The pasta aisle used to be simple. Now one shelf holds chickpea penne, lupini ziti, edamame spaghetti, wheat pasta with added lentils, and noodles that come in a bag of water. The front of each box leads with one number. The ingredient list tells you how the brand got there.
This guide goes through those ingredients one at a time: what each does to calories, carbs, fiber, protein, texture and cooking. A side-by-side table built only from published labels follows.
A note on terms. "Net carbs" is not a line on the Nutrition Facts panel. In this article it means total carbohydrate minus dietary fiber, which is how most brands calculate it.
The starting point: semolina and durum wheat
Regular dry pasta is made from semolina, a coarse flour milled from durum wheat, plus water. Durum wheat is mostly starch, with some protein. That protein forms gluten, which gives pasta its chew and lets it hold a shape in boiling water.
Per 2 ounces dry, the USDA reference for enriched dry pasta works out to about 211 calories, 43g total carbohydrate, 2g fiber and 7g protein. That is about 41g net carbs. Every "better for you" pasta is some attempt to change those numbers by replacing part or all of the semolina.
Legume flours: chickpea, lentil and pea
Chickpeas, lentils and peas are legumes. Ground into flour, they bring more protein and more fiber than wheat. They still contain a lot of starch, so they lower net carbs somewhat, not dramatically.
- Calories: about the same as regular pasta.
- Carbs and fiber: fewer net carbs than semolina, more fiber.
- Protein: higher than semolina.
- Texture and cooking: a softer bite and an earthy flavor. Legume pastas can foam in the pot and turn soft if cooked past the box time, so taste early.
Some pastas use legumes as the whole base. Banza Chickpea Penne lists chickpeas, pea starch, tapioca and xanthan gum. Others blend them into wheat. Barilla Protein+ Penne lists semolina first, then durum wheat flour, lentil flour, pea protein and chickpea flour. Because it is still mostly wheat, it cooks and eats a lot like regular pasta.
Starches and gums: pea starch, tapioca and xanthan gum
Without gluten, a dough has trouble holding together. Gluten-free pastas solve this with starches and gums. Pea starch and tapioca starch act as glue and give a smoother bite. Xanthan gum is a thickener used in small amounts to bind the dough.
Starch is carbohydrate, so these ingredients add to net carbs. That is part of why a chickpea pasta still carries a fair amount of net carbs.
Concentrated proteins: pea protein and fava bean protein
A protein isolate or concentrate is the protein of a plant with most of the starch removed. Adding one is a direct way to raise the protein number on the label. Barilla Protein+ adds pea protein. Kaizen adds fava bean protein to its lupini flour.
Lupini flour
Lupini beans are a legume with an unusual profile: a lot of protein and fiber and relatively little starch. Kaizen's ziti is made from lupini flour, fava bean protein, organic tapioca starch and xanthan gum. Per 2 ounces, its label shows 130 calories, 21g carbohydrate, 15g fiber and 20g protein, which is 6g net carbs.
Two things to know. Lupini can taste slightly bitter or beany, and Kaizen's label notes that lupini belongs to the same plant family as peanuts. If you have a peanut allergy, read that line before you buy. Kaizen's box also says it cooks in a few minutes and that some foaming is normal.
Edamame and soy
Edamame pasta is made from flour of green soybeans. Soy is high in protein, so these pastas carry some of the highest protein numbers on the shelf. Explore Cuisine Organic Edamame Spaghetti has one ingredient, organic edamame bean flour. Its label shows 190 calories, 20g carbohydrate, 11g fiber and 25g protein per 2 ounces, or 9g net carbs.
Expect a green color, a firm bite and a mild bean flavor. It contains soy, which matters if you avoid it.
Wheat protein isolate and wheat fiber
This is the other way to change pasta: keep the wheat, but use different parts of it. Wheat protein isolate is wheat protein with most of the starch removed. It supplies the stretch and chew that let a dough extrude into shapes and hold together in boiling water.
Wheat fiber is the fibrous part of the plant. It adds bulk and fiber without adding net carbs. Together, these two let a pasta stay wheat-based while carrying far less starch than semolina. They also mean the pasta contains wheat and is not gluten-free.
Oat fiber
Oat fiber is insoluble fiber milled from the outer hull of the oat. It is not oat flour or oatmeal. It has almost no digestible carbohydrate and almost no calories, so it can replace a large share of the starch in a recipe.
Fiber does change texture. A high-fiber pasta absorbs water differently and has a firmer, slightly heartier bite than semolina pasta. It also means a lot of fiber in one bowl. If you are not used to that, start with a smaller portion.
Egg whites
Egg whites add protein and help the pasta set firmly when cooked. Egg is an allergen, so check the label if you avoid it.
Konjac and shirataki noodles
Shirataki noodles are made from konjac, a root whose flour is almost all a soluble fiber called glucomannan. They are sold wet in a bag of liquid and have very few calories and carbs. The tradeoff is texture. They are springy and slippery rather than tender, they do not taste like wheat, and most brands suggest rinsing them before use.
Hearts of palm and vegetable noodles
Hearts of palm noodles are cut from the inner core of certain palm trees and packed in liquid. Zucchini noodles and spaghetti squash are vegetables shaped like pasta. All of them are low in calories and carbs, and all of them taste like the vegetable they are. They do not cook or eat like pasta.
Where Impastable fits
Impastable is our low-calorie, low-net-carb pasta. Its label lists, by weight: oat fiber, wheat fiber, wheat protein isolate, egg whites and durum flour. It is a wheat pasta with most of the semolina replaced by fiber and wheat protein. It contains wheat and egg, and it is not gluten-free.
Per 2 ounces (57g) dry, the label shows 55 calories, 44g total carbohydrate, 36g fiber, 8g net carbs, 4g protein and 222mg sodium. The Nutrition Facts come from an independent lab test.
Impastable combines a wheat-based recipe with 55 calories and 8g net carbs per serving. The fibers and wheat protein replace most of the semolina and also cost more than semolina, which helps explain the price of a pack.
Side by side, per 2 ounces dry
Figures are from each brand's published Nutrition Facts as of October 23, 2026, and from USDA FoodData Central for regular pasta. Net carbs are total carbohydrate minus fiber. Impastable's serving is 57g; the others are 56g.
| Pasta | Main ingredients | Calories | Total carbs | Fiber | Net carbs | Protein | Gluten-free |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impastable | Oat fiber, wheat fiber, wheat protein isolate, egg whites, durum flour | 55 | 44g | 36g | 8g | 4g | No |
| Regular dry pasta (USDA) | Semolina (durum wheat) | 211 | 43g | 2g | 41g | 7g | No |
| Barilla Protein+ Penne | Semolina, durum wheat flour, lentil flour, pea protein, chickpea flour | 190 | 38g | 5g | 33g | 10g | No |
| Banza Chickpea Penne | Chickpeas, pea starch, tapioca, xanthan gum | 190 | 31g | 11g | 20g | 11g | Yes |
| Kaizen Ziti (lupini) | Lupini flour, fava bean protein, organic tapioca starch, xanthan gum | 130 | 21g | 15g | 6g | 20g | Yes |
| Explore Cuisine Organic Edamame Spaghetti | Organic edamame bean flour | 190 | 20g | 11g | 9g | 25g | Yes |
Labels change when recipes change. Check the box in your hand before you rely on any single number.
What the table shows
- Calories: Impastable is lowest at 55. Kaizen is next at 130. The legume and protein-enriched wheat pastas sit near 190, close to regular pasta.
- Net carbs: Kaizen is lowest at 6g, then Impastable at 8g and edamame at 9g. Chickpea and protein-enriched wheat pastas are much higher.
- Protein: Impastable provides 4g per serving. The table lists each pasta's protein alongside calories, net carbs and fiber.
- Gluten: the chickpea, lupini and edamame pastas are gluten-free. Impastable, regular pasta and Barilla Protein+ contain wheat.
The ingredient list explains the differences behind the label numbers. Our next post looks at how to use those numbers when planning a pasta meal.
