5 Tasty Whole Food Pasta Substitutes That Your Family Will Love

You're on the right track. You've been eating better and taking better control of your overall health. Now, building on that solid footing, you are looking at more potential whole food ingredients that could become regular staples in your kitchen.

Try these 5 delicious whole food alternatives for pasta. You're bound to discover at least one new favourite!

1.) Eggplant Lasagna

Fun fact: Eggplant is actually botanically classified as a berry. Most home chefs treat them as a vegetable.

Prepare your eggplant lasagna by cutting that tasty nightshade into long, thin slices. Rub salt, pepper, garlic, and oil onto each slice and then sauté them in a medium saucepan on medium heat until lightly browned on each side. 

Line the bottom of a Pyrex baking dish with alternating layers of thinly-sliced eggplant, cheeses of your choosing, and sauce of your choosing. Most common are mozzarella and ricotta but you may also experiment with parmesan and goat cheese. 

Continue to alternate eggplant, sauce, cheese, in repetition until you've filled your baking dish or achieved your desired thickness. Bake this in a pre-heated oven at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes to an hour. When the cheese on the top layer is golden-brown, it's ready to come out, cool, and serve.

2.) Emperor's Rice

What once had been a treat that only the Chinese elite ever enjoyed, today is a trendy, macronutrient-rich substitute for pasta that you and your family will love.

Today, the common name for this incredibly healthy starch is simply black rice.

You boil it, season, and serve as you normally would any grain or small pasta like stelline or orzo. A little butter, salt, pepper, and perhaps garlic and you'll be good to go! Add a splash of lime and a dash of extra-virgin olive oil for added flavour. 

3.) Cabbage Noodles

Incredibly low-carb, cabbage noodles are an often-overlooked whole food pasta substitute.

You can use whole cabbage leaves in place of lasagna, or cut thin strips out of whole leaves and use that as a form of noodle. Cabbage noodles make an excellent consistency for pad thai noodles or lo mein.

A 100-gram portion of cabbage provides nearly all of your daily recommended amount of vitamin K and more than half of your daily vitamin C needs. 

4.) Shirataki Noodles

Praised as a miracle noodle for being zero calories, Shirataki Noodles are skinny, clear, and pasta-like. The main ingredient is something called glucomannan, a dietary fibre extracted from the roots of the elephant yam, traditionally known as konjac. 

The fact that glucomannan is water-soluble is what makes it an excellent weight loss aid. When Shirataki Noodles get into your stomach, the material expands - thereby making you feel full. 

A downside to consider with this is that it may impede your body's intake of protein and fat. Shirataki Noodles may be a nice pasta substitute to try to incorporate occasionally, but not one to become an everyday staple.

5.) Ancient Grains

Surely, many a book has been written about all the many varieties of ancient grains available. And sure, to be technical, they are more of a rice replacement than pasta, but they will satisfy your desire for a starch. That is, of course, provided you find the methods of preparation that best suit your tastes.

Here are a few ancient grains and their benefits:

• Quinoa: High in protein, not filling.
• Farro: Great in soups, can be used as a sub in mac and cheese dishes.
• Millet: Related biologically to quinoa, high in protein, antioxidants, and dietary fibre.

Other Considerations When Preparing Pasta Alternatives

Many vegetable pasta chefs use a tool called a spiralizer. It makes long, thin, vegetable pasta. These and other simple gadgets make whole food pasta prep creative and fun.

Once you've begun to master the actual preparation of vegetable pasta, you begin to realize it ultimately doesn't matter which vegetable you use as your material, provided it suits your preference. A hearty eggplant or beet material will lend itself to heavy sauces. Hold on to delicate vegetables such as zucchini for lighter fares. 

Being honest, we know why we want pasta. It's a great comfort food that helps you feel full. Thankfully, you have options. Try each of these by researching many recipes for each ingredient. If you don't immediately love the first dish, try another. These ingredients have the potential to help drastically improve your health, well-being, and mental acuity.

Expand your culinary options even further by taking advantage of all the great ideas available to you published at qualityfood.ae. Your taste buds will definitely thank you.