Taste Republic Review (Actually Good Gluten-Free Pasta?)

Welcome to our Taste Republic review!

The gluten-free boom of (circa) 2010 may be downshifting, but celiac disease sure isn’t.

Thankfully, there are still plenty of gluten-free pasta brands sticking around for the truly gluten-averse as the “fairweather fans” flitter off to other fads.

Taste Republic is one such brand, going beyond the standard dry pasta into the realm of fresh, even filled gluten-free pastas like Chickpea Linguini and Spinach and Cheese Tortelloni.

As always, we made a point to interview higher-ups at the brand, try the products ourselves, and do plenty of independent research for our Taste Republic review.

Here’s everything you need to know about Taste Republic, from ingredient quality and taste to manufacturing standards and more.

Taste Republic Pros and Cons

All for One Customer: The Taste Republic Origin Story

Both at Natural Products Expo West 2023 and in a subsequent interview, we spoke with Taste Republic Senior Director of Marketing Andy Allcock, who filled us in on the backstory behind the brand and more.

Taste Republic was born within another brand operating out of Madison, WI—RP’s Pasta Company.

As a traditional pasta maker through and through, founder Peter Robertson of RP’s Pasta Company saw no reason to deviate from the age-old formula: water, egg, and wheat.

However, when a faithful customer sadly informed Peter and company that they had been diagnosed with celiac disease, Peter left his fundamentalist approach in search of a gluten-free workaround that tasted just like the real thing. 

It took well over one or two iterations, Andy explained to us, but eventually, RP’s Pasta Company officially had gluten-free options on the menu.

Over time, though, word spread, and popularity of the gluten-free pasta at RP’s surged to such an extent that the decision was made to create Taste Republic, a new brand completely dedicated to these gluten-free options.

Since Taste Republic’s official beginnings in 2018, the brand has significantly expanded both their product catalog and their distribution channels, now offering products at major retailers (Costco and Walmart, for example) as well as online.

And all of this started as an effort to help a single customer. We see you, Taste Republic. 

The question remains, however: is the pasta actually good? 

Our Taste Republic Review

We use these six criteria when reviewing brands (Taste Republic grades included):

• Quality (A-)
• Transparency (B+)
• Website Experience (A-)
• Customer Service (A-)
• Value (B-)
• Brand Value (A)

Taste Republic received an overall rating of A- for our team for the pasta-like taste and texture of their products, accommodating customer support, and more, with room for improvement in value and some transparency points.

Now on to the all-important issue of quality.

Quality

Starting off with the first impression—packaging and labeling—Taste Republic pastas come in a flat tray with a partially clear seal. 

Using the Gluten-Free Four Cheese Tortelloni as an example, the label on the top of the product bears a gluten-free certification seal, and the bottom label contains the nutrition facts, ingredients, and cooking instructions.

Speaking of label claims, like many gluten-free pastas, Taste Republic pastas can be cooked in as little as three minutes, which is the case with their ever-popular tortelloni.

As for manufacturing and sourcing, Andy explained to us that they strive to source ingredients and supplies as close as possible to their Madison headquarters. Some ingredients are also sourced from Illinois.

Speaking of, here’s the ingredient list for Taste Republic’s Gluten-Free Fettuccine:

• Brown Rice Flour
• Water
• Potato Starch
• Tapioca Starch
• Whole Egg
• Egg White
• Xanthan Gum
• Salt
• Glucono delta-lactone

In addition to brown rice flour, Taste Republic also uses chickpeas, red lentils, and cauliflower to emulate the taste and texture of pasta with help from carefully selected and portioned ingredients.

If you’re curious about “glucono delta-lactone,” by the way, it’s an acidulant (ah, why didn’t you just say so?), meaning a compound that can acidify and/or enhance the flavor of foods. 

Glucono delta-lactone has been given GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status by the FDA, so that’s good. 

What’s not so good is the sodium content, which can exceed 1800 milligrams a package, but with a caveat—much of the sodium leeches into the water during cooking. 

The Taste Republic FAQ page claims that roughly 60% of the sodium is lost in the case of unfilled pasta, and 30% is lost with filled pasta.

In addition to the gluten-free certification, Taste Republic products also have kosher, paleo, and/or organic certifications—see this page for a breakdown of which products have which certifications.

Taking a broader look at the Taste Republic selection in the context of ingredient choices, they aren’t breaking boundaries nutritionally by any means, but that’s not their primary focus. 

Rather, they’re offering reasonably clean alternatives to standard pasta while banking on mimicking that beloved taste and texture as closely as possible so gluten-free folks can continue to enjoy the pasta they grew up on. 

Sure enough, having personally tried the products, we can confirm they’re much closer to the mark on taste than the vast majority—if not all—of the non-wheat-based pastas we’ve tried.

Considering the taste, the availability of fresh and filled gluten-free pasta, and the fairly clean ingredient lists, we consider Taste Republic’s overall quality to be consistent with other high-quality brands we’ve reviewed in this area, earning them a grade of A- for quality.

Taste Republic Product Catalog

Taste Republic has thirteen unique products (not counting the variety pack), all of which are gluten free. Among these thirteen, one is vegan, and three are grain free.

Starting with the standard gluten-free products first, these include the following:

• Four-Cheese Tortelloni
• Spinach and Cheese Tortelloni
• Plant-Based Sausage Tortelloni
• Plant-Based Sausage Ravioli
• Linguini
• Fettuccine
• Spinach Fettuccinne
• Fusilli
• Lasagna Sheets

These products are made with brown rice flour, as opposed to the gluten- and grain-free selection.

Vegan and Gluten Free

It may be all alone in its category, but it’s a worthy selection to be sure: the Plant-Based Cheese Tortelloni by Taste Republic is both completely vegan and gluten free.

The noodles are made with a mixture of brown rice and red lentil flour, and the vegan cheese filling is refreshingly devoid of sketchy ingredients. 

Transparency

Between the website, our direct contact with the Taste Republic team, and the product packaging, we were able to form a cohesive understanding of who they are, what they offer, and why they’re different.

As always, there were some points that could have been expanded on as well. 

Starting with the site, the About Taste Republic page offers a concise recounting of the founding story that we shared above, as well as a description of their mission and a YouTube video featuring a review of Taste Republic products from independent chefs. 

More fleshed-out profiles of the founders and other brand leadership would be nice, but the page still provides a decent introduction with a personal touch.

As for product information, each product page contains product descriptions as well as sections detailing the type of pasta itself, often including their traditional use, where they originate from, and more.

Also clearly delineated are the cooking instructions and ingredient lists, and that’s about it. 

It’s pasta, not a timeshare, so this is about as much information as we needed.

As for the more logistical stuff, there isn’t a lot of information on the website about where the ingredients are sourced, how and where they’re manufactured, etc.

Shipping and return policies are easily accessible through this link located in the site footer, and the page offers clear summaries of these policies. 

Overall, we found Taste Republic’s commitment to keeping customers informed of all the key points genuine, though the site could do with a bit more exposition on the back-end stuff (where ingredients come from, etc.) 

Balancing the strengths and weaknesses, we land on a grade of B+ for transparency.

Website Experience

For our purposes as e-commerce website reviewers, design doesn’t take priority over functionality, so we’ll get the aesthetic out of the way first.

The Taste Republic site is very minimalistic, allowing their blue product labels to pop out from a sea of white.

There are no majorly distracting or confusing visual elements, and the placement/order of the navigation links make sense.

Some of the labels are slightly off-white, which makes for a bit of a headache with the stark white backdrop, but this is a bit “gripey” even for us.

Browsing and shopping products is easy; you have the option to select an individual product directly from the drop-down menu on the “our products” link, or you can click the link itself and be directed to the entire product catalog on one page.

Click through on any given product image to the product page, and you’ll have quick access to basic info, reviews, etc., along with “add to cart” and a “buy now” button. 

Adding items to cart and checking out is intuitively simple, with no unnecessary splash pages to break the immersion.

The site performed just as well on mobile devices as desktop, with no formatting issues (poorly aligned images/text, etc.), missing content, or other issues.

Finally, we also evaluate the depth and quality of educational content on each brand’s website, which, in the case of Taste Republic, was not expected to take the form of a 20-page white paper. It’s rice flour and eggs, after all.

Still, each product page goes beyond your run-of-the-mill product description to also provide a nice bit of cultural and historical context, explaining where (and when) the pasta came from, how it’s typically prepared, and so on. 

Taking all this into account, our website experience with Taste Republic was a consistently positive one, from shopping to learning about the products—they earn an A- for website experience. 

Customer Service

We evaluate three areas when it comes to customer service: the amount of contact options available, the speed and quality of the response, and the shipping and return policies.

Getting the fine print out of the way first, Taste Republic’s shipping policy states that orders received before 2 PM ET on Wednesday will be shipped out the same day or the next day.

After this cutoff, Taste Republic waits to ship until the following Monday so that products aren’t left in transit over the weekends.

Once shipped, Taste Republic quotes a 1-2 day delivery window.

Finally, shipping is free when you buy two six-packs of pasta or more.

The return policy offers 30 days to receive a refund or replacement on a “case-by-case basis” for people who aren’t completely satisfied.

While this is markedly better than policies that require a product to be returned in its unopen, original packaging, it falls a tad short of a true satisfaction guarantee.

Taste Republic offers phone and email support services, both of which we tested.

We were asked to leave a voicemail after our first call, but an hour later, we were connected to an agent with no hold time. 

Our question was clearly and accurately answered.

The email response was faster than average, providing an equally accurate answer within 2-3 hours.

Though they could tighten up a few areas, the general impression Taste Republic customer service leaves is one of an actively engaged, helpful support team. This brings us to an A- for customer service.

Value

Let’s get the elephant in the room addressed first: Taste Republic is quite expensive. 

Here’s a quick price comparison between Taste Republic and some other well-known gluten-free pasta options:

• Taste Republic: $1-1.11/oz ($54.99-$59.99 per six-pack)
• Zenb Spaghetti: $0.83/oz
• Jovial: $0.53/oz
• Miracle Noodle: $0.67/oz

We all know gluten-free pasta is going to run you a bit more, but to be fair, Taste Republic’s situation is unique in that they offer fresh, filled pasta that actually tastes like real pasta. 

None of these other options offer tortelloni, and though we like Zenb and Miracle Noodle, there’s no comparison on taste or texture.

On the one hand, if you’re simply looking for a gluten-free pasta that you can slather some sauce on for a quick dinner, Taste Republic might not be worth it to you.

On the other hand, if you’re a pasta purist pining for the real thing and unimpressed with 99% of gluten-free brands, Taste Republic may be more than worth the price.

Balancing the price, quality, and perceived value to the average person, we land on a B- for value. 

Brand Value

There are hundreds of ways that brands can give back to their communities, elevate the state of their industry, and provide value in other ways, which is why we cast a wide net in this area.

When it comes to Taste Republic’s contributions to the gluten-free pasta world, innovation has been front and center since day one. 

Both the uncanny resemblance to standard pasta and the availability of fresh and filled options makes Taste Republic an innovative and disruptive brand that has already left their stamp on gluten-free pasta.

We’re not surprised that the mind originally behind these gluten-free pastas belongs to a pasta chef, which adds a layer of credibility. 

On the philanthropy side, Taste Republic makes donations to local organizations, including Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin, Reap Food Group, Second Harvest Food Bank, and more. 

As a certified B Corp company, Taste Republic is also beholden to higher standards of environmental and community-level accountability, including how they treat their own team.

They’ve converted 100% of their local energy usage to solar and wind, for example.

Finally, Taste Republic isn’t pushing the frontier in a nutritional sense, but their clean ingredients and broad selection of classic pasta dishes still serves to increase accessibility for people who can’t have gluten. 

Overall, we get the impression that Taste Republic is very much invested in their community, their industry, and the state of gluten-free pasta, earning them an A for brand value. 

Our Experience

Between Natural Products Expo West 2023 and our later rounds of sampling as part of the review process, we tried Taste Republic’s Fettuccine and Four-Cheese Tortelloni.

The simplest way to put it is as follows: both of the dishes we tried tasted and felt just like real pasta. 

We even kept the sauce and seasoning light—just a classy dribbling of olive oil and a dash of salt—to keep the noodles as exposed as possible. 

While a hardcore pasta fan may be able to tell that these were gluten-free options in a blind taste test, we doubt the average person would be able to tell.

Knowing that these were gluten free ahead of time, we were able to discern a difference in texture in some cases, but a very minimal one.

As expected, the Four-Cheese Tortelloni—Taste Republic’s best seller—was our favorite, because come on. It’s cheese tortelloni.

Pesto, classic tomato, olive oil, or whatever—you don’t have to treat these pasta dishes differently than standard wheat pasta. No weird aftertaste, no weird texture, and no discomfort afterwards. 

You’re definitely paying for it, as mentioned above, but the jump in quality is a thing.

Taste Republic FAQ

Final Thoughts

Where other gluten-free pasta brands may have an edge nutritionally, Taste Republic is by far the closest we’ve had to real, wheat-based pasta.

Their gluten-free, paleo, and organic-certified pastas are made with simple, clean ingredients and come available in fresh and filled options.

Using the Taste Republic site, interacting with customer service, and browsing/shopping products was easy and informative, though a few areas could use some polishing (see above).

Taste Republic is one of the most expensive gluten-free pasta brands out there, but not without justification, as you can’t get a gluten-free, Four-Cheese Tortelloni that hits the same anywhere else.

As a certified B Corp brand that has invested both in local charities and renewable energy, Taste Republic’s contributions to surrounding communities transcends their products.

We give Taste Republic an overall rating of A-, and would recommend this brand to anyone looking for a gluten-free pasta that keeps that classic taste alive.