I’m in a complicated situationship with gluten. I eat it, unremorsefully and often, but about 46 percent of the time, it makes me feel like a dejected bag of garbage on a New York City sidewalk.
I’ve spent years trying to identify exactly which dishes, forms, and quantities tip me over into diminishing returns, but answers remain elusive. I can raid the sourdough bread basket at Musso & Frank and feel perfectly fine, but if I eat a sandwich on focaccia I’m in danger of falling asleep standing up for the next six hours. Bagels are completely out of the question (they make me feel abjectly terrible, even when they’re free in the office), but cookies are not (the last bite I took before writing this sentence was of Last Crumb’s phenomenal Donkey Kong cookie). I love pasta wholeheartedly, but it’s always been a gamble; a heaping pile of spaghetti will go down just fine one day and level me another.
I feel fortunate that when I eat wheat I’m in no identifiable medical danger other than feeling rather crummy, but I’ve become increasingly “gluten-free curious.” Just as I still enjoy a lot of vegan food despite rejoining meat-eating society over 13 years ago, I am always intrigued by gluten-free substitutions and facsimiles — but only if they taste good. And from what I can see, just as with vegan food, gluten-free food is getting better and better; look no further than my Eater colleague Nicole Adlman’s rundown of the best gluten-free pastas to see just how far we’ve come.
So when I found out, as a food writer, that Banza was dropping a new line of brown-rice-based pastas this week, I was curious as to whether they could continue to elevate the realm of wheat-free cooking.
Why are people so obsessed with Banza?
As far as gluten-free pasta goes, the popular brand Banza has singlehandedly raised our standard of what a bowl of wheat-free rotini can taste like: like the comforting, classic, non-gluten-free pasta you likely grew up eating and loving. That’s all non-gluten-eaters ask for; nothing crazy, man, just pasta that’s just as good as the stuff made with wheat. Banza gets top marks from discerning gluten-averse diners thanks to its al dente texture, nutritious composition, and ease of cooking (in our gluten-free pasta gauntlet, Nicole especially loves the brand’s bucatini). Known for its high-protein, high-fiber, chickpea-based dried pastas, Banza is also currently the largest gluten-free “better for you” pasta brand in the industry (and, remarkably, the fifth-largest pasta brand in America overall).
Why would a brown rice pasta drop a big deal? Doesn’t sound very… sexy, let’s be honest. But a lot of people prefer the texture of brown rice pasta to chickpea pasta because (generally speaking) it’s less chewy, less gummy, and more akin to wheat-based pasta. Plus, it has a more mild, neutral flavor than chickpeas, making it a closer dupe for traditional noodles. Banza’s brown rice pasta is made in Italy (elegante!); is non-GMO, vegan, and kosher; and has something called “CleanScan certification from The Detox Project” which basically means it’s been tested for 400 nasty chemicals and pesticides and came out with a perfect report card. In other words, this is a clean and “healthy” noodle, which might alleviate certain concerns that come with eating conventional wheat pasta — and so it might appeal to a wider audience for a broad range of reasons.
OK, so how does the brown rice pasta taste?
Banza kindly sent me three different varieties of the brown rice pasta to try: penne, elbows (aka macaroni), and rotini.
I decided to start with the penne; I have been experiencing a major hankering for penne alla vodka recently (because when am I ever not?) and it seemed like an opportunity to see whether the brown rice pasta is truly an improvement upon Banza’s signature chickpea product — and how it compares to good old wheat pasta.
A short rant about putting cottage cheese in pasta sauce
At first I attempted to make the penne alla vodka on Banza’s site; it sounded pretty solid, but my one concern was the use of blended cottage cheese in the sauce. On not one but two previous occasions, I have attempted to make “high-protein” penne alla vodka or some other bastardization of the Italian classic that included blended cottage cheese, and both times, the sauces broke and curdled. I approached this recipe optimistically but skeptically, wondering if the cursed outcome could be avoided.
Guess what happened this time? When I added the blended cottage cheese, the sauce curdled and turned grainy and a bit sour. Surprise! I had to throw it out and start over. (I will eat Good Culture cottage cheese out of the container any day of my life but I am never, ever putting blended cottage cheese in a creamy pasta sauce again. Heavy cream, I shall not forsake thee.)
Anyway, after that fiasco, I did what God intended: found a penne alla vodka recipe with a 45-paragraph intro on a highly SEO-optimized recipe blog and used that, and it turned out perfect.
As I was saying, the penne alla vodka…
Now, as for the brown rice pasta itself: The penne cooked to perfection in about 13 minutes, accurate to the directions on the box. While I like Banza’s signature chickpea pasta, there’s no doubt in my mind that I prefer the more toothsome, bouncy texture and neutral flavor of the brown rice pasta. I like a slightly post-al-dente soft noodle when it comes to penne, and with chickpea pasta, there is an inescapable level of chewiness that some people appreciate but which doesn’t align with my preference.
How about the other brown rice pasta shapes?
I also made some of the macaroni (sorry, elbows), and again, it was completely comparable to classic macaroni; perfect for mac and cheese, mac salad, or, in my case, a base for a spicy mapo tofu sauce that I bought at the Japanese supermarket.
The rotini was my third and final experiment (for this round; I will be buying these again, no doubt), and I prepared it with a simple sungold tomato sauce (the farmers market is poppin’ right now) and some mozzarella. I shared the final product with two friends and they repeatedly commented on how they couldn’t even tell it was gluten-free. They also expressed pleasant surprise at how nice the texture came out (again, that it wasn’t too chewy, as people often expect with GF pastas), and how well it integrated into and transported the tasty tomato sauce.
Gluten-free pasta and the issue of leftovers
Another issue with chickpea-based pasta (and gluten-free pasta in general) is that it often reheats poorly, turning into a sort of stiff, gummy texture that makes it hard to enjoy leftovers.
Good news: Brown rice pasta doesn’t have this issue, so I was able to microwave and enjoy next-day servings of both the rotini and the penne alla vodka without issue. Both gleefully sprung back to life as though they hadn’t been sitting in my fridge for 18 hours.
The verdict: The brown rice pasta is — I promise — virtually identical in flavor and texture to a solid wheat-based dry pasta. Again, that’s all we ask for as gluten-sensi people: something just as good as the gluten-packed version.
So, brown rice pasta vs. chickpea pasta: Which is better?
That being said, the brown rice pasta lacks the chickpea pasta’s boost of protein and fiber. (Banza’s chickpea pasta has roughly twice the protein and fiber of regular pasta per serving.) I’m one of those people who tries to eat A Lot of Protein because I’m a bit of a gym rat, and in that context, high-protein pasta feels like a godsend. A two-ounce serving of the brown rice pasta offers a bit of protein (six grams per serving) and four grams of fiber, but the chickpea pasta offers nearly twice as much (12 grams per serving), plus nearly twice as much fiber and iron, and notable amounts of vitamin B6, folate, biotin, and other valuable nutrients. I personally appreciate that Banza’s chickpea pastas aren’t just wheat-free, but that they also offer enhanced nutritional value, so that’s a consideration if you’re choosing between a chickpea or brown rice base.
It all depends on your priorities: If you’re coming from more of a protein-hunting, nutrition-focused mentality, Banza’s chickpea pasta will surely continue to do the trick. But if you just want a damn good bowl of penne alla vodka or mac and cheese, the brown rice pasta line is here to prove that gluten-free isn’t just in its “just as good” era; it’s entering its “maybe better” moment.
Banza’s new line of brown rice pasta is available today and onward.
