Rice Pasta

For someone who loves pasta and can't safely eat it any more, rice pasta is a great blessing.  Welcome back, comfort food!  Macaroni with Cheese is better than ever.

Rice Penne with Butter

There are various brands and blends. As we are focusing on rice now, we have bought "DeBoles" brand which is made entirely from rice.  In the small print we see that DeBoles is a division of the Hain Celestial Group.  We have the product in two forms, spaghetti and penne.  (Other shapes are available but not at Walmart.)  Note that each box contains only 8 ounces. The typical package of durum wheat spaghetti contains twice that.

Rice pasta is an acquired taste, but only because it doesn't taste, as one is expecting, like wheat.  I now like it as well as I do wheat pasta, because it is tender and has a delicate flavor.

Start with:

Large potful of boiling salted water

Pour in the pasta, stir, and allow the water to return to a full boil.  Then turn it down so that it continues to boil but not violently.  Do not cover the pot.

Rice pasta requires close watching as you boil it, because it is a bit too easy to go from underdone to overdone!  Test often for doneness.  You'll notice that rice pasta emits a lot of starch into the water. As soon as the pasta is done, but still firm, drain off the hot water and then add cold water to the pot in which to rinse some of the starch off of the pasta.  (If you have drained by pouring it all through a colander, return the pasta to the pot to rinse.)  Cold water will also stop the cooking so it doesn't become overdone.  Swish it around a bit and drain again.

Your pasta is now ready to serve or to use in a recipe.  I usually add a small amount of oil to the cooked pasta if it isn't used right away to stop it from sticking together.

If your intention is to make oven-baked macaroni and cheese, it's better to take the pasta off of the heat when it is still slightly underdone as it will of course cook more in the oven.

To see a full set of photographs showing how this dish was made, go to this set on flickr.   (It will open in a new tab or window; to return to this page, just close it.) The small pictures are thumbnails; click on each one to see it full-size, and to read the comments under it.  If you prefer to use the slideshow feature, you won't see the captions unless you click on "show info" (top right).