Gluten Free Engineer - Making Gluten Free Easy

The Best Gluten-Free Pasta Brands (That Won’t Fall Apart)

• Carrie Saunders • Episode 29

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Text Carrie!

Are you tired of gluten-free pasta that turns into mush?

Or worse—sticks together like glue, then falls apart the moment you stir?

Here’s the thing: just because it says “gluten-free” on the box… doesn’t mean it’s good.

In this episode, I’m sharing the pasta brands I actually trust—after years of trial, error, and soggy noodles.

If dinner-time pasta disasters sound all too familiar, keep listening—because even your gluten-eating family won’t know the difference when you grab one of these. 


Mentioned Resources

Jovial: https://amzn.to/40wC3Wb*

Barilla: https://amzn.to/46n9zC4*

Ronzoni: https://amzn.to/451hbIc*

Banza: https://amzn.to/44GjjGe*

Annie Chun’s: https://amzn.to/3IWacbP*

*Contains Affiliate Links


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Speaker 1:

Quick reminder before we get started on this episode this podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn't medical advice. Are you tired of gluten-free pasta that turns to mush or, worse, sticks together like glue and then falls apart the moment you stir? I know I've ran into both of these situations before, and just because it says gluten-free on the box doesn't mean it's good necessarily. In this episode, I'm sharing the pasta brands I actually trust, after years of trial and error and soggy noodles. If dinnertime pasta disasters sound all too familiar, keep listening, because even your gluten-eating family won't know the difference when you grab one of these. Welcome to the Gluten-Free Engineer Podcast. I'm your host, keri Saunders. In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a moment that changed everything, but I was determined not to let it hold me back. With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer the gluten-free lifestyle, breaking down recipes, safety tips, travel hacks and everything in between to rebuild a life I love. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun and prove that you don't have to miss out on anything. Welcome back to the show Today we're talking all about pasta.

Speaker 1:

It's a staple, a favorite of many Americans and those in other countries as well, and if you've been eating gluten-free for any length of time, you know the struggle is real when it comes to pasta that tastes good, holds together and makes you feel like a real comfort food win and has the texture that you want. So let's dig into what works and what doesn't, and what brands I recommend for everything from spaghetti to pasta salad to baked items with pasta. So let's talk first about why pasta is tricky without gluten. Gluten is what gives traditional pasta its stretch and its chew, and when it's removed, the structure often collapses, leaving you with a crumbly or gummy noodles. This is why finding the right gluten-free pasta isn't just about ingredients. It's about texture, cook time and how it holds up when mixed into sauces or baked. So some of my go-to gluten-free pasta brands are ones that I use again and again, and I do vary the brand based upon what I'm doing with the pasta. So Jovial Foods gluten-free pasta is one of my hands down favorite ones, and the reason being that it is made with organic brown rice flour or you can also get cassava flour as well, and I don't do as well on grains, so I like to tend to get the cassava flour when I can, and so it's great because its texture is firm and smooth. It tastes great, like so close to traditional pasta.

Speaker 1:

I don't get any complaints when I use this brand of pasta. We use it a lot for spaghetti, for fettuccine noodles. Recently we tried their bow tie pasta, which was excellent in texture, which is a hard thing to do for bow tie pasta and so we absolutely love their bow tie pasta, which was excellent in texture, which is a hard thing to do for bow tie pasta and so we absolutely love their bow tie pasta. They also have egg noodle options, and then all their pastas except for the egg noodles, as far as I'm aware, are also egg free too, so most of the ones that we use are actually egg free, and so this is a really great versatile pasta egg-free, and so this is a really great versatile pasta. Also, some two great versatile pastas and I use them interchangeably is the Ronzoni pasta as well as the Barilla gluten-free pasta. I feel like these two. I just buy whichever one's cheaper at the store. When I'm using these two for an application, they basically are the same taste and texture. To me, I haven't noticed a difference. You could probably do a blind test on me and I wouldn't be able to tell you. These are both made with rice, corn and a quinoa blend, which gives a bit more of a familiar pasta bite to it. It's going to become be able to become more al dente for you.

Speaker 1:

It is great for, excellent for baked dishes like gluten-free mac and cheese. It's also great for pasta bakes. It's also excellent for pressure cooking, which is key, depending upon how you want to use your pasta. Some gluten-free pastas do not hold up in the pressure cooker or they kind of are weird or funky, and we'll talk about that on the next pasta segment. So I have a great pressure cooker mac and cheese recipe on theglutenfreeengineercom. So if mac and cheese is something you've been craving, you're going to want to go check that one out because it is quick. It's a five minute cook time plus whatever preheat time your pressure cooker takes, and then you just mix in the cheese and, optionally, milk and butter and you're done Like it's. Literally, you can have this dish done in about 10 to 12 minutes and it's excellent.

Speaker 1:

It's homemade, it's just delicious and I love how forgiving the Ronzoni or the Brulella pasta brands are too. If you slightly overcook it, they don't like go crazy or fall apart or get super sticky. This is also a great one that I've used for pasta salads Because it doesn't break down quickly. It can actually store in the fridge for a few days with that pasta salad type of dressing on it and it doesn't break apart too quickly compared to what some of the other ones are, and it's also easy to find in most grocery stores. So Ronzoni and Barilla is a great secondary option. Again, jovial is my first choice because I don't tolerate corn, but Ronzoni and barilla are excellent pastas if you tolerate corn. And then the next one is the bonza chickpea pasta.

Speaker 1:

Now, this one has higher protein and higher fiber. It's made from chickpeas. They actually have boxed mac and cheeses too that are excellent tasting, and these are great for those looking for extra protein or nutrition. But some think it does have a slight chickpea taste. It doesn't really bother me. I don't quite notice it.

Speaker 1:

The one thing about this one is it does create a foam on top when you're cooking it on the stove, and so it isn't applicable to some applications, for example. I've tried this one several different times in several different ways in my mac and cheese recipe and it just doesn't quite cook right in the pressure cooker because of this foam that it creates when it's boiling and I think that gets in the way of the pressure cooking of it. And cheese just doesn't want to stick to it because it's got this weird like chickpea film to it. Now when I say weird chickpea film to it, now when I say weird chickpea film, it kind of sounds like a turn off. As far as actually drying it, it's not that bad. When you're cooking on a pot of water and a stove, I usually just skim off that foam and they recommend that you rinse it after it's done cooking to get rid of that extra foam that's on top. So this was great. If you want to, you know, have sauces like marinara or pesto. Again, I don't quite recommend a cheese sauce on this one. I've found that it just slips right off of the pasta and doesn't stick to it, and so this one is a great, otherwise versatile pasta for just traditional. You're going to cook the pasta on the stove, you're going to rinse it and then you're going to put a sauce on that type of pasta. So this is a great option for that.

Speaker 1:

Now, another one you might not think of is Annie Chun's gluten-free noodles. So they have super simple ingredients. This one usually just has rice, maybe water and one other ingredient in it. This one's great for soups and in Asian dishes. It's just literally a simple white rice noodle that you would traditionally find in Asian dishes, but I found it also works great in like American type of soups, like chicken and noodle soup, and it's really really quick at cooking. It's like a five minute or less type of cooking. So this is a great lunch option too, when you don't have a lot of time. And in any Chun's type of noodles too, you can just warm them up in water, soften them in water too hot water, so look at the directions on your particular box. But this is a great cooking one and it's also a great egg note substitute if you can't tolerate eggs. So you can use their flat noodles in, say, chicken and noodle soup if you don't tolerate egg noodles, which I sometimes sometimes do not tolerate egg noodles myself. And then, lastly, homemade egg noodles. So this has been a staple and a family favorite of mine for a while.

Speaker 1:

Now. I have a great simple recipe for homemade egg noodles which you can find also on the glutenfreeengineercom. It's simply the ingredients are gluten-free one to one flour, eggs and salt. That's it. So if you are good with eggs, this is going to be a recipe you're going to want to do, and it's really easy to make. All you do is put it in your food processor to bring the dough together and then you roll it out. I actually have a dip pasta maker that attaches to my KitchenAid mixer, makes it super fast and super easy, and you can make these ahead and freeze them, or you can throw them right in your dish right after you make them. You don't have to dry egg noodles out. Some people don't realize that you can put egg noodles straight into a dish right after you make them. You don't have to dry them out. So we love using these to make our homemade gluten-free chicken noodle soup, where I will cook a chicken or two a boned chicken or two in the crock pot all day to really tenderize it. Get all the yummy goodness that's out of the bones into that chicken and into the chicken broth that it's sitting in, and use that to make my homemade gluten-free chicken and noodle soup.

Speaker 1:

So let's go into some tips for perfect gluten-free pasta every time. First, we want to stir early and often. This is even true in traditional pasta too, but especially with gluten-free cooking, we want to be stirring pretty often during the first three minutes to make sure that they don't clump together. Also, we don't want to overcook. Make sure you time it and then taste test it. I like to pull a noodle out and let it just kind of blow on a little bit and take a bite of it and see how the texture is on it. And then sometimes we need to rinse, like that chickpea pasta. Or if you're using in a salad or casserole and you want to stop the cooking. You do this for traditional pasta as well, and then you can also add oil if you're storing it for later, so that the pasta doesn't stick together.

Speaker 1:

So what makes a great gluten-free pasta? Well, it comes up with many different varieties of how you combine the different flours. It kind of depends upon what type of pasta you're going to come up with. Plain rice pasta or cassava pasta is great for spaghetti dishes, ones that you need to hold up a little bit more, like in a baked dish, or mac and cheese, and you're going to probably want a blend like corn, rice and quinoa. Those are great for, you know, holding up for those longer cook times or the bit more abusive cook times.

Speaker 1:

Oh, and I completely forgot to mention that Jovial makes an excellent lasagna noodle pasta. We use that one all the time. It's a brown rice pasta. Brilla also has a great gluten-free pasta noodle too. That one's corn based. So I avoid that one now, but I used to use it and it the texture is great. It's actually really great pasta. So pasta is one of those comfort foods we just don't want to give up. I know I don't want to give it up, and with the right brand you don't have to settle for a second best just because it's gluten-free. So the options I shared today are the ones I use in my own kitchen for my own family and for my friends, and I hope they make dinner routine a little bit easier for you and way more delicious.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to this episode of the gluten-free engineer. If you found value in this story, please share it with someone who might need encouragement on their own gluten-free journey. For more tips, recipes, resources and even links to my YouTube channel, head on over to theglutenfreeengineercom. It's your one-stop hub to make gluten-free living simple, fun and full of flavor. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss out on an episode and we will see you next week. The Gluten-Free Engineer podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten-free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional for medical questions, concerns or advice specific to your health.

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Carrie Saunders

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