Pasta is synonymous with comfort, which can be a dirty word when it comes to nutrition. And if you’re living with type 2 diabetes, it’s possible you’ve heard that pasta is a food you need to avoid.
But if you love pasta and are willing to make a handful of tweaks to the typical bowl, saying goodbye to this feel-good fare may not be necessary.
You simply need to watch your portion sizes and prepare this dish mindfully, such as by limiting certain toppings and mix-ins (like cheese, meat, and sauce). Taking smart steps like these when you eat pasta can help keep your blood sugar, weight, and overall health and nutrition on track.
Below, diabetes educators and registered dietitians share their go-to strategies for making pasta as diabetes-friendly as possible.
1. Choose Whole-Grain (or Bean) Pasta
One easy way to make your pasta dish more nutritious is to swap out traditional noodles for a higher-fiber variety. “Whole-grain pasta can be a great option because it offers more fiber, which can help blunt blood sugar spikes,” Smithson says.
Many typical white pasta noodles are fashioned with semolina flour, which is made by grinding a type of wheat known as durum. While semolina can be a nutritious flour — especially when it’s enriched with vitamins and minerals — whole-grain pasta has a slight edge. “Nothing is removed in processing, so it has the highest nutrient value, including fiber,” says Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, RDN, CDCES, founder of 360Girls&Women, a holistic health and wellness company in the Boston area. One cup of uncooked whole-wheat spaghetti has about three times as much fiber as an equivalent amount of conventional pasta.
It’s also getting easier to find pasta made from other wholesome starches, such as soybeans, lentils, and other legumes. Chickpea pasta, for example, has nearly 50 percent more protein and fiber than whole grain.
8 Whole Grains That Can Help Prevent or Manage Type 2 Diabetes
Replacing refined, simple sugars with more complex sources is an important step in managing type 2 diabetes. Complex carbohydrates leads to better blood sugar management compared with refined grains, according to the American Heart Association.
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2. Make Veggies the Star of Your Bowl
To make your pasta bowl more diabetes-friendly, just add color — from veggies, that is.
“Nonstarchy vegetables are very high in fiber and have few carbohydrates, which means less effect on blood sugar,” says Anderson-Haynes. She recommends filling roughly half of your plate or bowl with options like kale, collard greens, arugula, broccoli, asparagus, cucumber, spinach, carrots, or mushrooms.
3. Skip Creamy Sauce in Favor of an Oil- or Tomato-Based Sauce
Like other “white” foods to swap out of your diet (think: white bread, white rice, and yes, white pasta), ditch white sauce when preparing a more diabetes-friendly meal.
As Anderson-Haynes notes, traditional cream-based sauces tend to have more saturated fat and sodium than other options. “People with diabetes have a higher risk of heart disease, so it’s imperative to choose heart-healthy foods low in sodium and fat,” she says. Foods high in saturated fat can raise cholesterol levels in the blood, which may increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Meanwhile, getting excess sodium in your diet can increase the risk of high blood pressure — one of the major risk factors for heart disease.
Smithson suggests choosing sauces with an olive oil and fresh garlic base, both of which offer potential heart-health benefits.
Olive oil, for example, contains a type of healthy fat known as monounsaturated fat. This type of fat may help lower cholesterol, a waxy substance that’s beneficial in small amounts, when traded in for less healthy fat sources like butter.
These effects are supported by research. For example, a study of nearly 100,000 healthy men and women found that higher olive oil intake was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease. Researchers suggested that replacing even small amounts of butter, mayonnaise, margarine, and dairy fat with olive oil could significantly improve heart health. (While drawn from a large pool of participants, the study relied on self-reported questionnaires, which may leave room for error.) Studies suggest that garlic has a similarly encouraging metabolic effect.
Remember: Olive oil provides healthy fats, but it’s still high in calories (124 calories per tablespoon), so practice portion control. Use a quarter cup of olive oil and 4 to 5 garlic cloves per pound of cooked pasta, Smithson suggests. Portion the sauce equally among each serving of pasta (generally one-third of a cup of cooked noodles is one serving, according to Smithson).
Red pasta sauces like marinara or classic tomato are other great options, “as they are lower in overall fat and calories” than cream-based sauces, says Jana Mowrer, RDN, CDCES, a nutritionist in private practice based in Fresno, California. Just stick with a serving size that’s one-half to three-quarters of a cup, she adds.
When buying a packaged red sauce, choose a jar that contains no added sugar and, ideally, no more than 15 grams (g) of carbs and 140 milligrams (mg) of sodium per half-cup serving, Mowrer says.
4. Experiment With Veggie Noodles
If you can’t handle wheat, or you’d like to slash the carbs in your pasta dish even more, try crafting noodles out of vegetables. If you don’t have a spiralizer or mandoline — two kitchen tools used to spiralize produce by hand — you can use a vegetable peeler. Simply place the peeled veggie strips in boiling water for 20 seconds, and then transfer the “noodles” into a bowl of ice, Smithson says. “For ease of preparation, it’s fine to purchase spiralized veggie noodles,” she adds.
As long as they’re not made from squash or sweet potatoes, which are starchy, spirals made from vegetables will be the lowest-carbohydrate option, Smithson says. Plus, veggie noodles are typically lower in calories and offer plenty of vitamins and minerals.
One cup of cooked zucchini spirals, for example, contains only 27 calories and 5 g of carbs, whereas 1 cup of cooked whole-grain spaghetti noodles contains 165 calories and 35 g of carbs.
That same portion of zucchini also offers 23.2 mg of vitamin C and 476 mg of potassium, making it an excellent source of both nutrients.
Bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, and beets make for other good low-carb veggie noodle options.
5. Practice Portion Control
Being mindful about portion sizes is key for enjoying pasta when you’re managing type 2 diabetes. “The goal is to keep blood sugar levels from spiking too high,” Mowrer says.
Food portions — especially at restaurants — are much larger today than they were 20 years ago. Multiple studies have found that people eat more food when they’re given bigger servings and that they help themselves to more food when they have larger bowls and serving spoons. With those expanding portion sizes comes more carbs and calories.
On the other hand, providing smaller portion sizes leads to less calorie intake and results in a lower body weight over time.
“It’s important when consuming pasta to include other food groups and practice portion control, aiming for about one-quarter carbs, one-half veggies, and one-quarter lean protein on your plate per meal,” Mowrer says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends using a 9-inch dish (about the length of a business envelope) to take the guesswork out of portion control. Some companies sell plates and bowls that indicate the ideal amounts of certain foods to eat for a given meal.
The exact number of carbs to aim for depends on factors such as age, gender, activity level, and any medications you’re taking, says Mowrer. Generally, she recommends that people with diabetes aim for 30 to 60 g of carbs per meal. The American Diabetes Association recommends working with a registered dietitian nutritionist or certified diabetes care and education specialist to figure out your carb goal.
6. Feature a Lean Protein
By combining a protein source with a carb-heavy dish like pasta, you can avoid a rapid blood sugar spike (and then a crash), Smithson says. That’s because protein is slower to digest than carbohydrates.
Plus, adding protein will make your pasta more satisfying, which may prevent you from overloading your plate with carbs, Anderson-Haynes says.
Opt for a lean protein source like skinless grilled chicken, ground turkey, or tofu. These foods tend to be lower in saturated fat and sodium than red meat or processed meats like bacon.
7. Go Easy on the Cheese
Pasta and cheese are a dynamic duo. And while people with diabetes don’t need to say goodbye to this yummy ingredient, moderation and choosing the right type are two keys to keeping your bowl healthy.
Executing portion control here may be an adjustment. Believe it or not, a single serving of cheese is only 1 oz, or roughly the length of your thumb from tip to base. Try your best to opt for this thumb-sized serving, Mowrer advises.
As far as diabetes-friendly cheeses go, choose white ones like mozzarella or Parmesan, which are lower in fat and calories than other options. Mowrer suggests grating them to make the serving sizes go further. One ounce of low-fat, part-skim mozzarella, for example, has 72 calories and 4.5 g of fat (2.9 g saturated fat).
Limit or avoid fattier cheeses such as ricotta. One-half cup of full-fat ricotta has roughly 186 calories and 12.6 g of fat, including 8 g of saturated fat.
Reduced-fat and nonfat cheeses can also be good options. A part-skim version of ricotta, for example, offers 171 calories and 9.8 g of fat (6 g of saturated fat) per one-half cup.
The Takeaway
Most noodles are chock full of simple carbohydrates, which can send your blood sugar levels skyrocketing. But with some smart swaps and careful portion control, there’s no reason people with type 2 diabetes shouldn’t be able to enjoy some of their favorite pasta dishes from time to time.
Reyna Franco, RDN, is a New York City–based dietitian-nutritionist, certified specialist in sports dietetics, and certified personal trainer. She is a diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and has a master's degree in nutrition and exercise physiology from Columbia University.
In her private practice, she provides medical nutrition therapy for weight management, sports nutrition, diabetes, cardiac disease, renal disease, gastrointestinal disorders, cancer, food allergies, eating disorders, and childhood nutrition. To serve her diverse patients, she demonstrates cultural sensitivity and knowledge of customary food practices. She applies the tenets of lifestyle medicine to reduce the risk of chronic disease and improve health outcomes for her patients.
Franco is also a corporate wellness consultant who conducts wellness counseling and seminars for organizations of every size. She taught sports nutrition to medical students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, taught life cycle nutrition and nutrition counseling to undergraduate students at LaGuardia Community College, and precepts nutrition students and interns. She created the sports nutrition rotation for the New York Distance Dietetic Internship program.
She is the chair of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine's Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist Member Interest Group. She is also the treasurer and secretary of the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, having previously served in many other leadership roles for the organization, including as past president, awards committee chair, and grant committee chair, among others. She is active in the local Greater New York Dietetic Association and Long Island Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, too.
Lauren Bedosky is an experienced health and fitness writer. She regularly contributes to top websites and publications like Men's Health, Women's Health, MyFitnessPal, SilverSneakers, Runner's World, Experience Life, Prevention, AARP, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, UnitedHealthcare, Livestrong, Fitness, Shape, Family Circle, Healthline, Self, Redbook, and Women's Running.
When she's not writing about health and fitness — her favorite topics being anything related to running and strength training — she's reading up on the latest and greatest news in the field and working on her own health goals.
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
Zingale S et al. Factors Affecting the Nutritional, Health, and Technological Quality of Durum Wheat for Pasta-Making: A Systematic Literature Review. Plants. January 24, 2023.
Guasch M et al. Abstract P509: Olive Oil Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation. March 3, 2020.
Sanie-Jahromi F et al. A Review on the Effect of Garlic on Diabetes, BDNF, and VEGF as a Potential Treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy. Chinese Medicine. February 17, 2023.
Hollands GJ et al. Portion, Package or Tableware Size for Changing Selection and Consumption of Food, Alcohol and Tobacco. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. September 14, 2015.
Robinson E et al. Downsizing Food: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Examining the Effect of Reducing Served Food Portion Sizes on Daily Energy Intake and Body Weight. British Journal of Nutrition. September 26, 2021.
