Fiber is an important nutrient that many people don’t get enough of. Despite that, there are times when eating a low-fiber diet is recommended, especially for certain digestive conditions.
If you want low-fiber pasta (for any reason!), what are your choices?
Some of the lower-fiber pastas include:
- Egg noodles
- Regular (white) pasta
- Shirataki noodles
- Veggie pasta
We’ll review each of these low-fiber pastas and compare them against each other in this article.
Fiber in pasta
Pasta is made from plant-based foods like grains, legumes, and more. Plant foods contain fiber, a type of carbohydrate that your body doesn’t absorb and is important for things like your heart and digestive health.
The fiber content of pasta varies depending on what it’s made from. For instance, if it’s “regular” pasta, it’s made from enriched and refined wheat flour, which is lower in fiber than its whole wheat counterpart. (Some low-calorie pastas are packed with extra fiber – as high as over 20 grams per serving!)
So which types of pastas are the lowest in fiber? We’ll review four!
4 low-fiber pastas (fewer than 4 grams per serving)
Egg noodles – 2 grams per serving
Egg noodles are the lowest-fiber pasta on our list, and it’s not surprising as to why! In addition to non-whole wheat durum wheat semolina, egg noodles contain eggs, which don’t contain any fiber. Adding an ingredient that doesn’t contain fiber lowers the overall fiber content, making egg noodles lower in fiber than regular pasta.
Remember that egg noodles aren’t gluten-free, despite their name making it sound like they are only made from eggs! They contain wheat flour and therefore gluten.
Regular pasta (white pasta)
Good old “regular” pasta is also called “white pasta” because it’s not made from whole wheat flour. The majority of the pastas you know and love are made from enriched durum wheat, from lasagna noodles to macaroni and spaghetti.
Most of the different shapes of pasta are the same in terms of their ingredients – the difference is in their shape! So this category includes many different varieties of pasta, even stuffed pasta like ravioli (though the nutrition stats will differ for stuffed pasta vs. plain pasta because of the additional ingredients in the stuffing).
Low-carb pasta (shirataki noodles) – 3 grams per serving
This pasta isn’t really low in fiber – in fact, for the calories it’s pretty high in fiber! But it’s a lot lower in fiber per serving than some of the high-fiber pastas like whole wheat pasta and edamame pasta, so we had to include it!’
Shirataki noodles are popular among low-carb dieters, such as keto dieters. They are made from the konjac plant and contain very few carbs (2 grams of net carbs per serving) and are a grain-free pasta alternative.
“Veggie” Pasta (Ronzoni brand) – 2 grams per serving
Are you surprised to see veggie pasta on this list? It can be a bit misleading because it has “veggie” in the name, but many types of veggie pasta are regular pasta with vegetable powders added to give them color. For example, green pasta gets its color from spinach powder, which doesn’t significantly change the nutrition stats of the pasta.
This veggie pasta (Garden Delight) contains dried carrots, dried tomato, and dried spinach, but it doesn’t contain any more fiber per serving than regular pasta – it actually contains less fiber.
Nutrition comparison of low-fiber pastas
| Pasta | Calories | Total fat (saturated) | Total carbs (fiber) | Net carbs | Protein |
| Egg noodles – 2 oz. | 220 | 3 g (1 g) | 40 g (2 g) | 38 g | 8 g |
| Regular pasta – 2 oz. | 200 | 1 g (0 g) | 42 g (3 g) | 39 g | 8 g |
| Shirataki noodles – ⅔ cup | 20 | 0.5 g (0 g) | 5 g (3 g) | 2 g | 0 g |
| Veggie pasta (Ronzoni Garden Delight) – 2 oz. | 200 | 1 g (0 g) | 40 g (2 g) | 38 g | 8 g |
FAQs:
If you’re on a low-fiber diet, opt for white pasta (regular pasta) which is much lower in fiber than whole wheat varieties.
Pasta can be low or high in fiber depending on what it’s made from. Regular pasta made from enriched flour contains 3 grams of fiber per serving, while the same serving of whole wheat pasta contains 7 grams of fiber. Some non-wheat pastas are even higher in fiber – edamame pasta has 13 grams of fiber per serving!
Pasta sauce and other types of sauce are typically permitted on a low-fiber diet because they aren’t a significant source of fiber.
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