Is pasta vegan?

by Matthew
(Las Vegas)

Question:
What kind of pasta noodles are vegan? Are vegan noodles only the ones that aren't made with egg in the dough?

Answer:

That's a great question. Most pasta is vegan, but there are a few ingredients you do need to look out for with pastas.

In restaurants, most waiters will be aware of common food allergies, and luckily for vegans, eggs are common, so waiters will be ready to answer that question. If not, you can always ask them nicely to ask the chef, who should know the ingredients. Typically, if a restaurant is doing homemade pasta, they will add eggs, but if they use boxed and dried pasta, if will be vegan.

Of course, eggs are not necessary for pasta recipes as I've made my own homemade pasta without an iota of an animal product.

When you're buying pasta in stores, I recommend you get used to checking out the ingredients list. As a general rule, egg noodles are almost never going to be vegan, unless you can find one that is a "faux egg noodle" pasta. Most white and wheat pasta will be vegan, however.

Watch out for whey and egg whites as hidden non-vegan ingredients in pasta. Another common non-vegan ingredient in pasta is butter. Some manufacturers add it to give the pasta softness, but many use canola or olive oil instead.

I personally love vegan pasta that is made from whole grains. Buckwheat noodles, or soba noodles, are easy to find in grocery stores and Asian markets, as well as in bulk online for better prices. In most grocery stores you can find more than just whole wheat, such as whole grain vegan pasta made from quinoa, millet, rice, corn, and rye grains.

Ezekial makes a killer sprouted whole grains pasta that is extremely hearty and healthy. It's excellent with a tomato sauce, cashew cream, or a nice summery pesto. I have found that it takes a few tastes of really hearty pastas to get used to the flavor, but after that it's hard to even eat the white pastas again because in comparison they have so little flavor.

I hope that helps!

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