Gluten-free pasta substitutes

The all-rounder and the closest in behaviour to wheat pasta. The corn gives structure so it does not collapse, and the rice keeps the flavour mild, so a plate of it under bolognese is genuinely hard to pick out. It cooks in roughly the same time as wheat pasta, holds shape when reheated better than pure rice pasta, and tastes faintly of corn, which is more noticeable in a plain butter sauce than in anything tomato-based.

Best for

everyday weeknight pasta, baked pasta and lasagna, pasta salads, kids who will notice a difference

This is the base most of the well-regarded supermarket brands use. Reserve a cup of the cooking water: the starch in it is what will bind the sauce to the pasta.

Mildly nutty, pleasantly chewy when it is right, and completely gone the moment you overcook it. The window between al dente and mushy is genuinely about a minute and a half, so start tasting two minutes before the box says. It also firms and turns slightly grainy once cold, which makes it a poor choice for a pasta salad but good hot.

Best for

hot pasta with sauce, soups added at the last minute, simple garlic and oil dishes

Rinse it briefly under hot water after draining if the surface feels slimy, which is excess loose starch. Do not cook it in advance and reheat it; it turns to paste.

The best of the group for holding an actual bite, because legume protein does some of what gluten did, and it brings roughly double the protein and far more fibre than wheat pasta. The trade-off is unmistakable: it tastes of chickpea or lentil, it is faintly earthy and slightly bitter, and the starch it sheds turns the sauce cloudy and a bit gritty. Robust sauces cover this well; a delicate lemon-butter sauce does not.

Best for

tomato and ragu sauces, pesto, arrabbiata and other punchy sauces, protein-forward meals

Cook it in plenty of water and drain and rinse briefly, since it releases a lot of foam and starch. Red lentil versions cook faster and soften sooner than chickpea ones.

Naturally gluten-free, cheap, in most supermarkets, and they behave like a soft-textured pasta rather than a firm one. Flat rice noodles stand in surprisingly well for tagliatelle or fettuccine under a creamy or tomato sauce, though they are slipperier and softer and the sauce slides off them more readily. They will not hold up to a long bake.

Best for

fettuccine and tagliatelle dishes, soups and brothy dishes, stir-fried noodle dishes

Most rice noodles soak rather than boil: pour boiling water over them and stand for five to ten minutes. Boiling them like pasta usually shreds them.

Strongly flavoured, grey-brown, nutty and slightly earthy, with a firm and pleasingly springy bite. It is the best gluten-free noodle for anything served cold or in a broth, and it works better than you would expect with a mushroom, walnut or brown butter sauce. It fights an Italian tomato sauce, where the buckwheat flavour reads as out of place rather than interesting.

Best for

cold noodle dishes, broths and soups, mushroom and nut sauces, sesame dressings

Read the label carefully, because most soba on the shelf is a wheat and buckwheat blend and is not gluten-free. Look for juwari soba or a hundred-percent buckwheat claim, and rinse it under cold water after draining.

The honest low-carb alternatives, and it is worth being straight that they are not pasta. Courgette gives you soft, watery ribbons that dilute the sauce as they sit; spaghetti squash gives sweeter, more distinctly separate strands; shirataki gives a slippery, faintly bouncy noodle with almost no flavour of its own. All of them are vegetables in a pasta shape, not a starch that carries sauce.

Best for

low-carb and low-calorie meals, thick chunky sauces, an extra vegetable serving

Salt courgette noodles and let them drain twenty minutes, then cook them for two minutes at most, or your sauce ends up in a pool of vegetable water. Rinse shirataki very well and dry-fry it before saucing to drive off the packing liquid.

Worth stating plainly, because it is sometimes the answer. If the recipe specified gluten-free pasta but nobody eating it actually needs to avoid gluten, regular pasta is cheaper, tastes better, holds sauce better and reheats without turning to paste. Only make the swap if you are certain, since for someone with celiac disease this is not a preference but a medical problem.

Best for

any recipe where gluten is not a constraint for anyone eating

Never make this swap for a guest without asking. Celiac disease and wheat allergy are not dietary preferences, and cross-contamination from a shared pot of water is enough to cause a reaction.