If you are on a keto journey, you already know that pasta and rice have too much carbs and that you need to avoid them. However, you might want to share a bolognese pasta dish or a risotto with your family or friends from time to time.

Below are some keto-friendly alternatives you might want to try – depending on your personal taste of course.

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Pasta and rice substitutes

1. Zoodles, also know as zucchini noodles. All you need to do is to buy a zucchini at the store and use a spiralizer to give them the shape of noodles. Some stores even sell ready-to-use zucchini noodles. With around 3grams of carbs per 100g, you can easily indulge yourself a nice plate of zucchini past.

2. Palmini heart spaghetti (4g carbs per 100g) is another veggie option you can use to cook with your favorite pasta sauce. As far as I know, you only find them online though but maybe you will be luckier than me and find it at the grocery store 

3. Cauliflower rice (2g of carbs per 100g) is just delicious if you want to do a risotto, enjoy an asian/indian dish or any other dish. Again, go to your favorite supermarket, buy a cauliflower and use a food processor until give it the « rice »shape. Do not hesitate to make it fried in some good fats to make it even more flavorful.


4. Konjac noodle/rice are an interesting ready-to-use alternative especially if you are on the rush. Just open the package and rince them well – they might have a fishy smell which is why you need to rince them. Also, konjac is plant-based alternative with no carbs. They do not have a particular taste, therefore cook them with a flavorful sauce to enjoy it ! You find them on asian store and different online stores.

5. Some plant-based protein pastas are also an alternative you can choose – and interesting if you struggle with your daily protein intake for example. However, most of them have too many carbs, then read carefully how much carbs per portion there are especially if you want to remain under 20g of carbs. They remain a good low-carb alternative and it might just be a good opportunity to introduce the low-carb lifestyle to people who do not know about it.

As you can see, many keto-friendly veggies can be a good alternative and there are probably other veggies that we might just use as pasta replacements – feel free to experiment on your own. For now, just cook your favorite sauce, choose the alternative you prefer and enjoy! It will be ketolicious.

Mélanie Simon