Italian Taste Test: Eataly's Gluten-free Pasta

From oh so delicious to meh and everything in between!

Lolly Martyn

and

Rachel Ciordas

Nov 17, 2024

top L to R clockwise: buckwheat spaghetti, corn linguine, red lentil, chickpea, and pea fusilli, traditional durum wheat spaghetti, corn linguine

Ciao friends!

Well this pasta experiment was both fun AND totally NOT fun, depending on which pasta was in my mouth at the time. Me and the wonderful Rachel Ciordas of Next Level Gluten Free made a cross-Atlantic-something-special for you: a list of our TOP gluten-free (GF) pastas from United States’ supermarkets - and Eataly in Italy! We each purchased 7 GF pastas and taste-tested them side by side.

Results ranged from “so delicious, I would even eat this cold!” to “had to force myself to put it in my mouth and chew.”

My co-tester and pasta scientist, Rachel is heavily inspired to cook amazing GF recipes by her young son who is celiac and cannot eat gluten. Perhaps you are wondering why I’m testing gluten free pasta… I’m not celiac nor am I gluten-intolerant PLUS I live in Italy, where high quality pasta is abundant and appreciated. I’ll tell you in 3 reasons:

I have a strong belief that a healthy diet is a diverse diet, including a diversity of grains and carbohydrates. One of my favorite things about living in northern Italy is the variety of carbs in the regional cuisine! We eat plenty of traditional pasta made of wheat but northern Italians also eat delicious polenta made of corn, scrumptious risotto made of rice, and both pizzocheri and polenta taragna which are made of buckwheat. All of these are gluten-free. (P.S. Many of these are spotlighted in this very special book: Como e dintorni a tavola aka Como and its surroundings at the table that Judy Franchini just generously gifted me from Tuscany as she was clearing out her collection. (Thank you, Judy! I feel so lucky!)
Grazie 1000, Judy!! I am so touched that she sent me this cookbook with recipes from my beloved Lake Como
I feel best when I eat gluten for some meals, but not every meal. Too much gluten can create inflammation, so ‘everything in moderation’ is what feels best for me. I typically eat homemade banana pancakes made with buckwheat or rice flour and eat the classic Italian brioche just once or twice a week. I also often switch out my regular semolina pasta with buckwheat… and now I have a new favorite GF pasta to add to the mix! Let’s find out which one!
Just like a wine, gluten free pasta has a flavor and craves to be paired with what complements it. For example, buckwheat pasta’s earthy flavor goes gazongas with caramelized zucchini and onion or pistacchio lemon sauce and I actually prefer it to traditional wheat pasta with these toppings.

Now, on to the testing!

Very very scientific testing parameters:

Rachel and I tested and ranked the pastas based on 4 classic pasta criteria used to rate durum wheat pasta here in Italy. We are pasta scientists!

Tenacity / tenacità: does the pasta maintain its shape
Flavor / sapore: how does it taste
Aroma / profumo: what does it smell like
Stick-together-ness / appiccicosità: does the pasta stick together and to the other pasta
Note: this was originally Character / carattere referring to the purity of the mono-cultural grain which is not applicable here as we’re testing all kinds of carbs! So we replaced this with stick-together-ness as it can be quite an issue with GF pastas.
Look at the different textures of the uncooked pastas in Photo 2! traditional durum wheat spaghetti, buckwheat spaghetti corn linguini, red lentil, chickpea, and pea fusilli

To increase the difficulty of the challenge, I decided to make all 7 pastas at the same time so I could taste them together. haha ahhhh- It was harder than I thought to manage all the pots of boiling water with pastas all finishing at different cooking times!

All pastas were:

tasted with this classic kid-friendly Butter and Parmigiano recipe (also below!)
organic and purchased from Eataly in Italy
tasted against a ‘traditional’ control pasta made of durum wheat - spaghetti by Pastificio G Di Martino
the Pasta Natura 3 flavored red lentil, pea, and chick pea fusilli pasta came in the same package, so I cooked them together but tasted them separately.

The winners! (and losers!)

Drum roll please! The results in the table below and comments from the super-scientists follow after:

Winners!

The Morelli pasta di mais corn linguine blew us away. It looked like egg pasta. It held together with an al dente bite to it. Here is is showcased the next day (!) for lunch with spicy aglio olio and breadcrumbs; a very delicate sauce with just extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and pepperoncino which hides no flaws. There were no flaws to be hidden. And it looks like fresh egg pasta linguine! Full on yum. I got interrupted during lunch and this pasta was even delicious COLD.

YOU are so delicious, my new pasta love.

Losers!

The Pasta Natura fusilli made with 50% whole grain rice flour and either peas, red lentils, or chickpeas. All 3 were varying degrees of unpleasant. I closed my eyes to smell before cooking; shockingly, the smell was of Play Dough. It did not improve while cooking and somehow smelled… powdery… even though the pasta was wet.

The shape was an oddly tightly spiraled coil, unlike the loose spring of traditional fusilli. The ingredients themselves are wonderful in other recipes. My take: these ingredients are not suited to be made into pasta. The cooked fusilli were mushy and fell apart at the touch of a fork.

Out of the 3, the red lentil was best but still had a beany aftertaste. I would consider all 3 to be edible only if there was nothing else to eat or maybe maybe maybe with a very flavorful, rich meat ragu that might cover up the pasta taste. If you try that, let me know. I had to force myself to put it in my mouth and chew - all for you and the sake of science!

USA taste test!

Don’t forget: simultaneously in the US, Rachel Ciordas of Next Level Gluten Free was testing USA brands. Click to find out who was the winner of her USA gluten-free pasta taste test extravaganza! She lists from worst to best for maximum suspense…!

Share your thoughts and experiences on GF pasta - the good and the bad! I hope you didn’t experience them both in one evening like I did…

Pasta with Butter and Parmigiano

Pasta in Bianco

FOR 4 PEOPLE

The ingredients

60g / 4 Tbls Butter
360-400 g pasta (nearly any pasta will do! Spaghetti, linguine, fusilli, penne See more in notes below.)
Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste

The method

1) Fill a big tall pot with water and salt and set on high heat stove burner. Taste the water to make sure it’s salty like the sea (as and add more salt if needed).

2) Divide the butter into individual pasta bowls and slice it into smaller pieces so it will melt more quickly.

3) Grate the parmigiano

4) When the water boils, add the pasta and cook to the package time (al dente), stirring occasionally.

5) Strain and immediately distribute pasta to the individual bowls and use 2 forks to toss, melting the butter. Once the pasta is evenly coated, sprinkle with grated parmigiano and stir for a few seconds. Note: this does not make a ‘sauce’ but sticks the the pasta. Taste. If you feel it’s a bit dry, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and stir again. This adds another layer of depth and flavor.

Serving tips:

Serve with a small bowl of extra grated parmigiano for those who want more

Notes:

Salt: It’s important not to skimp. This salted water is adding a layer of flavor to your pasta and is critical to this dish.

Pasta: you can use almost ANY pasta: spaghetti, linguine, fusilli, penne, even mini-pasta like ditalini or orzo. The only pasta I wouldn’t recommend would be the giant pastas like … I’m sure it would still taste amazing, but it would be more difficult to coat the surface of the pasta with butter and cheese. This is a simple pasta; keep it simple!

Buon appetito!

x Lolly

IG: Lolly di pasta buona