Product Review: DeBoles Kids Only! Gluten Free Tubettini Pasta

DeBoles has a pretty cool concept with this Kids Only! Gluten Free Tubettini Pasta. They have taken corn pasta, cut it into little shapes and fortified it with B vitamins, iron and zinc. The idea is that kids will want to eat this pasta because of the shape and will get sneaky nutrition while they do. I am a bit of a kid at heart so I get excited about fun shapes too.

When I first saw the Tubettini I was a little disappointed. It looks like they took elbow noodles and cut them into thirds. I really didn’t expect this pasta to be any different than elbow noodles when it came to taste or texture. I couldn’t help but wonder if the exclamation point and the smiling kid on the box were just hype.

Hype, maybe, but this was some really good pasta! The small pieces of pasta cooked fast and even. I made my own sauce to go with it (a tasty combo of pureed sun dried tomato, olive oil, garlic, onion and tepanade) and the holes in the pasta grabbed every bit of flavor.

I loved the texture of this Tubettini. It was soft and spoon-worthy. It is possible that it was made by cutting up elbow noodles, but that cutting makes all the difference - the texture is very different. I would use this in soups, casseroles and on a plate with sauce and be happy either way.

The flavor is the same as all of the other corn pasta from DeBoles - delicious! It is a mild flavor that will blend perfectly with any flavor that is added to it. I have never noticed a big flavor difference between DeBoles Corn Pasta and regular gluten filled pasta. (For the record, I know it has been a long time since I’ve eaten “regular” pasta. In an effort to account for the fact that my taste buds have changed I asked my husband, a gluten eater, what he thought. He agreed that there was a small difference but not enough to make note of.)

Kids Only! or not, I really liked this pasta. I will be adding it to my grocery list from here on out.