Review: Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta

Pasta is a staple in most people's homes, however, it doesn't offer a whole lot of nutrition. We love pasta in our home, yet our picky preschooler goes through phases where she won't eat anything with "specks" or that is "brown". In other words, sometimes whole grain pasta is not an option. When I saw a commercial for Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta, I decided to give it a try. I have been pleased with other Ronzoni pasta products in the past. I like the flavor, and also, find that their price is often a bit lower than other pastas on the market. The package I bought was 14 ounces, and that impressed me, because many healthy pastas on the market have reduced their product down to 12 ounces. The 14 ounce Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta box is enough for our family of three, with some for leftovers!

Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta is an enriched white pasta, enriched with calcium and fortified with fiber, both nutrients which tend to be lacking in many people's diets, especially children. Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta contains 30% of the USDA recommendation of calcium per 2 ounce serving, and three times the amount of fiber as traditional white pasta per serving. The pasta also has 6 grams of protein per serving, which is a good way to get some protein, since we eat a vegetarian diet. It is also cholesterol free, low in fat and low in sodium, which makes Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta a pretty nutritionally sound meal, and a good way to get some nutrients into our child, who is sometimes a picky eater!

How does it taste?

Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta comes in five varieties: elbow pasta, spaghetti, thin spaghetti, penne rigati, and rotini. We chose the elbows because my daughter loves macaroni and cheese. I prepared it according to instructions, and I find that pasta in general tastes better al dente, and Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta is no different. I found the flavor to be very close, almost indistinguishable to traditional white pasta. I liked that my child didn't seem to notice a difference at all, and ate up her mac&cheese non the wiser that the pasta she loves was offering her healthy nutrition, more so than the pasta we typically eat (as she sometimes refuses whole grain).

Overall I was impressed with Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta. I would recommend it to people who's children don't care for whole grain pasta, which can sometimes taste mealy. I will definitely be cooking Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta again in the future, and am happy that a product like this exists!