Pasta isn’t exactly a low-calorie food (especially if you eat more than a serving, which is SUPER easy to do!). If you want a lower-calorie pasta option, what are your best choices?
Some of the lowest-calorie pastas include:
- Shirataki noodles
- Pastabilities Lower-Calorie Pasta
- Fiber Gourmet “Light” Pasta
- Spiralized veggies
- Hearts of Palm pasta
Some of these aren’t technically pasta, but they are good low-cal options – but we’ll explain more next!
Lowest-calorie pastas
Shirataki noodles – 5 calories per serving
Shirataki noodles are made from the konjac plant, a type of root vegetable. Shirataki noodles have a very different texture than regular pasta, so don’t expect this low-calorie pasta to closely resemble the pasta you’re used to!
One serving of Shirataki noodles (100 grams) only contains five calories and two grams of net carbs, making shirataki noodles keto-friendly as well. It’s also Paleo-friendly and suitable for gluten-free diets.
Pastabilities Lower Calorie Pasta – 100 calories per serving
This reduced-calorie pasta is made with more ingredients than durum wheat semolina. The ingredients are as follows:
- Modified wheat starch
- Wheat flour
- Vital wheat gluten
- Enriched durum wheat flour
- Xanthan gum
Part of the reason this pasta is so low in calories is because it is very high in fiber, a type of carbohydrate that isn’t absorbed by your body. One serving of this pasta provides 27 grams of fiber, which is nearly your entire day’s worth.
Keep in mind that eating this much fiber in one serving could cause stomach upset in some people, especially if you’re not used to eating a high-fiber diet. Watch out for symptoms like bloating, gas, and other stomach upset, and gradually introduce super high-fiber foods into your diet to help prevent these unpleasant symptoms.
Fiber Gourmet “Light” Pasta – 110 calories per serving
Like the Pastabilities pasta, this fiber is enriched with more fiber than your regular (and even whole wheat) pasta. One serving contains 24 grams of fiber, and the ingredients are:
- Enriched durum semolina
- Modified wheat starch
- Wheat gluten
Spiralized veggies (not technically pasta)
Spiralized veggies aren’t technically pasta, but they’re popular enough as a low-calorie pasta alternative that we had to include them!
This type of “pasta” is made by using a spiralizer on veggies like zucchini, carrots, and others. The shape resembles a type of pasta, but they’ll taste like whatever vegetable you use (along with any herbs, spices, etc).
For one cup of spiralized zucchini “pasta” you’d get around 21 calories compared to the nearly 200 calories in a serving of regular pasta.
Hearts of Palm “pasta” – 20 calories per serving
Like spiralized veggies, hearts of palm pasta isn’t technically pasta, but we wanted to include it because it fits the bill for a grain-free, Paleo- and keto-friendly pasta alternative. It’s made from hearts of palm (a vegetable that comes from the core of certain types of palm trees) and is shaped into a spaghetti noodle shape.
Like spiralized veggies, don’t expect this to resemble regular pasta in taste or texture!
Why aren’t all veggie pastas low-calorie?
You’ve probably seen veggie pasta on the shelf in the pasta aisle – so why aren’t they on the low-calorie list?
Many types of veggie pasta are simply regular pasta with the addition of vegetable powders, making them very similar to regular pasta nutrition-wise.
Other veggie-based pasta like chickpea pasta, lentil pasta, and edamame pasta aren’t low in calories either – they contain 180-200 calories per serving, which is similar to regular pasta.
Nutrition comparison of low-calorie pastas
| Pasta (56 g = 2 oz) | Calories | Total fat (saturated) | Total carbs (fiber) | Net carbs | Protein |
| Shirataki noodles (100 grams) | 5 | 0 g | 4 g (2 g) | 2 g | 0 g |
| Pastabilities Lower-Calorie Pasta (2 oz) | 100 | 1 g (0 g) | 39 g (27 g) | 12 g | 8 g |
| Fiber Gourmet “Light” pasta (56 g.) | 110 | 1 g (0 g) | 41 g (24 g) | 17 g | 7 g |
| Spiralized zucchini (1 cup) | 21 | 0.4 g (0 g) | 3.9 g (1.2 g) | 2.7 g | 1.5 g |
| Hearts of Palm pasta – ½ cup | 20 | 0 g | 5 g (3 g) | 2 g | 1 g |
| Regular pasta (for comparison) | 200 | 1 g (0 g) | 42 g (3 g) | 39 g | 7 g |
FAQs:
One serving of pasta (56 grams/2 ounces dry – makes around 1.5 cups cooked) is around 200 calories. The exact amount will depend on the type of pasta, but it will be close to 200 when it’s “regular” enriched pasta.
Lower-calorie pasta options like shirataki noodles and fiber-enriched pastas are lower in calories than regular pasta. They have around half the calories of regular pasta per serving – some as low as five calories per serving!
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