I decided early on in Malachi’s Gluten Free Experiment that I wasn’t going to buy lots of “specialty gluten free” foods. They are crazy expensive and many of them are void of any kind of nutrition.
However, I’ve made a couple of exceptions, in the name of sanity and so that I can present something “normal” for Malachi. For instance, if we’re eating pasta, I’d like him to be able to have pasta. I found and purchased one small bag of Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta at Walmart, thinking that if he liked it and if it actually cooks up nicely, maybe I’d look into purchasing more to have on hand. The ingredient list didn’t even make me squeamish!
I am VERY happy to report that Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta DOES cook up nicely and that Malachi DOES like it!!! Keep in mind, Malachi is six years old…he’s not just eating it to be polite. That means he really does like it! :)
The Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta worked great for our Lasagna Casserole.
AND…you know my unique method for making Healthy Creamy Mac and Cheese?
This Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta even worked in THAT recipe!!! SO good!!!
I couldn’t be more excited!!! (Okay, c’mon. Sure I could. Gluten free pasta that tastes good isn’t that amazing. There are more exciting things in the world.)
Still…I’m pretty excited. Now, when some of you leave comments on my various pasta recipes, asking if rice pasta will work…I’ll be able to say “yes!”.
And for the record, the Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta is, unfortunately, a significant amount more expensive than the Whole Wheat Pasta I normally buy. But since I’m just using it for one person in our household, that one bag of Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta is lasting us a long time.
Have you tried Gluten Free Pasta before? What has been your GF Pasta experience? Don’t you wish I would pass out forks so you could take a bite of Malachi’s Creamy Mac and Cheese up in that picture?
We love tinkyada here and Azure carries it.
We don’t eat gluten free all of the time, but we use and love brown rice pasta! Our local Trader Joe’s sells 1 lb. bags of penne, fusilli and spaghetti brown rice pasta for $1.99 and that’s the best price we’re able to find.
we love that pasta too and haven’t been able to beat the price anywhere else.
Exactly!! I just had my mom buy 3 bags of it for me yesterday :). It is organic! Is the Tinkyada pasta organic?
We LOVE Tinkyada!
Tinkyada is the best GF pasta we’ve found. I wish DD could have cheese because that Mac n cheese looks delish!
I just bought our first two packages of gluten-free pasta last week at Sprouts. It’s a corn/quinoa pasta, but we haven’t tried it yet. We’ll have to look into the Tinkyada! Thanks for the review!
Lundberg and DeBoles both make a great brown rice pasta that is delicious. I like the penne pasta by Lundberg and the angel hair pasta by DeBoles. The angel hair is a little sticky before adding sauce, but is fine after that, and I serve it for everyone and never have had anyone balk or notice they were not eating regular pasta.
Actually, any GF product you buy that tastes good IS something to get excited about! More products are getting there but there has been a LOT of cardboard and ickiness that’s come before!
I think the rice pasta keeps it’s firmness much better than wheat pastas do. Trader Joes carries brown rice pasta and it’s only $1.99 here. I’ve heard that the TJ’s brand is acutally the same exact thing as the Tinkyada brand– they’re both from Canada and it’s just a label change. Don’t quote me on that, just something I heard, or read, or imagined I heard it being read?!? :o) Sharon
I have heard this also!
We love the brown rice pasta at Trader Joe’s! Only $1.99!
We tried some brown rice spaghetti from Azure and discovered that if we didnt cook it juuust right that it woudl be slimy and gluey :/…yummy.
Good to know. We’ve significantly cut back on gluten at our house, but we miss pasta. It’s been one of our splurges.
We use tinkyada as well and it works anywhere you would use wheat pasta….I also get long thin rice noodles from the asian section at the grocery store, they aren’t whole grain, but they are cheap and I like their texture better for stir-fry and spaghetti type dishes.
That is our favorite brand and yes it is expensive. But Azure carries it, which is where I usually get it. I gave up though on cooking gf pasta for just the two of us that needed it. I found the cross contamination just too difficult to keep up with. I had to worry too much about separate spoons, separate strainers etc. Maybe that is just me, but we had too many times where things got messed up. So I am glad that you are able to make cooking just the gf pasta for him work and that you found a brand that that he likes.
Will have to keep this on mind and check it out.
Very interesting. I am fairly new to healthier ways of eating, and have never even heard of brown rice pasta. You learn something new every day!
I’ll have to look for tinkyada at our nearest Wallyworld.
I haven’t tried any GF pasta but good to know that it could still taste good!
We like brown rice spaghetti and one way to make sure it isn’t sticky or gluey is to rinse it good after it is cooked.
Azure carries another pasta that holds up to freezer cooking and leftovers even better than Tinkyada…it’s Pasta D’oro. It’s a corn product vs rice and tastes great and is $18 for a case!!!! love that. :)
We alternate between the two depending on what I’m making and leftover/freezer potential.
Glad to hear that this option is working for you. I have always wondered how the tastes compare. We certainly do love the organic whole wheat pasta you have recommended!
My husband eats gluten free, which means most of our meals are gluten free (I still have wheat bread and oats for me and my son), and for pasta, I really like the Ancient Harvest quinoa/corn blend of pasta. I like getting different grains besides rice all the time, and the pasta tastes really good too! We’ve used the spaghetti noodles, shells, and the vegetaable spirals. By the way, thanks for doing this concerning gluten – although it’s not always fun having to adjust everything you eat! I look forward to learning more from you as you explore this more. God bless!
Your mac and cheese (with the “Hamburger Helper” variation) is on my meal plan for Thursday this week – with Tink pasta for the borderline-Celiac husband!
brown rice pasta…….even if your not needing GF…..that sounds like something new to try!
I dont eat GF but I actually prefer brown rice pasta. Digests so much better!
hi laura….i’ve used tinkyada and lundberg brown rice pasta and love them both. not sure what you paid, but if you happen to order anything from vitacost.com, they have it there, too.
We like the brown rice pasta because it tastes more like “normal” pasta than whole wheat pasta does. ;)
It’s the BEST GF pasta I have tried.
I think that Tinkyada is the best brand of rice pasta! I have tried Lundberg several times with disappointment.
So, glad it is working for you! We are gluten free here and we LOVE Trader Joe’s rice noodles. They are only a $1.99 a bag which I think is extremely reasonable. Our whole family eats them and LOVES it! They cook up well and hold their shape and texture well. Our favorite are the penne type. They hold up the best and are oh, so good.
Good luck on your continued gluten free run! We’ve been g-free for a few years now and won’t go back even if we could. We’ve found lots of nutritious alternative to wheat flour for baking and cooking that are fabulous. I make 98% of our gluten free things from scratch and really like almond flour. The almond flour is super nutritious and tastes great. Plus, in bulk it isn’t too pricey.
This post makes me want to try to MAKE brown rice pasta… :-) We are not gluten free (anymore, my husband was for awhile), but I would still be curious to make it! Although, it would be impossible to make them all spiraly!
I also use Quinoa/corn pasta. It holds together like the Tinkyada. The Tinkyada lasagna noodles are amazing as well!
The Mac & Cheese looks so good!! I will be stopping by Whole Foods in a couple of weeks! So excited!
WOW!!! Sounds great.
We haven’t tried the brown rice pasta, but had less than pleasant experiences with other rice pasta(it was white). But We ALL like the Corn Pasta that they carry at our local Wal-Mart.
I’ve never tried brown rice pasta, but you’ve inspired me. I don’t know if my local stores carry Tinkyada, but there is a Trader Joe’s nearby, so I may give that a try. Thanks for the inspiration!
I’ve used Tinkyada too, and think it’s good for a brown rice pasta. Can hardly notice a difference.
D.r Laura
I’ve been wanting to try rice pasta…. helps knowing other people have tried a specific brand and liked it… and most importantly, that their kids liked it! :)
If my family doesn’t like brown rice should I assume they won’t like brown rice pasta??????
Hmm, good question! I’m thinking you might be right…although if you smother it with sauce, they might not be able to tell. Last night I made Malachi a brown rice pasta lasagna and he scarfed it up!
I personally prefer white rice over brown rice, but I LOVE
brown rice pasta so give it a try!!
We really like the T. Joes brown rice pasta too. Looking forward to trying your creamy mac and cheese recipe. I never would have thought to cook the pasta in milk ~ wow!
Thanks for the product review. I have been wondering about those brown rice pastas, but I was a little intimidated to try them out.
We like the Mrs. Leper’s corn pasta better than Tinkyada, but I’m so glad you found an option that works and tastes ok. Rinsing after straining keeps it from turning to paste once it cools. :)
When my mom went gluten free I tried A LOT of different pastas. Tinkyada was THE BEST rice pasta. Most of the others I tried had a strange texture.
Em is right about Mrs. Leper’s for corn pasta. Mom loved tuna casserole, Dad not so much, so the prepackaged tuna helper from Mrs. Lepers worked great. And bonus, it was easy for dad to cook. Mom’s been sick for a long time and Dad has taken over the kitchen.
Sometimes, you just crave a little pasta. I do like to use spaghetti squash in place of noodles occasionally. Hubby isn’t a big fan so I don’t do it often.
Kara
My GF sister in laws enjoy quinoa pasta more than rice. But with the rave reviews you all are giving on the Tinkyada brand perhaps they haven’t tried that one. I will have to ask!
I have never even heard of rice pasta!
Looks great. I suffer from chronic migraines and am trying to change my diet. One recommendation is to go gluten free but i’ve been very hesitant. thanks for this series! it’s really helping me think about changing over. i love bread and pasta it’s nice to know of ways to keep those things in my diet and still enjoy them!
Thank you for the recommendation!
We order Tinkyada by the case from Amazon. I love that you can boil for two minutes and then let it sit for 20 and it’s done! Please also try the brown rice spinach spaghetti noodles. Yum! If you have young kids, they also have pasta with a shapes mix(trains, stars, dinos etc.)–just don’t stir it too hard. I used to make a small separate batch for my very allergic son, but with all the other things we avoid because of allergy and intolerance AND all the good things I’m trying to get in along with the craziness of life, we’ve all gone to Tinkyada and haven’t looked back.
Maybe someone else can comment on this–I heard that brown rice pasta is better for you than wheat because of the phytate levels and the fact that pasta can’t be soaked. I don’t know if this is true.
p.s. Buying through cases through Amazon is significantly cheaper than the store.
My mouth was watering looking at Malachi’s mac and cheese… Please, PLEASE pass a fork!! :)
Our favorite is Bionaturae organic gf pasts, which we order from Amazon.
I usually buy Trader Joe’s pasta – 1.99 a box or bag! I have never been disappointed with it.
I’m guessing it’s similar to Tinkyada though. I’m glad you found pasta for Malachi! I’ve always held that there’s no difference between reg. and GF pasta, but my husband would argue that one. :)
Have you tried quinoa pasta? I’ve heard it is great and isn’t quite as expensive as the brown rice pastas I’ve found.
Thanks for the recommendation!
They do have good pasta! It’s a bit pricey for me at almost $5 a bag, but if it lasts, then it’s worth it. :-)
I’ve made my own pasta and that was tasty, but if you prefer the “storebought” texture, I love this brand.
LoL. That does look great and I really want some! Thanks!
We use Tinkyada for our gluten free boy. I also found a corn spaghetti by Mrs. Leeper’s that he likes.
You are doing great on your gluten free journey! :)
That’s good to know! My parents are gluten free…maybe I should get a bag to have on hand for them when they come to visit. :)
Gonna have to try your “healthy mac and cheese”. *giggle* those words don’t belong in the same sentence, but I’ll try :)
We also like brown rice pasta. Tinkyada is our 2nd favorite brand. Our favorite is Hodgson Mills Brown Rice Pasta with Golden Milled Flax Seed. If you’re flexible with brands, watch Amazon for good deals on bulk gluten free products like pasta. The Saving Naturally blog occasionally highlights GF deals. My target price for brown rice pasta is around $2/bag. I often have to buy in bulk on Amazon, but it’s worth it and usually doesn’t expire for a year or so. I bought 12 bags of Mrs. Leeper’s animal shaped brown rice pasta a few weeks ago. I paid less than $2/bag and it tastes great!
I agree! Hodgson Mills is my favorite brand also!
For Pasta i buy “Le Veneziane” in bulk (12 packages, rationed to 1 package per month to keep costs down)from Amazon or Olive Nation sells it as well. It is imported from Italy and is a corn pasta, but unlike most American corn pastas, this is not gritty , does not fall apart and my family likes it better than our pre-gf days pastas (kids: 9 & 7 years old). In a pinch I will buy “Quinoa” pasta that is also very good, but the “Le Veneziane” is more rich, almost buttery, in my opinion. I could eat it with only a few drops of olive oil on it, it’s just that good!
I have discovered that sprouting only decreases the gluten it does not do away with it…. I love brown rice pasta and have always used it. For those that have trader joes in their area, they have brown rice pasta that is extremely affordable.
rice pasta is good & both recipes look yummy, I’ll have to try them! :)
So glad you’re finding things that work! What a great way to keep him included! :)
that mac& cheese looks yummy!
I’m so happy you found something that Malachi likes! :o)
We use Tinkyada pasta too. I buy it in 10 pound boxes from Azure Standard. The price has gone up some from what it used to be (everything is up right now). I am trying to make the 2 partial boxes I have last for a while.
I am so glad you found something Malachi likes! Our wheat allergic girl likes it too.
Not head of that brand of pasta, will have to check it out. My favorite is the heartland brand. It is sold at walmart too, and really not that expensive. They don’t necessarily put it in the gluten free section. It is located on the bottom shelf by the regular pastas at ours. Thanks for the recipes.
Shelly
Glad you found some yummy GF pasta, and I’m sure Malachi is happy too. :) Quinoa pasta is another good GF pasta…Ancient Harvest is a great brand to try. (Quinoa flour is also great for baking!)
I too was going to mention Quinoa as a GF option. It comes in pasta, flour, and I believe rice.
Glad to hear that there is a pasta that doesn’t turn into paste.
Trader Joe’s has a great brown rice pasta!
I thought YOU were the one who showed me that you could get HUGE bags of rice penne pasta noodles from Azure for pretty decent prices. It lasts for a LONG time in our family (two huge bags). It’s yummy whether you are gluten intollerant or not. I’ve tried it in most of your recipes too!
Thanks for the info on the pasta – good to have on hand when you’ve got to cook quick for gf-ers.
Nice to know.
We have used that brown rice pasta for a while now and quite like it. We had to figure out the best way to cook it though. We found that if we bring the water to a boil then turn off the heat leaving the pan on the unit I place the pasta in and put a lid on for about 8 minutes then I check and if it isn’t done a let it sit for 2 more minutes I continue in this way until the pasta is done. Depending on the size and shape of the pasta will depend on how long. This cooks it perfect every time al dente you might say. ;)
That is totally the way I have cooked for the last 5 years. Sometimes, I will cook a gluten meal for the entire family, but more often than not, I make something similar (like your GF lasagna) for my one and only GF boy. Sometimes it can be a pain, and I start to feel like a short-order cook. But, it’s just too expensive to cook GF for everyone when I don’t have to do it.
We LOVE LOVE LOVE Tinkyada here too.
Don’t ever try the corn based pasta. Cook it a minute too long and you have mush on your hands!
:-)
I’ve never tried gluten free pasta, but if I ever need to, I’ll try this. I think that if our family had to go gluten free, pasta would be the one GF thing I’d HAVE to buy because we eat so many pasta dishes in our family.
I tried gluten free for a little while, but no specialty products and didn’t seem to improve my digestive system, so I quit (but I probably should try for longer sometime).
I love Tinkyada and buy it in bulk from Azure! I have a wheat allergy but can tolerate other gluten grains so I do a lot of baking with barley and spelt and rice flours. All of my muffins, cookies, etc I make with barley & rice flour with xantham gum added to reduce crumbling. It works great! Barley is very affordable if you can grind your own flour and it tastes great too. All my family eats this way.
My bread I make from spelt but this does have gluten in it. I seem to be able to tolerate it better though. Just some ideas for those who don’t have to be gluten-free but have a hard time with wheat!
I bought some Tinkyada rice pasta and it was not good. Must be the way
I prepared it. How did you cook it so it comes out eatable? Mine was
still somewhat hard like it was not cooked all the way like chewing on
gummy bear. My family will not eat it this way. Thank You
Cindy,
Tinkyada takes about 15-20 minutes to cook (most styles). I bring the water to a boil, add the noodles and tured it down to a simmer for 15-20 minutes. I have just followed the instructions on the package. I always taste test a couple noodles before draining them. They can get very soft,if wanted. The last 10# bulk package I bought from Azure had some “flaws” in the fusilli noodles. There were hard,gummy section because the noodle was formed properly with a hole in the middle. Maybe yours were flawed too? I have bought it often enough that I recognized it was not normal. Hope this helps.
Sorry, I meant to say the noodles were formed impropery in my flawed package.
I have never tried gluten free pasta. Sounds like you found a good alternative.
A little cream of tartar is another trick for the sauce. Go figure!
I got to thinking about this today… I wonder if it would work to grind brown rice and then make noodles with the flour? I bet someone somewhere has tried, i’ll have to google it.
Brown Rice pasta always turns out sticky for me and the pan is coated with rice goo. Am I the only one?
Try cooking it for a shorter time. Until its al dente(?) and is still a little firm. Mine gets that way if I let it go too long.
Agree with Jennifer. Don’t walk away, check it after a few minutes, then constantly until it is done as you like it.
Haven’t tried rice pasta but I have tried Mrs Leeper’s Organic Corn Vegetable Radiatore. It is made with corn flour, spinach powder, beet powder and dehydrated red bell pepper. Very colorful. If I remember right, it tasted okay. Guess I should try the rest in a cold lunch salad with tuna or something! I’m sure the price was higher on this also.
I’m so glad this worked for you guys. We’ve never tried other types of pasta, but I’m grateful I’ve gotten my husband onto 100% organic whole wheat. Now if I could find that in bow tie shape for a decent price he’d be in heaven!
Heather
We get Trader Joe’s brown rice pasta. Its great and the best part is its pretty cheap for g-free pasta.
I have tried brown rice pasta and my family didn’t even know the difference!
We too have discovered this too. You will be happy to know that Azure Standard carries this. :)
So excited to hear about these noodles. Our youngest daughter has severe food allergies and we must avoid egg and products manufactured in ways that could contaminate them with eggs. Needless to say, this severely limits our choice in noodles! I checked this company out, and yay!, they are safe for her to try. I pray they are as good as you say :) Blessings to you and your family.
Tinkyada is SO much better than all the other GF pastas out there! This week, I’ve been bad and had regular old semolina pasta twice…and you should see the rash on my face. Great. For us the extra $ is worth it. Just not going to have spaghetti night all the time!
Oh goodness, if you’d tried to do this gluten free thing 15 years ago, you’d realize how very amazing it is that there is rice pasta that is anything but mush! 15 yrs ago when we tried this I just gave up because we would have had to eat nothing but fruits veggies and meat, and a child just isn’t going to go for that. Now, there are so many products it just isn’t that hard to make a decent meal that is enjoyable.
Looks really good!
We are not a big fan of the rice noodles (or the price), but I buy them to have them on hand for a quick meal. I had never thought of buying them in bulk. Good idea! Our favorite noodles are homemade. I make them differently each time depending on what type of flour I have on hand. I usually use at least 2 different flours.
We love the quinoa pasta :) Also, to someone who posted; we were told to go at least 3 weeks 4 weeks if possible without whatever food you are checking a reaction for – then reintroduce. We can’t have eggs which makes it so much more difficult! Good luck! :)
I think I might pick some up to have on hand for our GF guests.
Did you mention to cook the GF first if u
I wouldn’t mind trying out new pastas… do you think you’ll find out how to make them on your own?
We have five celiacs at our house and use the Tinkyada brand often. It pays to shop around. I haven’t tried ordering online in bulk, but I live near quite a few Wal-marts as well as other stores. One of the closest Wal-marts has the Tinkyada for $2.82 a pound. That’s great compared to around $4 a pound I’ve seen it elsewhere, even at other Wal-marts!
Laura,
I didn’t read all the posts so someone may have shared this already, but we love this pasta (we actually prefer it over the wheat): http://www.amazon.com/Le-Veneziane-Italian-Gluten-Spaghetti/dp/B00281RM46/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1335900336&sr=8-16
Hi try goldbaums gluten free pasta they have really good priced pasta at some
Retailers are selling does for 2.49 a 16.0z bag
It helped me a lot and it’s really good in taste and Cokes well
I am brand new to the site and the gf world. So much info, thank you all for the insight and ideas. I guess I need to do more research on foods. So far so good. I was diagnosed pre-diabetic and to get my sugar more stable, my boss told me to follow a wheat gluten and sugar free diet.
I joined Beyond Diet and they just came out with the sugar version. I am beyond thrilled. Can see the difference already, my body doesn’t hurt, etc.
Wish me luck!
oh my goodness. I feel so weird-i have tried every gluten free pasta listed here and hate them all. I guess i just have to go without.
I just gotta say that the key to any gf pasta is following the cooking directions exactly as labeled. Tinkyada comes out great when you do that.I have gone to a hospital dietician now twice and they recommend Dreamfield over the gf pastas for me because I am not gluten intolerant. I noticed that gf products have more carbs than most.