The 9 Best Gluten-Free Pastas, From Spaghetti to Penne and Beyond

Gluten-free foods are used to getting a bad rap. Gluten-free pastas have long been pegged as temperamental to cook and prone to mealiness; gluten-free pizza crusts could be too crackery, limp, or dense; gluten-free cookies could sub in for a weak doorstop or crumble at the touch from dryness. Because there have historically been poor facsimiles for wheat-based foods, anything marketed as “gluten-free” can find itself under fire.

But, as with the ongoing betterment of vegan food, times have changed — and in recent years, if you know where to look, there are many formidable, 100-percent-zero-gluten products on the market, including fantastic, chef-approved gluten-free pastas that make wheat seem irrelevant. Gluten-free pastas tend to use a blend of rice, corn, or legume flours, and sometimes have a higher protein content than their durum wheat counterparts, making them an increasingly appealing choice for a broader audience than just the gluten-sensitive. And unlike the gray old days, when finding a passable box of gluten-free spaghetti or penne seemed the best we could do, in 2025, brands are having way more fun with wheat-free shapes (yes, there’s even stelline).

In addition to being an Eater editor with a discerning palate, I’ve been gluten-intolerant for at least a decade. I finally stopped eating gluten-containing foods around eight years ago (it was hard to break up with wheat, okay?) and generally abide by a zero-gluten diet to avoid unnecessary pain. What used to be a thorn in my side has actually become, in my eyes, a great thing: I no longer desire or even like the taste of wheat-based foods — the smell of flour tortillas is extremely off-putting to me — and I revel in finding gluten-free products that are just as good as, if not better than, their wheat-based counterparts. For the last few years, I’ve also co-curated the gluten-free dining guide for Eater Los Angeles. Here’s my guide to the best gluten-free pasta you can buy right now. The gluten-free pastas below have been tested and rated by shape, texture, taste, and overall quality.

What Makes a Good Gluten-Free Pasta

Gluten-free pastas are typically made with a blend of flours, including brown or white rice flour, corn flour, legume flours, and more. Many quality gluten-free flour blends exist on the market now for fresh pasta makers, and even more brands sell packaged pastas formulated with a mix of wheat-free flours and starches.

Gianba Vinzoni, an Italian native, began to offer handmade gluten-free pastas in the former Pacific Palisades location of his restaurant Cinque Terre West (now operating at the Colony in Venice) because his daughter is gluten-intolerant. He contends that a great gluten-free pasta comes down to its binder. “Pasta is basically durum wheat flour and water — you make a dough with your hands and it sticks together. But gluten-free flours have different textures and when you add water to them, they break,” Vinzoni says. “So you need a binder like xanthan gum, which acts as the ‘gluten’ part, helping the dough stretch like a shirt and not break.” In short, the reason some gluten-free pastas struggle to achieve that classic al dente noodle texture is because they lack the stretchy, chewy quality that gluten affords — but other ingredients can substitute or emulate that.

Nicole Adlman

So how do you cook gluten-free pastas to ensure they don’t turn into mush? Vinzoni suggests cooking packaged gluten-free pasta in boiling water for at least a minute and a half shorter than the suggested cook time, and finishing it in a sauce that reduces with the pasta for the last minute or two. When he’s not making fresh gluten-free pasta, he’ll pick up Barilla penne or spaghetti, or order pastas by La Veneziane, which is corn-flour-based.

What I’ve found, in my kitchen practice, is that I have to cook gluten-free pastas for even less time than that to reach the elusive al dente texture I want before I finish it with sauces, vegetables, or proteins. For most pastas on this list, I reduce the suggested cooking time by half, sometimes even a little more, depending on the size and type of pasta; this also involves making sure my water is truly at a rolling boil before I start the pasta’s cook time. The cook time cut-down allows me to drain the pasta at its al dente peak before finishing it with reserved pasta water and whatever sauce I have on deck. (If you don’t believe me on the half-time factor, try it.)

The Best Gluten-Free Pasta

Best Overall Long Gluten-Free Pasta: Banza Gluten-Free Bucatini

Banza’s pasta — made with chickpea flour, pea starch, and tapioca (a starch derived from cassava root) — gets huge points for its protein content (“20 grams of protein! 8 grams of fiber!” the box practically screams from the supermarket shelf) and for the fact that it makes a bucatini, arguably the best long pasta. It’s worth noting that Banza is one of the trickier brands to cook properly. I’ve found that I have to boil Banza’s bucatini for no more than four and half minutes for it to reach the al dente level I like before I finish cooking the noodles in a sauce. That said, to each their own: Some people might like more pliable noodles, so cook to your preference.