Everything You Need To Know About Konjac Flour

Let's be real—pasta is delicious. However, if you follow a lower-carb diet, your classic pasta options may be replaced with zucchini, squash, and lentil noodles. While these alternatives can certainly be tasty, sometimes you want something that resembles pasta just a bit more. Enter your new favorite: Shirataki noodles, made from konjac flour, which is the zero-carb noodle substitute that's bound to become your new pantry staple. Below, see everything you need to know about this gluten-free flour and how to use it.

The corm (the underground plant stem) itself is extremely high fiber and makes for a great thickener in recipes—kind of like a gelatin substitute. Tessa Nguyen, R.D., LDN, shares that konjac is "commonly eaten in a jelly form and worked into different dishes, savory and sweet, across East and Southeast Asian dishes."

Since konjac flour is so high in fiber, you can reap several benefits by adding it to your day-to-day. Below are just a few reasons to make it a staple in your diet:

"Konjac is high in soluble fiber, which attracts water and turns to gel during digestion," says Syn. "This helps slow digestion and increase feelings of satiety. It, therefore, may support weight management."

A 2006 study published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that adding glucomannan1—which is the type of soluble fiber present in high quantities in the konjac root—to a low-fiber diet helped to prevent constipation and increased bowel movements by up to 30%.

"Some types of soluble fiber may help lower the risk of heart disease," says Syn. "A 2008 systematic review2 found that konjac may help lower total cholesterol, LDL (bad cholesterol), and triglycerides, so it, therefore, may help support heart health."

Since konjac flour doesn't spike your blood sugar the way regular pasta does, adding it to your diet as a noodle replacement may help manage diabetes. A 2004 study found that konjac helped to lower blood sugar3 in hyperglycemic mice—however, there are no human studies to date. Still, the findings are promising.

"When using konjac flour as a thickening agent in recipes like soups and sauces, you can substitute with tapioca flour, which is a lower-fiber alternative," she adds. However, overall, konjac is a generally healthy ingredient that shouldn't cause dramatic side effects.

Since this ingredient is less common in Western culture, you may not find konjac flour at your local grocery store. Instead, Syn suggests looking at specialty Asian food stores or on Amazon. Some nutritionist-approved favorite brands include Miracle Noodle, Nasoya, and Konjac Foods.

Syn also enjoys using konjac flour in baking. It isn't a substitute for wheat flour, but it can be added to traditional baked goods as a thickening agent, in order to increase your recipe's dietary fiber content.

Konjac flour can serve as a great high-fiber, low-carb substitute. Thanks to its high fiber content, it may offer a number of benefits. However, avoid overdoing it, or you could deal with gastrointestinal issues. It's a fantastic thickening agent and is useful in a variety of dishes.