Are Shirataki Noodles Keto Friendly?

If you love Italian cuisine, pasta can be one of the hardest foods to give up on a low carb diet. Regular pasta noodles are made from wheat flour, so they're incredibly heavy on the carbs. A single serving of traditional pasta can have upwards of 40 g of net carbs. And that's before you even add in the sauce!

Fortunately, shirataki noodles are a keto-friendly alternative to traditional pasta noodles. These noodles are popular in Asia, but they're growing in popularity in the United States with the rise of low carb diets like keto.

Shirataki noodles go by a few different names: miracle noodles, konjak noodles, konnyaku noodles, and glucomannan noodles. They're gluten-free and have nearly zero net carbs or calories.

Glucomannan

shirataki noodles are made from glucomannan, a fiber that comes from the konjac plant. Humans can't digest this fiber, which is why shirataki noodles have such a low carb and calorie count.

Glucomannan is a fascinating substance, as it can absorb 50 times its weight in water. This property makes it helpful for weight loss, as the expansion of glucomannan in your stomach helps you feel full longer. A 2005 study found that overweight people who consumed glucomannan on a regular basis lost an average of 9 lbs over a 5-week period with no other lifestyle changes.

Cooking with shirataki noodles

Shirataki noodles have a mild flavor, so if you're using them as a replacement for wheat pasta, you'll need bold sauces or flavorings to bring a little personality to your dish.

One benefit of shirataki noodles are how friendly they are to leftovers. While rice noodles can develop a clumpy consistency if you don't eat them fresh, shirataki noodles preserve well. If you refrigerate and later reheat them, they pretty much maintain the same texture and taste as if they were freshly cooked.