The gluten-free food world sometimes seems as turbulent as a pot of rapidly boiling water — the kind required for cooking pasta. Products seem to come and go from the marketplace every week.
That’s not surprising. Sales of gluten-free foods have skyrocketed in recent years, reaching $973 million in 2014, according to Packaged Facts, a Rockville, Md. market researcher. Some 7 percent of that market is pasta.
Packaged Facts researchers predict increased sales thanks, in part, to “more and better quality gluten-free food products that are readily available in mainstream retail channels.”
Still, developing a gluten-free pasta that captures the characteristics of pasta with gluten has proven a challenge. Of the many gluten-free versions we’ve sampled in the past decade, some textures and tastes have been unappealing. But things are improving.
Corn, brown and white rice, quinoa and soy have all been mixed and matched with varying results. And while many short pastas (penne, elbow, etc.) produce a decent prepared product, spaghetti is another matter. Without gluten to give spaghetti the flexibility for spooling on a fork, many gluten-free varieties tend to break up.
Which is why we decided to focus this tasting on spaghetti. We narrowed our search to ones readily available on supermarket shelves. Most have store locator or online ordering options (or both) on their websites.
We limited the tasting to six brands. Your favorite may not be here. And you may have specific reasons for choosing a particular type, whether it’s organic, kosher, non-GMO or soy free.
We cooked each according to package directions. Know that cooking times vary widely — from 3 to 11 minutes among those we tested — so read cooking directions. Only Ancient Harvest suggested using no salt in the cooking water, but adding optional oil. Ronzoni offers three cooking options for al dente, firm and tender; it’s also the only one that weathered overnight refrigeration pretty well. (They suggest tossing the cooked pasta with olive oil or sauce before chilling.)
Several tasters among our panel of eight follow a gluten-free diet. Here’s what we found.
THE RESULTS
(Prices are what we paid at retail. Products were rated 1 to 9 with 9 the highest.)
Jovial
Score: 7.5
Made in: Italy
Ingredients: brown rice flour, water
Cost: $3.91 per 12-ounce package
Nutrition per 2-ounce serving: 210 calories, 5 g protein, 43 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber
Comments: “Tastes like whole wheat pasta.” “Chewy good.” “Nimble, flexible; a little chalky texture but not bad.” “Pleasant texture, nice bite.” “Ivory color, good texture.”
Ronzoni
Score: 7.4
Made in: Italy
Ingredients: white rice flour, brown rice flour, corn flour, quinoa flour, mono and diglycerides
Cost: $2.29 per 12-ounce package
Nutrition per 2-ounce serving: 200 calories, 4 g protein, 44 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber
Comments: “Looks like spaghetti; most pastalike texture.” “Tastes just like spaghetti Yum!” “A little gritty.” “Good color, nicely toothsome, neutral flavor.”
Bionaturae
Score: 6.9
Made in: Italy
Ingredients: rice flour, potato starch, rice starch, soy flour
Cost: $4.39 per 12-ounce package
Nutrition per 2-ounce serving: 200 calories, 5 g protein, 42 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber
Comments: “Nice color and texture. Very close to traditional pasta.” “Texture is good, but aftertaste unpleasant.” “Chalky aftertaste but this is very good — are you sure it’s not the real thing?” “Would buy this if I had someone gluten-free coming to dinner.”
Notta pasta
Score: 5.6
Made in: Thailand
Ingredients: rice flour, water, modified tapioca starch
Cost: $6.79 per 16-ounce package
Nutrition per 2-ounce serving: 200 calories, 3 g protein, 45 g carbohydrates, 0 g fiber
Comments: “Good texture, all-purpose noodle.” “Rice flavored, might clash with some sauces.” “Super bland but I’d be OK in a pinch.” “Like rice noodles — wiggly! Nice texture, flavor quite neutral.”
DeLallo Corn & Rice
Score: 4.125
Made in: Italy
Ingredients: corn flour, rice flour
Cost: $5.09 per 12-ounce package
Nutrition per 2-ounce serving: 200 calories, 3 g protein, 44 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber
Comments: “Golden like egg-based fresh pasta.” “Corn flavor; not like traditional spaghetti.” “Chalky aftertaste.” “Very yellow like corn.” “More flavorful and richer.”
Ancient Harvest
Score: 4
Made in: USA
Ingredients: corn flour, quinoa flour
Cost: $2.50 per 8-ounce package
Nutrition per 2-ounce serving: 205 calories; 4 g protein, 46 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber
Comments: “Slightly golden.” “Good color.” “A little sticky, chalky mouthfeel.” “Corn taste too strong.” “Kind of falls apart when you chew.”
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