Best Dried Gluten Free Pasta | 8 Brands To Try

It's great to make your own fresh gluten free pasta, but who can do that every day? For real-life weekdays, here's my list of 8 of the best dried gluten free pasta brands to try.

Why I'm reviewing dried gluten free pasta

I'm doing a few more gluten free product reviews for one reason and one reason only: to help you spend your hard-earned money wisely. On this post, I've included affiliate links where appropriate (see the disclosure below), but that's not the reason for this post. You can purchase these products wherever you like, or not at all.

I also reviewed a whole bunch of brands of packaged gluten free bread here on the blog, and everyone was pretty excited about it. Okay, almost everyone. There's always someone who's mad. :)

I wasn't sure whether to begin these comprehensive gluten free product reviews with packaged gluten free bread or dried gluten free pasta. I asked many of you on my email list which you'd prefer I review first. Although most of you asked for bread reviews first, you gave a bunch of shout-outs to your favorite dried pasta brands, too.

Through your emails, I was introduced to a brand that I had never heard of (Garofalo), gave another brand a second (or third?) try (Jovial) and finally decided to dive in and try some alternative pastas (made from beans!) that I had completely shied away from previously.

It's been quite the education—and my family's patience is wearing thin. When my children see me boiling pasta water now, they give me the side eye ? and ask if I'm “testing” more brands.

Is pasta gluten free?

Unless you're specifically buying gluten free pasta, made from gluten free grains or legumes in some cases, no: Pasta is not gluten free.

If you're just starting out on a gluten free diet, please stop right now and read the basic rules of a gluten free diet. You'll need to begin reading ingredient labels on all the products you buy that are even minimally processed.

You might be surprised to find how many packaged products and simply multi-ingredient products are gluten-containing. Pasta is typically made from wheat, which is the most common gluten-containing grain.

Years ago, when I first started a gluten free diet, Tinkyada was the only brand of gluten free pasta I saw on any grocery store shelves (mostly just in Whole Foods). Today, there are so many brands of dried gluten free pasta that even the big boys (like Ronzoni and Barilla) have gotten in on the action.

Who this list is for

This list of 8 brands of the dried gluten free pasta is made up of products available primarily to U.S. residents. A number of the brands, although readily available in the U.S., are imported from Italy, though. Shocking, I know, that great pasta would come from Italy. ??

I'm assuming that many of you in Europe can find these brands even more readily than I can, and hopefully at a better price. The prices and other details referred to are for the products imported to the U.S. If there's a difference in what's imported versus what's sold closer to the manufacturing base, I'm afraid I just wouldn't know.

I am actually able to find all but one of these brands in a local brick-and-mortar grocery or natural foods store near me. But I live in a major metropolitan area. All but the Trader Joe's brand are available from Amazon.com. I didn't include anything that was just too difficult to source in the U.S.

What isn't included

Tinkyada: A number of you wrote to me to say that you really love Tinkyada brand pasta. Tinkyada is kind of the Udi's of gluten free dried pasta brands to me. It was the very first brand that was available to us, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

But I just can't include Tinkyada on this list. I find that its availability is really the only thing I like about it. It isn't cheap, it has a tendency to fall apart no matter how long or short you cook it, and it just screams “gluten free pasta” to me. It's “good, for gluten free,” and that just hasn't been good enough for a long, long time.

Ronzoni: I just don't care for their pasta. My children hate it, since Barilla is far superior to our palates for both taste and texture.

Banza: Upon the suggestion of many of you and with an open mind, I tried the chickpea pasta. I just couldn't get on board. And it's really expensive, too! I don't want to elaborate, because if you like it, who am I to ruin it for you? But it just didn't pass the taste or texture test for anyone in my family.

As a nod to the alternative type of pasta, I did include the Trader Joe's brand black bean rotini in this list. I think it's worth a try, and it literally has the one ingredient: black bean flour. I also tried the Trader Joe's red lentil pasta, and I just found it to be truly awful. My husband ate it, but only because I was going to throw it out and he just cannot abide that.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I'm a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Feel free to shop around, though, as always. 

I'm leading with Barilla gluten free rotini pasta because I buy it, and Barilla gluten free elbow pasta, too, by the case. It's our number one family pasta. Even after all of the reviews, it remains our number one family pasta.

Right before Barilla's gluten free pasta hit the market, a PR firm tried to negotiate some sort of sponsorship relationship with me. I don't do very many sponsored posts at all (as you hopefully have noticed!) for all the good reasons you're hoping for, but I was really excited about this development—so I listened.

It didn't work out, because they really wanted way too much from me for too little in return (typical!), but I stalked my grocery store shelves until it showed up on the market. I had a good feeling that they were going to normalize gluten free pasta. And they did!

Barilla is usually stocked among the conventional pasta brands, and is priced more competitively than most. It even goes on sale, and is sold by the case online at a really affordable price. It holds up when cooked al dente and even reheats relatively well.

It really does not taste exactly like conventional pasta. But it's really good, and serves every purpose we have. Here's a tip, if you're planning to make it into a cold (or room temperature) gluten free pasta salad: make the pasta hours ahead of time, but rinse it lightly after draining, and store it in a sealed container at room temperature. Don't refrigerate it unless it's very warm in your kitchen and you plan to serve it more than 12 hours later.

Here are the other details:

• Size of box: 12 ounces
• Price you should expect to pay: about $2 (I pay about $2.50 when I purchase it at my local grocery store, usually just less than $2 on Amazon.com)
• Ingredients: corn flour, rice flour, mono and diglycerides
• Package cooking instructions: Bring 4-6 quarts of water to a boil. Add salt to taste. Add pasta to boiling water. For authentic “al dente” pasta, boil for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. For more tender pasta, boil an additional minute. Drain well and serve immediately with your favorite sauce.
• My cooking notes: Boil 6-7 minutes or it starts to fall apart and is too soft. Boil it just until there's no dry part in the center of the pasta when it's broken in half.

I actually really like the texture of Bionaturae gluten free pasta. I hadn't purchased it in a really long time, since it contains soy flour and my oldest currently have soy. It's a light brown pasta, and kind of earthy tasting.

I know that the shape of pasta doesn't affect its taste, but I really love the tight coil of Bionaturae's fusilli pasta. It holds onto sauce really well and just has a nice mouthfeel. No one will ever mistake it for a conventional pasta because of that earthy taste (although maybe it's a bit like whole wheat pasta?), but it's quite good in taste and texture.

Here are the other details:

• Size of bag: 12 ounces
• Price you should expect to pay: over $5 per bag.
• Other top allergens: SOY
• Ingredients: organic rice flour, organic potato starch, organic rice starch, organic soy flour
• Package cooking instructions: Cook pasta in 3 quarts of salted boiling water, stirring frequently, 10 minutes. Drain, do not rinse, and serve.

I love Delallo gluten free because they have gluten free orzo, and I buy it by the case. I hadn't tried Delallo gluten free fusilli previously but had high expectations since I think their quality is generally quite good.

I wasn't disappointed. Their gluten free fusilli had really great texture and taste. Again, it's not a dead ringer for conventional wheat pasta, which isn't a total surprise since it's made of mostly corn. But it holds its shape, doesn't fall apart during cooking and has a really nice taste and texture.

Here are the other details:

• Size of bag: 12 ounces
• Price you should expect to pay: about $4.50 per bag.
• Ingredients: 70% corn flour; 30% rice flour
• Package cooking instructions: bring water to boil, add salt (no oil), cover with lid to bring back to boil, remove lid and cook for 6 minutes, until al dente. Drain but don’t rinse.

I had never heard of Garofalo brand gluten free pasta, but I'm absolutely thrilled that you told me about it. This Garofalo gluten free penne was hands down the most like conventional pasta.

This pasta was the hands-down favorite of my oldest daughter. She's one who most often eats gluten-containing pasta outside the house (my son is the only one among them who has to be gluten free), and she said, “This one tastes more like gluten pasta.”

My teenage gluten free son, who hasn't had gluten-containing pasta since he was about 1 year old, and my youngest daughter said that this pasta was “too dry.” I think that gluten free pasta, in general, tends to be softer and more tender, even when cooked as al dente as possible. So it really comes down to personal preference.

Here are the other details:

• Size of bag: 16 ounces
• Price you should expect to pay: about $7.50 a bag. Approximately the same price per ounce as Delallo.
• Ingredients: corn flour, rice flour, corn starch, quinoa, mono- and diglycerides
• Cooked according to package directions: Boil water, add pinch of salt and pasta. 4 quarts water for 1 pound pasta. Cook 8 minutes.

I have something of a complicated history with Jovial brand products. I find them to be overpriced, in general. This Jovial gluten free brown rice pasta was quite good, made from whole grain and actually the favorite (other than Barilla) of my son and youngest child.

They're the ones who like soft pasta, though (see the Garofalo review just above). They're also not paying for any of the food they eat, so they're unaffected by the price. Jovial is just expensive. If you can find it for a better price, though, and you like soft pasta, buy it!

Here are the other details:

• Size of box: 12 ounces
• Price you should expect to pay: about $7.50 for just 12 ounces. More expensive than Garofalo.
• Other top allergens: possible SOY contamination (label indicates that they process soy in the facility)
• Ingredients: organic brown rice flour, water. 
• Cooked according to package directions: Bring 3 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add salt as desired. Cook pasta on high heat, stirring frequently. Cooking time 10 minutes. Test for doneness. Drain and add your favorite sauce.
• My notes: Pasta does stick to the bottom of the pot during cooking if not stirred frequently.

I really like corn pastas, and I used to buy Sam Mills brand at Trader Joe's years ago (they no longer seem to sell it). But back then, my youngest made such a stink over corn pasta that I just didn't bother.

Now, tasting Le Veneziane gluten free corn pasta, my youngest seems to really like corn pasta. ??‍♀️ It's expensive, more so than Sam Mills, but on part with Delallo and Garofalo brands. It has really good texture, and doesn't have the tendency that Jovial has to get really soft.

The best texture is when it's cooked for 9 full minutes, or it can tend to be a bit hard when it's no longer piping hot. I have a tendency to rinse gluten free pasta since I've historically found that that helps to achieve the best texture, but Le Veneziane shouldn't be rinsed.

Here are the other details:

• Size of bag: 8.8 ounces
• Price you should expect to pay: about $4.50 per package of less than 9 ounces. For sake of comparison, a 12 ounce package would cost nearly $6. On par with Delallo and Garofalo.
• Ingredients: corn flour, emulsifier: mono and diglycerides of fatty acids of vegetable origin
• Cooking instructions:1 liter water, 10 g salt. Add salt to boiling water. Add the pasta to the water and stir. Cook 8-9 minutes. Drain the pasta.

I really love Schar products in general, and their pasta is no exception. They used to sell this great anelli pasta that was great for making my homemade version of spaghettios, but I think they stopped making it. Instead, I discovered that Le Veneziane sells a corn-based ditalini pasta that works in that same recipe.

Schar gluten free penne pasta is just really good all around. The taste and texture are really authentic, and will satisfy those who want pasta that tastes like “the gluten one” and ones who like their pasta softer, too. It's just a nice middle ground.

I was even surprised that the price isn't bad, when compared to the middle-range pastas like Garofalo and Delallo. But the “may contain soy” on the label keeps us from buying it regularly. Why, Schar, why?

Here are the other details:

• Size of box: 12 ounces
• Price you should expect to pay: less than $4.00 per box.
• Other top allergens: Label indicates that it may contain SOY.
• Ingredients: corn flour, rice flour, vegetable palm oil. 
• Cooked according to package directions: Bring water to a boil, add salt (directions say to add olive oil but I did not), add pasta to boiling water, cook 14-16 minutes. Drain and serve.

Okay, so Trader Joe's black bean rotini pasta is something to try. It's not something that you give to a picky eater. And it's not something you should expect to use as a replacement for, well, nearly anything else—least of all a gluten-containing pasta.

But I actually like it. I'm not sure if it's just because I had just tried the Banza brand chickpea pasta or the Trader Joe's red lentil penne pasta, but I'm more than willing to eat it. It has way better nutrition than any of the other dried gluten free pasta brands on this list, of course, and a texture that pretty much anyone could love.

The taste is definitely not for everyone though! It's also really beautiful to look at, especially when it's dried. When you're trying to photograph 8 or 10 different types of essentially the same thing and make them all look relatively attractive, you learn to appreciate things like that.

Just please rinse it well after cooking.

Here are the other details:

• Size of bag: 12 ounces
• Price you should expect to pay: less than $3 a bag
• Ingredients: organic black bean flour
• Cooking instructions: In a large pot bring 4 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add salt if desired; add pasta and stir gently. Return to a medium boil and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Do not overcook. Remove from heat, drain and rinse foam. Serve right away with your favorite sauce.
• My notes:  Right out of the pot, it does not taste good, flavor way too strong. After rinsing, it tastes kind of like black beans and the flavor is much milder.