovial Brown Rice Spaghetti, $3.48, walmart.com. Best Quinoa Pasta Courtesy of Walmart quinoa Made just with quinoa, this spaghetti had a pretty neutral, mild, slightly nutty flavor. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer as nice a texture or chew as some other alternative pastas, but we did prefer it to some of the options which included quinoa as part of a blend of ingredients. Shop Now: Andean Dream Quinoa Spaghetti, $5.57, walmart.com. Easiest to Find Courtesy of Target pesto Chickpea flour doesn't taste like wheat flour. It's altogether more vegetal and a bit nutty, but we don't mind that flavor, especially with fresh tomato sauces or pesto. This pasta is incredibly filling and offers five grams of fiber and 12 grams of protein per serving, making it one the most nutritious on this list. It's also sold in most supermarkets. Banza Chickpea Pasta softens and gets quite sticky when left to sit, so it really doesn't make for great leftovers or meal prepping. If you can enjoy it shortly after preparing, though, it's a good option. Shop Now: Banza Chickpea Spaghetti, $2.99, target.com. Best for Protein and Fiber Courtesy of Amazon While all of the Veggiecraft pastas beat the other options we tested for protein and fiber content, we found their flavor to be overpowering when paired with simple sauces. The pastas also lacked a good chew and had a harder texture even when cooked for the suggested amount of time. Shop Now: Veggiecraft Zucchini Spaghetti, $8.88, amazon.com. Best Blend Courtesy of Instacart Made with brown rice, corn, and quinoa, this spaghetti was a bit softer than the others on the list and had a slimier texture. It lacked chew, and we preferred the pure brown rice or pure quinoa options we tried. Shop Now: Ancient Harvest Corn, Brown Rice, and Quinoa Spaghetti, $3.99, freshdirect.com. Best Keto-Friendly Courtesy of Whole Foods like a zoodle Though we wouldn't necessarily want to have this linguine alternative with clam sauce, it has a great texture and holds up to sauces. Plus, it's not just gluten-free; it's also keto-friendly, which made it a worthwhile addition to the list. If you like the tangy flavor of hearts of palm, you'll love this "pasta," and we can imagine it working well in Thai dishes (especially a spicy peanut sauce). Though think of it as less like an actual pasta, and more like a zoodle instead. Shop Now: Whole Foods Hearts of Palm Linguine, $3.79, wholefoods.com. Good All Rounder Courtesy of Whole Foods tomato sauce This pasta had a similar taste to the chickpea pasta; it's very savory, but we found it worked with tomato sauce. It didn't have a great chew and got soft quickly, but we still consider it a nutritious option that we opt for over the vegetable flour-based pastas. Shop Now: Whole Foods Red Lentil Spaghetti, $2.99, wholefoods.com. Best Cassava Pasta Courtesy of Thrive Market tomato sauce It has a bit of a chew but this cassava pasta also has a bit of a slippery texture compared to some of the other alternative spaghetti we tried. It's flavor is fairly mild flavor but there is a little bit of an aftertaste, even when paired with a flavorful tomato sauce. Shop Now: Jovial Cassava Spaghetti, $399, freshdirect.com. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit