Pasta is one of my guilty pleasures, as I’ve mentioned before— but when it’s made with brown rice, I don’t feel guilty. Especially with winter approaching, pasta is my go-to comfort food, and I’ve been looking for easy ways to eat better.
I’ve taken a look at a few different kinds of pasta before, and this week, I tried two different kinds of brown rice pasta. Think of white rice pasta, but with more nutritional oomph. Goldbaum’s is made with brown rice and brown rice bran, and both of these pastas had more protein per serving that white rice pasta.
Goldbaum’s spirals cook up quickly, and are nice and chewy, plus a bit sweet— I think they would go great in a macaroni and cheese. Also, the flavor means they would be good in either a sweet or a savory dish. In the photo, the spirals are paired with roasted zucchini, onions, red peppers and garlic (zucchini courtesy of a friend’s garden in Ypsilanti.)
I also tried Tinkyada’s penne pasta. This pasta is easy to cook al dente, and the noodles were good and chewy. However, the pasta had a strong flavor— I’d be careful what to pair them with. For dinner, I went simple: cherry tomatoes from the garden, oregano, and Go Veggie parmesan.
A word: both of these pastas are best when warm. Tinkyada, since I cooked it for less time, was rather tough when cold. (And my search for gluten-free pasta for a pasta salad continues.)
But like different wheat pastas, rice pastas have different dishes they fit with better. Just as pouring tomato sauce onto macaroni would seem strange, serving rice vermicelli topped with cheese just seems a bit off.
What about you? What are your favorite gluten-free pastas, and pasta dishes?
Detroiter in Poland 
If you have access to Delallo brown rice pasta, I’d recommend it. It’s become my favorite option, as I think it retains a really nice texture.
Good suggestion! I’ve had their corn orzo before, and it cooked up wonderfully.