My New Favorite Gluten-free Pastas

Have you noticed any new pastas on the shelf at your grocery store lately?


I got so used to buying my previous favorite pasta, Ancient Harvest, that I didn't try anything new for a really long time.  Read my 2009 review of gluten-free pastas to see how times have changed in 5 years. Recently I found a bunch of new GF pastas at the store by brands that I already know and trust like  Glutino and Ronzoni.  New-to-me pastas by Jovial and DeLallo are actually made in Italy! I had to try them.  

These are not just brown rice flour pastas all over again - some of these are totally new flour
combinations.  In fact, I had a totally new experience cooking one of these pastas.  It actually caught on fire right there in the pot!  That's incredible, Glutino!  How did you make a pasta that is so flammable?

Setting the thrill of novelty aside, I did find two pastas that I liked quite a bit - even enough to distract me from my Ancient Harvest quinoa pasta.  The two clear winners were Jovial and Ronzoni.  Jovial is a brown rice pasta - the only one I've ever liked (and don't tell me to try Tinkyada or DeBoles - I have tried everything!)  Jovial pasta doesn't have the grittiness that most brown rice pastas have, and it cooks up about as fast as "normal" pasta, which is nice.  The great thing about Jovial is that it comes in a bunch of different shapes - the capellini was my favorite, but they also have this cool shape called caserecce that I also enjoyed cooking with.

I liked Ronzoni even more.  It is absolutely the most like "normal" pasta that you can get off the shelves.  It even passed the picky eater test.  This is a test that I employ a lot, in which I get the pickiest eater I know, who happens to be my 8-year-old niece.  In addition to being particular about her foods, she is also an avid eater of gluten.  If she will eat something I make, I know it tastes and feels like the real thing!  Well, she ate her whole plate of Ronzoni pasta.

Ronzoni is made with white rice, brown rice, corn and quinoa, but I swear that you wouldn't know it has brown rice in it at all.  Somehow they blended all those flours in a way that gives the pasta a firm springy texture, just like a high-quality semolina pasta.  I also love that I can find it at my local QFC and the price can't be beat. It's about $2.50 for a 12-oz box. Ronzoni was my clear favorite.  

Comments

Anonymous said…
The Barilla GF Pasta is amazing. I can't even tell a difference.
November 25, 2014 at 2:45 PM
Gina said…
I know! Barilla GF pasta is really great.
November 26, 2014 at 8:04 AM
Anonymous said…
I love the Jovial pasta, I usually buy it in bulk from Vitacost. Their egg noodles especially are unmatched. I would say Glutino and Schar are tied for second place. I will have to look out for Ronzoni. I get almost all of my GF pasta online, because most groceries around here only carry Glutino or DeBoles.
December 1, 2014 at 1:01 AM
Gina said…
Yes, you should definitely check out Barilla GF pasta! It's really great. I'm glad you had better luck with the Glutino pasta than I did :)
December 1, 2014 at 11:18 AM
ScotteeM said…
Have you tried Wegmans house brand GF pastas? They're made in Romania from non-GMO corn, at about a fourth the price of most of the name-brand GF pastas. I love it, and so does my gluten-eating husband. I find it comparable in taste and texture to the corn pastas imported from Italy. I'll look for and try the Ronzoni. I can't stand most of the other brands.
January 28, 2015 at 11:37 AM
Gina said…
ScotteeM - I haven't tried the Wegman's brand! We don't have Wegman's here in Oregon, unfortunately, but we do have Fred Meyer, which has a great natural food section. I wonder if the Wegman's brand pasta is re-packaged from another brand we can get here? I like trying new pastas, especially if the price is good. I am adding the price of the Ronzoni to this post now - I just checked it at my local QFC (a Kroger's brand store).
January 28, 2015 at 12:08 PM
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