When it comes to Keto Pasta there seems to be quite a bit of variety. When I first started eating a low carb/keto way of eating I was excited to try all the different kinds of pastas. As an italian I have many many years under my belt of eating my share of penne rigate, rigatoni and spaghetti (my 3 favs). This is why finding a keto pasta for myself was the utmost priority when I first starting looking after my health.
When I chose to have a look at different pastas, I was first excited to taste the packaged stuff because I wanted something as quick as the real pasta. Even though I was excited about quick options where I could just open the package, rinse and toss with my favourite sauce, it still didn’t quite have that “al dente” I was used to.
Below is my review of different low carb pastas in order of Good to Great.
First up is one of the first pastas I tried when I started the ketogenic diet. It is a noodle made from the Konjac plant called Nupasta or Miracle Noodle. Konjac has almost no calories but is very high in fibre and low in carbs. Other variations found in grocery stores are Shirataki Noodles and or Miracle Noodles. They have about 1/10th the calories of regular pasta and a typical package is 25 calories and 6 grams of fiber
This was my go to noodle during my first month or so of keto. I really enjoyed the ease of quickly giving it a good rinse and tossing it with a tomatoe or pesto sauce.
The Good
The noodles are a great vessel to carry sauce and give me that feeling of having pasta. Swirling the noodles with a fork and scooping up delicious sauce and loads of parmesean truly make me feel like I am in my moms kitchen devouring a bowl of pasta.
The Not-so Good
You really need to rinse the noodles for a good several minutes as they are packed in liquid that has a strong fishy smell. Now if you know me, I don’t eat fish and the smell of fish makes me want to gag. So, for me I need to rinse them for a while to remove the taste.
They also have a crunchy bite to them that real pasta does not when you cook it al dente. So if you blindfolded me and gave me konjac pasta I think I would easily be able to tell that it was a konjac noodle. The crunchy bite would give it away and of course I would notice the slight fishy taste that I havent been able to mask, no matter how much sauce I douse it in.
Next up is most likely my favourite pasta but because of the time it takes to make it, it falls behind my great pasta. This pasta is Spaghetti Squash which I absolutely love and really enjoy the flavour. The mouth feel of these noodles brings me closer to real pasta but its just not that convenient to make.
Spaghetti squash needs to be baked in the oven. After baking, the noodles need to be scrapped out with a fork to get these delicious noodles. Once all that work is done the noodles are definitely worth every bite but most days I just don’t have the time to make them unless it’s a weekend treat. Check out my Spaghetti Squash Low Carb Fritters to see how to make the noodles from the squash.
This is what the finished product looked like the last time I made them.
Zucchini Pasta! You might have guessed this was my favourite as the first pic in this post is of my latest zucchini pasta dish. Zucchini pasta is quick to make, all you need is a spiralizer. I use this spiralizer which is not expensive and does the trick for great noodles and an amazing pasta. There are many other options on Amazon but you truly don’t need a more expensive gadget.
Keto Pasta
The key to great keto pasta is also in the sauce. You can make any 3 of these pastas, if your sauce is boring, your dish will not be exciting to eat. I always make my pasta with a meat sauce and I load it up with a loads of shaved parmesan.
Do you have a keto pasta you use to replace pasta? If you have any other pasta hacks, I would love to hear about it.