These healthy pasta alternatives are high in protein and fiber.
If you’re trying to cut back on carbs and increase your fiber intake, veggie noodles, like zoodles and spaghetti squash, are an excellent way to get your pasta fix. Using a spiralizer or food processor, you can transform basically any vegetable into macaroni, spaghetti, and even rice. From butternut squash to cauliflower to broccoli, here are all the ways you can prepare low-carb pasta alternatives with your fresh produce. Plus, we rounded up some of the top store-bought healthy pasta alternatives when you’re in a pinch!
Zucchini isn’t the only squash that works with your spiralizer! One cup of butternut squash has only 45 calories and 12 grams of carbs. Plus, it’s an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and E. Steam, sauté, or roast, then mix with a yummy sauce of your choosing.
If you’re sick of cauliflower-everything, consider broccoli. It has a stronger flavor than cauliflower, but it shines in burrito bowls, fried rice, and soups. Like cauliflower, you can turn it into rice and pasta, using the hearty stems. For a quick dinner side dish, toss broccoli noodles with pesto. At 20 calories and 4 grams of carbs per cup, you really can’t go wrong.
SHOP NOW: Green Giant Riced Veggies Broccoli
These Asian noodles will be your new go-to low-carb food as they have just 22 calories and nearly 5 grams of fiber per cup. They’re made from the root of the konjac plant or Konnyaku potato and will absorb the flavors of whatever you mix it with. Plus, they require minimal prep—just drain and rinse for cold dishes or boil or stir-fry for a couple of minutes for hot ones. Try this recipe for Shirataki Noodle Cake with Shrimp and Chorizo.
SHOP NOW: Miracle Noodle Shirataki Konjac Pasta
Palmini is a new type of pasta that’s made entirely from hearts of palm. “It gets pretty great reviews in terms of texture and taste,” says Freuman. There are only 25 calories and 5 grams of carbohydrates in each cup of linguine-like noodles. They have a mild flavor, so you can easily tailor them to make everything from chicken noodle soup to shrimp scampi linguine.
SHOP NOW: Palmini Pasta
These days, you’ll find a plethora of store-bought bean pasta, including lentil, chickpea, and edamame, in the form of penne, fusilli, rotini, and more. These pastas are much higher in protein and fiber compared to white and even whole-wheat noodles, so you’ll feel fuller faster—and avoid overeating portions as many tend to do with pasta! They also cook up much faster than wheat-based pasta, so they make a quick and nutritious weeknight meal when you’re in a pinch.
SHOP NOW: Banza Chickpea Pasta
Kelp is a type of seaweed rich in minerals—especially calcium and iodine—and it makes for the lowest carb and calorie pasta substitute out there, says Freuman. “Nutritionally, they’re great for people following lower-carb diets and they’re also a good choice on the low FODMAP diet, making them a digestively friendly choice for people with sensitive systems.” Toss them in a salty and sweet peanut dressing for tasty take on a Thai salad, or saute them with some rice vinegar, soy sauce, and fresh ginger for a quick stir-fry.
SHOP NOW: Sea Tangle Kelp Noodles
“When you bake or boil a spaghetti squash and rake out the flesh with a fork, it naturally forms stringy, squash ‘noodles’ that make a nutritious, lower-calorie and lower-carb alternative to actual spaghetti,” says Tamara Duker Freuman, MS, RD, CDN, author of The Bloated Belly Whisperer.
“It takes just eight minutes to cook a spaghetti squash in my Instant Pot, and that squash yields enough noodles for me to bring lunch to work for a week!” For comparison, a cup of spaghetti squash has just 31 calories and 7 grams of carbs while the same amount of regular spaghetti has 239 calories and 47 grams of carbohydrates.
SHOP NOW: A La Carte Organic Spaghetti Squash
Zoodles are a classic pasta alternative for a reason. Zucchini’s mild flavor makes it a great substitute in many dishes, whether you slice it into ribbons for lasagna or spiralize it and toss with your favorite sauce. This high-fiber veggie has only 19 calories and 4 grams of carbs in a cup.
While soba isn’t a vegetable, soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour and have a nutty flavor that takes well to a variety of dishes. While buckwheat itself is gluten-free, beware that many store-bought soba noodles may contain some gluten in them, so be sure you read labels properly if you have celiac disease. That said, buckwheat is a good source of immune-boosting magnesium and zinc, plus they’re easy to prepare. Try this soba noodle salad with snow peas.
SHOP NOW: Hakubaku Organic Soba Noodles
“If cauliflower doesn’t give you troublesome gas in larger quantities, then the cult-favorite Cauliflower Gnocchi from Trader Joe’s are a well-textured, lower-carb alternative to traditional gnocchi whose yummy reputation is well deserved,” says Freuman.
One cup has 140 calories and 22 grams of carbohydrates, which may sound like a lot compared to other products on this list, but it’s nothing compared to the 253 calories and 57 grams of carbs in regular store-bought gnocchi.
Source: https://www.prevention.com/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/g27288092/low-carb-pasta-alternatives/