The rumors you’ve heard are true. Now you’ll crave pasta and eat it, too. Plenty of low carb pasta alternatives you’ll incorporate into your ketogenic diet.
The recent growth in popularity of the low-carb and ketogenic diet has led to several new ways to urge your pasta fix without losing sight of your health goals.
Pasta may a staple in international dishes from everywhere the planet. And, very similar to bread and rice, pasta takes up its justifiable share of space within the store. The variability of pasta available to consumers today includes all different shapes and sizes to finish any meal, making it difficult to resist.
Whether you crave fettuccine Alfredo, meatballs and marinara, or rotini with a creamy spaghetti sauce base, these low-carb noodles make the right substitute for traditional pasta. Simply swap one among the subsequent options in your favorite pasta recipe and bon appetit!
Why Isn’t Pasta Low-Carb Friendly?
Pasta is that the all-time food first traced back to 1154 in Sicily. It had been originally made up of unleavened dough of durum flour, mixed with water or eggs, then formed into different noodles (or sheets, for those lasagna lovers out there).
While there are many various sorts of pasta today, the classic cooked, traditional unenriched pasta is about 30 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams. That’s your entire daily carbohydrate intake on the ketogenic diet if you’re lucky.
After that comes a minuscule 0.9 grams of fat, about 6 grams of protein, and minimal micronutrients, even whole wheat pasta, advertised as a food, contains 37 grams of total carbohydrates.
You’re thinking, “I’m never getting to enjoy spaghetti and meatballs again.” False. you’ll enjoy your favorite pasta dishes — including lasagna noodles — on a low-carb diet with a keto-friendly alternative. Here are a couple of delicious low-carb substitutes.
Zoodles
Select your favorite low-carb veggie, insert into a spiralizer, and rotate clockwise until noodles begin the opposite side.
Why You’ll like it
Once you cook zoodles (see below), they lose their fibrous texture, absorbing the spaghetti sauce and its flavor. You would possibly find zoodles preferable to other pasta alternatives because they taste like whatever sauce you pair with it.
The macronutrients of zoodles are about five net grams of carbohydrates, zero fat, and around 3 grams of protein per cup. The health benefits of zoodles make them perfect for anyone diagnosed with diabetes, trying to lower their blood glucose, or otherwise following a ketogenic diet. Zoodles are full of a variety of vitamins and minerals — vitamins A, C, B, and potassium to call a few.
Try It Yourself
To make zoodles, all you would like is one to 2 zucchini and a spiralizer. If you don’t own a spiralizer, you’ll one for fewer than $30 on Amazon.
Spiralize your zucchini, then allow to rest on a towel. Sprinkle with salt. Zucchini is crammed with water. Therefore the towel ensures you’re not left with soggy pasta.
Cook with a touch olive on the stovetop to succeed in your required texture: Thirty seconds within the skillet offers a hard pasta, while two minutes may be a bit softer. Or, bake your zoodles during a pasta casserole with this recipe.
Almond Flour Pasta
Almond flour pasta is ready similarly to regular pasta, substituting almond flour for wheat or white flour. With the growing number of gluten-free and low-carb products, you’ll find quite a few store-bought options also.
Why You’ll like it
Almond flour may be a great low-carb pasta alternative. It contains 1.6 grams of carbs and 1.6 grams of dietary fiber, leading to zero net carbs. White, bleached, enriched flour contains over 76 grams of total carbohydrates with only 2 grams of fiber. Almonds also are a superb source of healthy fats, vitamin E, manganese, and magnesium.
Try It Yourself
While there are much almond flour pasta advertised as low-carb, make certain to triple-check the label. Many brands contain more carbohydrates than you’d believe. Hard Carba-Nada contains over 24 grams of total carbohydrates, or 17 grams net carbs. Fiber Gourmet, also advertised as low-carb, contains over 40 grams of total carbohydrates per serving and three grams of sugar.
Instead, try a homemade version. Confirm you don’t choose a recipe that has tapioca flour or tapioca starch — it’s extremely high in carbs. Swap your low-carb pasta in your favorite noodle dishes, then sprinkle with parmesan cheese for a creamy, delicious Italian dish.
Spaghetti Squash
Spaghetti squash makes the right everyday pasta alternative. Once you narrow a spaghetti squash in half and bake it, you’ll use a fork to scrape the within into super-thin noodles.
Why You’ll like it
Spaghetti squash contains only 5 grams of net carbs, zero fat, and one gram of protein per cup[*], making it the right pasta substitute for those on a low-carb or ketogenic diet.
Those are just the macronutrients, though. When it involves minerals, you’ll calculate spaghetti squash to offer you the optimal amount of calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and sodium.
Try It Yourself
You can find spaghetti squash in only about any local grocery . to form it, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 40 minutes, then allow chilling slightly. Once you’ll handle the squash without burning yourself, steady the squash with one hand and, employing a fork, shred the squash with the opposite.
Top your spaghetti squash with a keto-friendly alfredo sauce made with cream (topped with shredded mozzarella for a few extra love). Pro tip: If you’ve got any leftovers, reheat them during a hot skillet with a touch vegetable oil subsequent morning. They taste a bit like hash browns.
Egg Pasta
Egg pasta typically combines egg with cheese, offering a low-carb pasta substitute. Some store-bought versions might combine the egg with flour (white, almond, or other). If you discover egg pasta in stores or online, you’ll cook it a bit like “regular” pasta. Simply toss an outsized handful during a pot of boiling water, then allow to cook until it reaches your required texture.
Why You’ll like it
Low-carb egg pasta is usually tasteless, with an identical consistency to regular flour. you’ll like it for its macro content, combining the protein from eggs with the fat from the cheese. Eggs are one among the foremost affordable and nutrient-dense foods you’ll buy with zero carbs, 6 grams of fat, and seven grams of protein[*]. Cheese may be a keto-friendly foodstuff, as long as you purchase from a high-quality source.
Try It Yourself
If you ever made cloud bread as an alternate low-carb bread, making egg pasta follows an identical process. In some recipes, you’ll see gluten added to the recipe. Try to find a gluten-free option, substitute gum or xanthan gum for gluten.
Miracle Noodles
Miracle noodles also referred to as shirataki noodles, are carb-free and calorie-free. they’re clear in appearance and quickly absorb whatever flavors they’re cooked with.
Why You’ll like it
You read the above paragraph correctly: Miracle noodles contain zero calories. They’re mainly made from glucomannan — fiber from the konjac root.
The fiber is mixed with water and a little amount of juice to offer miracle noodles their shape. Once the blending and shaping are completed , it’s boiled together to make noodles comprised of 97% water and a couple of glucomannan fiber. Miracle noodles also are gluten-free, soy-free, and vegan.
Try It Yourself
So, where are you able to find these shirataki noodles? As they become more popular, you’ll more likely see them in grocery stores near you. they’re also available via online retailers.
Miracle noodles make a superb low-carb pasta for pad thai or ramen. you’ll also cover them with a keto-friendly white sauce to form mac and cheese.
