The Best Gluten-Free Pastas You Can Buy

Gluten-free pasta can tend to feel like a poor substitute for anyone who grew up loving starchy noodles in classic Italian dishes. Pastas made with wheat are perfectly chewy due to gluten, after all, and help the noodles bind to your favorite sauces in a bowl. But not all gluten-free pastas are automatically "bad" because they're made without wheat. Gluten-free pasta can provide a flavor profile that you've never experienced before (just like gluten-free crackers), even if you don't have to eat these faux noodles due to a gluten sensitivity. Many of the best gluten-free pasta brands don't attempt to mimic regular pastas exactly, as they're made with legumes, vegetables and special wheat-free flours. But after taste testing dozens, the Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen editors say their top picks for gluten-free pasta substitutes emulate all the best qualities of traditional noodles.

There's a gluten-free version of all the noodles you'd find at your local supermarket. Most make use of wheat-free flours to imitate traditional spaghetti, lasagna, penne, rotini or any of the other popular pasta shapes you've come to love, while others use alternative bases altogether, including protein-rich legumes like chickpeas and lentils, or even vegetables like beets. You'll also find gluten-free alternatives to convenience items like boxed macaroni-and-cheese as well as oven-ready lasagnas.

Whichever kind of gluten-free pasta you choose, be sure to double check those boiling times — alt pasta often cooks much faster than regular pasta dough, and it's easy for a gluten-free option to quickly become mushy if it's overdone. These boxed varieties will help take your favorite weeknight dinners to a whole new level of flavor (plus, it helps make any pasta dinner a bit healthier!).