If you like pasta but want low-carb recipes, these delicious options will hit the spaghetti spot without spiking your blood glucose.
We may be living in the golden age of alternative noodles. If you can’t – or don’t want to – eat conventional carbohydrate-heavy grain-based pasta, there are now a number of excellent options that allow you to scratch that spaghetti itch without spiking your blood sugar.
A few generalizations about these low-carb pasta alternatives
I’m going to tell you about some of our favorites here, including what we love about them, what we love less about them, and what kinds of recipes they’re best suited to. But first, there are a few generalizations that apply to these suggestions:
Enjoy the recipes, and feel free to mix and match. You certainly don’t need to pair a particular noodle with a particular recipe as we’ve done here.
I also want to note that in this overview, I am not addressing the many excellent bean-based pastas that are on the market—spaghettis and spirals made from chickpeas, red lentils, black beans, and the like. (While they offer significant nutritional value, they are not low in carbohydrates.)
1. Shirataki noodles (konjac noodles) and tofu shirataki noodles
If you’re counting carbs and craving pasta, these are your best bet.
Shirataki noodles are a traditional Japanese product made from a fiber called glucomannan, which is produced from konjac, an Asian root vegetable. Tofu shirataki noodles (our favorite) have tofu added for extra protein and chew. Both kinds are packed in water and are available, bagged. The tofu kind are usually in the refrigerator case wherever the tofu is.
Regular Shirataki noodles are often shelf-stable and so might be in the same aisle as the other Asian noodles. Brands you might see include Miracle Noodle, Nasoya, and House Foods.
Cost: $2.10 per 4-ounce serving (usually half a package)
Total carbohydrates: 3 grams per 4-ounce serving
Shirataki and tofu shirataki noodles: The pros
Shirataki and tofu shirataki noodles: The cons
Shirataki and tofu shirataki noodles: Best uses
Konjac and tofu shirataki noodles are so versatile that you can really use them in any pasta dish. Maybe because they are Asian in origin, I seem to like to use them in more Asian-style dishes like stir fries, ramen, and pad Thai.
2. Zucchini noodles
Spiralized ZucchiniAlso known as zoodles, these are simply long strands that have been spiralized from whole squash. You can buy them fresh or frozen at many supermarkets, or you can make them yourself.
As for how to make zucchini noodles, there are a number of different options. You can buy them pre-spiralized at the grocery store; the best ones are the fresh ones in the produce section; they tend to get less soggy than some of the newer pre-spiralized versions available in the frozen section. If you’re into wider, pappardelle-like noodles, you can simply shave zucchini down with a vegetable peeler for ribbons, although they will come out shorter than zoodles. To make them yourself, you can purchase a compact, handheld pencil-sharpener type spiralizer like the SpiraLife Vegetable Spiralizer ($13.99). Or if you spiralize multiple times a week, it may be worth investing in a larger, more stable mounted spiralizer that offers multiple blade settings, like the Paderno World Cuisine 6-Blade Spiralizer.
Cost:
$2 per 6-ounce serving
Total Carbohydrates: 4 grams per 6-ounce serving
Zucchini noodles: The pros
Zucchini noodles: The cons
Zucchini noodles: Best uses
Zucchini noodles are quite adaptable and take well to any pasta sauce, including pesto and tomato sauce. Because they have very little protein, I especially like to pair them with a meat sauce.
3. Hearts of palm noodles
Trader Joe's Hearts of Palm NoodlesThese noodles are made from the tender cores of palm trees that have been cut into pasta-like strands. You may be familiar with hearts of palms as a jarred or canned ingredient: These are usually cylinders that are cut crosswise into slices to add to salads.
To make noodles, the palm hearts are cut along the grain (picture string cheese) into shreds. They’re sold in cans or shelf-stable bags. Both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s sell their own brand; other brands include Palmini.
Cost: around $1.50 per 3-ounce serving
Total carbohydrates: 4 grams per 3-ounce (1/2-cup) serving
Hearts of palm noodles: The pros
Hearts of palm noodles: The cons
Hearts of palm noodles: Best uses
I like to lean into their tangy Mediterranean artichoke-olive vibe and serve them as the basis for Greek-style pastas and pasta salads—especially since you don’t need to cook them. You can, however, sub them into any pasta recipe you like.
4. Spaghetti squash noodles
Baked spaghetti squashSpaghetti squash is a winter squash that, when cut open and cooked, can be scraped up into a pile of spaghetti-like strands. Like other winter squash, it is most readily available in the fall and winter.
More recently, spaghetti squash noodles have also become available in the dry pantry goods section of the supermarket; brands like Solely and Trader Joe’s pre-bake, hand cut, and dehydrate spaghetti squash, so all that’s required is a quick boil out of the box to rehydrate it before serving.
Cost: $2-3 per serving (1/2 squash)
Total carbohydrates: 7 grams per 1-cup serving of strands (from 1/2 a squash)
Spaghetti squash noodles: The pros
Spaghetti squash noodles: The cons
Spaghetti squash noodles: Best uses
Spaghetti squash is low in calories and protein, so I like cooking it with hearty or rich sauces to make a filling main dish. After you pre-bake the squash, you can fill the wells with sauce and finish baking it this way to make sure that all the flavors really soak into the squash while it cooks. Plus, then you get to call them “boats”!
Credits: Catherine Newman
Source: diaTribe | 5 Excellent Low-Carb Pasta Alternatives