TL;DR
Get kitchen staples and gadgets delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
Good Housekeeping tested Wasted, a pasta made partly with flour milled from surplus artisanal bread, and reported that its rotini held its shape and tasted similar to conventional pasta. The product has 12 grams of protein per two-ounce dry serving, compared with seven grams in the Barilla rotini used for comparison, but also has more sodium and sugar. The test was a product review, not an independent assessment of Wasted’s environmental impact.
Good Housekeeping tested Wasted, a pasta made with flour milled from surplus artisanal bread, and reported that its rotini had a firm, chewy texture and no obvious flavor difference from conventional pasta when served with tomato sauce. The review makes a product-level case for reusing bread in a familiar food, while its taste findings reflect the tester’s experience rather than a formal blind comparison.
Wasted sells rotini, shells and penne in eight-ounce boxes. According to the company, it collects bread that is misshapen or overproduced at European artisanal bakeries, then shreds, dries and mills it into flour. The bread may include sourdough, buns and white bread. Wasted says it does not use bread that is spoiled or moldy.
The report’s tester cooked a full box of rotini in salted water. At eight minutes, the pasta was firmer than the tester preferred; after two more minutes, it reached the desired texture. The cooked spirals kept their shape and held tomato sauce. The tester said the pasta’s size was smaller than typical pasta shapes but that its taste was not noticeably different. Good Housekeeping Kitchen & Cooking Lab Senior Director Nicole Papantoniou also sampled it and said it had a good bite and could pass for pasta made with regular flour.
Wasted’s ingredient list includes durum wheat semolina, bread waste flour and vital wheat gluten. The package says the pasta is made without eggs but may contain traces of egg, soy, milk and sesame because the bread is made in a facility that handles those ingredients. The review lists one two-ounce dry serving at 200 calories, 12 grams of protein, 65 milligrams of sodium, 37 grams of carbohydrates, two grams of fiber and three grams of sugar.
A Familiar Food With Reused Bread
The review highlights one way food producers can put surplus ingredients into a product consumers already know how to cook. Wasted says the bread it uses would otherwise have gone to biogas plants, animal feed or garbage. Turning that material into pasta could give it another use, but the report does not quantify how much bread the company rescues or how much waste its production avoids.
The nutrition comparison may also interest shoppers looking for alternatives to standard wheat pasta. In the report’s comparison of dry rotini, Wasted had 12 grams of protein per two-ounce serving, against seven grams in Barilla rotini. Wasted also had 65 milligrams of sodium and three grams of sugar, compared with zero milligrams of sodium and one gram of sugar in the cited Barilla product. The figures are specific to those products and serving sizes; they do not establish that one pasta is better for every diet.
Products Worth Considering
Shark Rocket Corded Stick Vacuum (HV301) – Gray/Orange
Bose TV Speaker Compact Soundbar with Bluetooth and HDMI-ARC, Black
Shark Navigator Lift-Away Upright Vacuum Cleaner (NV356E)
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
How Wasted Turns Bread Into Pasta
Pasta makers have expanded beyond familiar wheat and white-flour products with varieties made from ingredients such as chickpeas, lentils, edamame, corn, rice and kelp. Wasted adds bread-derived flour to that market. The company says its process combines the milled bread flour with durum wheat semolina and vital wheat gluten to produce the texture and elasticity expected of pasta.
The Good Housekeeping report describes a hands-on product test by Mark Marino, a food writer and product tester who said he had experience making pasta and sampling regional varieties during trips to Italy. The account was not described as a blind taste test, and the comparison was based on the tester’s experience cooking Wasted rotini and eating it with tomato sauce. Wasted says it conducts regular laboratory testing to keep nutrition claims consistent, but the report does not include those test results.
“The rotini had a nice bite and could pass for noodles made with regular pasta flour.”
— Nicole Papantoniou, Good Housekeeping Kitchen & Cooking Lab senior director
Limits of the Taste and Waste Claims
The report does not provide a blind tasting protocol, a larger consumer panel or a side-by-side laboratory comparison of the cooked pastas. Its conclusion that the rotini tasted similar to conventional pasta should be read as the testers’ reported experience. Results may differ with another shape, cooking time, sauce or personal preference.
The review also does not independently measure the pasta’s environmental impact. It gives Wasted’s account of where its bread comes from and how that bread was otherwise used, but does not specify the quantity recovered, the energy and resources used in processing, or a full lifecycle comparison with conventional pasta. The supplied source does not provide the product’s price, retail availability by location or a publication date.
What Shoppers Can Check
Readers considering the pasta can check local availability and the package for current cooking directions, ingredients and nutrition information. The review found that the tester preferred the rotini after 10 minutes of cooking, although Wasted’s stated cooking window is eight to 10 minutes and the preferred texture will vary. People with food allergies should read the label: the pasta contains wheat and gluten, and the package warns that traces of egg, soy, milk and sesame may be present.
Further reporting could establish how widely the product is sold, what it costs and whether the company publishes figures on the bread it reuses. For now, the available report supports a narrower takeaway: its testers found Wasted’s rotini similar in taste and texture to conventional pasta, while the scale of its waste reduction remains unquantified in the source.
Key Questions
What is Wasted pasta made from?
Wasted says its pasta combines durum wheat semolina, flour milled from surplus bread and vital wheat gluten. The company says the bread comes from European artisanal bakeries and is not spoiled or moldy.
Did the testers notice a different taste?
Good Housekeeping’s tester reported no obvious taste difference between the rotini and conventional pasta when served with tomato sauce. The report does not describe a blind taste test, so this is a tester’s assessment rather than a controlled consumer result.
How does its protein compare with Barilla rotini?
For a two-ounce dry serving, the report lists 12 grams of protein for Wasted rotini and seven grams for the Barilla rotini used in its comparison. Wasted’s serving also had more sodium and sugar in the figures provided.
Is Wasted pasta suitable for people with allergies?
The listed ingredients include wheat and vital wheat gluten, so it is not suitable for people avoiding gluten. Although the package says it is made without eggs, it warns that traces of egg, soy, milk and sesame may be present; people with allergies should check the current package and consult appropriate medical guidance.
How much food waste does the product prevent?
The supplied report does not quantify how much bread Wasted uses or the product’s net environmental impact. The company says the bread would otherwise have gone to biogas production, animal feed or garbage, but the review does not independently verify those claims.
Source: goodhousekeeping.com
