Spaghetti Substitute?

Beploveshomer
Beploveshomer Posts: 283 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I make Spaghetti for my family a lot. The meatsauce is already low cal because it is lean venison, but I can't bring myself to eat the starchy, high cal noodles.
Has anyone found a low-cal or low-carb sub noodle or something not even noodley?

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited November 2016
    What's wrong with carbs? Can you not bring yourself to eat pasta at all? Half the amount will be half the calories.

    And be careful with going too low fat. If you go low carb, you should eat high fat.
  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 1,049 Member
    Have you tried spaghetti squash? I think it's quite good.
  • maeggggan
    maeggggan Posts: 71 Member
    spiralize zuchinni or zoodles :)
  • littlechiaseed
    littlechiaseed Posts: 489 Member
    edited November 2016
    I use edaname spaghetti since it's high in protein and fiber. It has about the same calories but half the carbs than regular spaghetti and it's a closure texture to regular spaghetti than squash noodles.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Nothing wrong with pasta/or carbs but yeah, you can spiralise courgetti/zucchini as an alternative.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash is what I use instead - or mix a little spaghetti with one of those if you really want the noodles.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited November 2016
    I think pasta is fine and eat it often, but if I want to save some calories (or just have lots of winter squash, like lately) I put pasta sauce on winter squash. Spaghetti squash is particularly good for this as it's in noodle form just naturally -- with the others I just put it on roasted pieces. Some use zoodles (noodles made from zucchini), but I find this a pain and usually put zucchini in my sauces anyway. Lately I also sometimes put a sauce of this sort on potatoes or other root veg, as I have lots of them this time of the year too, but potatoes are similar in calories/carbs to pasta.*

    Mostly I just make sure I don't go overboard on my pasta amount. One poster here (Need2Exercise) has recommended a high fiber pasta that I believe has fewer calories, and I've considered trying that too -- FiberGourmet is the name, I think.

    *Not that there's anything wrong with carbs.
  • lenac87
    lenac87 Posts: 383 Member
    I agree with those above who use spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles, yum!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited November 2016
    Spaghetti squash and zucchini noodles are fine as their own thing, but I don't find them to be a satisfactory substitute for actual pasta...when I want pasta I just eat pasta...there's nothing wrong with pasta...I just don't throw piles of it onto my plate.
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
    Agree with cwolfman13.
    I don't think there's anything that really replaces pasta. Vegetables in a long, thing strand still taste like vegetables.

    But you can put the pasta sauce on other lower-carb foods and still have them be tasty - omelettes, vegetables (spiralized or riced or sliced).

    Parmesan roasted broccoli and chicken topped with some meat sauce is quite good and very low carb.

    Spoon some into portabella mushroom caps, top with cheese, and bake.

    You could also bulk up a tiny bit of regular pasta with a bunch of vegetables for volume.

    Still has carbs from the beans, but mix with white beans or chickpeas and spinach. Crack a few eggs in and bake. (Play on shakshuka or Portuguese baked eggs)

  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    I find it interesting that people feel noodles are high cal. I use them specifically because they are a low cal way to satisfy me. That's under 400 calories for 100g dry pasta, which is a HUGE portion that would leave almost anyone bursting at the seams if accompanied by the right sauce. The real calories are mostly in the sauce, granted our usual sauces are pretty calorie dense so the light one I make for my low calorie meals saves a huge amount of calories. How weirdly different people are!

    Well, you could use your sauce over something other than spaghetti, like cauliflower steak, shredded cabbage, zucchini..etc or even a bit of rice to make an entirely new dish.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I normally just eat the pasta. However, sometimes I make spaghetti squash as a replacement so that I can fit in garlic bread. The squash is pretty good.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    Courgetti!
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    You can even buy little machines for making it :smiley:
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    I normally just eat the pasta. However, sometimes I make spaghetti squash as a replacement so that I can fit in garlic bread. The squash is pretty good.

    This^

    Just figure out what a REAL portion looks like and fit pasta in when you can. There will be trade-offs. But I need to figure out what trade-offs I can accept (very) long term.
  • ds41980
    ds41980 Posts: 133 Member
    I use frozen mixed vegetables, the little pieces of carrot, peas, green beans and corn
  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,073 Member
    IF i want pasta, which I don't often, then I have pasta. Otherwise I dont bother. I tried the spaghetti squash, too much work. I tried zucchini spiralized, too much work. At the end of the day I did not think I was eating pasta. So I just do not bother.
  • MyWeigh58
    MyWeigh58 Posts: 22 Member
    I love pasta... I crave pasta... and the more I eat the more I want.
    So, I have a portion of pasta and really bulk it up with veggies.
    I don't know why but I also find it more satisfying if I eat penne or rotini instead of spaghetti noodles.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    MyWeigh58 wrote: »
    I love pasta... I crave pasta... and the more I eat the more I want.
    So, I have a portion of pasta and really bulk it up with veggies.
    I don't know why but I also find it more satisfying if I eat penne or rotini instead of spaghetti noodles.

    I feel like spaghetti doesn't require as much chewing as penne/rotini. Maybe that's it? I prefer spaghetti but do feel like the shorter pastas are more filling in smaller quantities.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    MyWeigh58 wrote: »
    I love pasta... I crave pasta... and the more I eat the more I want.
    So, I have a portion of pasta and really bulk it up with veggies.
    I don't know why but I also find it more satisfying if I eat penne or rotini instead of spaghetti noodles.

    I feel like spaghetti doesn't require as much chewing as penne/rotini. Maybe that's it? I prefer spaghetti but do feel like the shorter pastas are more filling in smaller quantities.

    I guess it's because it's easy to put a lot of spaghetti on your fork and harder to do that with penne or rottini.

    OP, one of the tastiest dishes I've made was just cubed zucchini sauteed with a bit of oil with some pasta sauce and meatballs. But again - not pasta. Frankly at this point I just use whole wheat pasta now (Ronzoni has 20 less calories per serving) and I find it tastier and more filling than regular pasta - so it's worth the calories for me.

    If I just really want a good meat sauce or something though, then yeah, spaghetti squash is a great substitute.
  • mr910354
    mr910354 Posts: 11 Member
    Spaghetti squash was a game changer for me.
  • JinjoJoey
    JinjoJoey Posts: 106 Member
    I love Shirataki noodles... Super-low calories and tasty. The only downside is they're expensive, compared to regular noodles.
  • susanalbright26
    susanalbright26 Posts: 2 Member
    Look at something called Pasta Zero. It takes on the flavor of whatever sauce you use. Love them for stir fry.
  • Smaya29
    Smaya29 Posts: 106 Member
    Instead of pasta sauce, try using a good low sodium salsa. I'm not really big on pasta but I eat some when I really want it, I just control the portion. And I make sure I drink one big cup of green or white tea 15-20 minutes before eating it (I always eat less somehow if I drink that before my meals).
  • taniabeth78
    taniabeth78 Posts: 20 Member
    We either use whole wheat or bean pasta. Both are high in fiber and protein so it's not like you are eating straight up carbs
  • JinjoJoey
    JinjoJoey Posts: 106 Member
    susanalbright26 wrote: »
    Look at something called Pasta Zero. It takes on the flavor of whatever sauce you use. Love them for stir fry.

    These are why I've been using... Best discovery I've made in a while. Lol

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