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The Best Grain-Free Starches And Carbohydrates

by 96 Comments

I love my grains, but I also love my non-grains. Being a Celiac and just a crazy foodie (one that loves potatoes and plantains like no other), I live for all the grain-free starches and carbohydrates out there. For dinner, I am 90% of the time having a non-grain starch. Growing up, I really only ever had potatoes and sweet potatoes as my non-grains, but once I started diving into my passion for cooking and finding every fun way to make gluten-free (allergy-free) living amazing, I began trying everything I could get my hands on.

The Best Grain-Free Starches & Carbohydrates | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 #grainfree #glutenfree #paleo #food #starches #carbohydrates

I’d never turn down a potato. If I could live on them, I would. I consider myself a potato snob connoisseur. It makes me so angry when people don’t know the difference between a Purple Sweet Potato and an Okinawan Sweet Potato. But I’m not here to talk only about potatoes today. I’ve compiled a list of all the best grain-free (gluten-free and paleo…so I’m not including beans here) starches and carbohydrates! There are so many, but they may just be my favorite category of food!

Grain-Free Starches and Carbohydrates

Potatoes | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666

1. Potatoes

Starting with the obvious, but I’ll break this down a bit further. The varieties of potatoes you can have are:

Russet Potatoes (baking, frying, mashing, roasting)

Red Potatoes (roasting, mashing, soups, salads)

White Potatoes (mashing, steam/boil, frying, salads)

Yellow Potatoes (grilling, roasting, mashing, salads)

Purple/Blue Potatoes (roasting, grilling, salads, baking)

Fingerling Potatoes (frying, roasting, salads)

Petite Potatoes (frying, roasting, salads)

Dill Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Carrots | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666

2. Sweet Potatoes

Yams are not very common actually which is a misconception when buying them. Yams are a starchy root while sweet potatoes have a sweet lighter texture with much thinner skin. Sweet potatoes are in the family of flowering vines while normal potatoes (talked about in #1) are related to tomatoes, pepper, and eggplants! <— knowledge!

Speckled Purple Sweet Potatoes – purple/magenta skin with speckled magenta flesh (boiled, frying, roasting)

Envy Sweet Potatoes – pale orange skin and flesh (roasting, baking, casseroles)

Beauregard Sweet Potatoes – rusty red skin with orange flesh (baking, roasting, mashing, frying)

Hannah Sweet Potatoes  – tan skin with cream colored flesh (mashing)

Creamsicle Sweet Potatoes – cream-colored skin with bright orange flesh (frying, boiling)

Jewel Sweet Potatoes – copper skin with deep orange flesh (baking, roasting, casseroles)

Covington Sweet Potatoes – rose skin with orange flesh (baking, roasting, pies, sweet casseroles)

Nugget Sweet Potatoes – rose skin with orange flesh (roasting, baking, glazing)

Garnet Sweet Potatoes – red/purple skin with orange flesh (baking, roasting, pies)

Amish Bush Sweet Potatoes – rose skin with orange flesh (baking, roasting, mashing)

Korean Sweet Potatoes – purple skin with white flesh (baking, boiling, roasting)

O’Henry Sweet Potatoes – cream-colored skin and flesh (baking, roasting)

Willowleaf Sweet Potatoes – orange/red skin with orange flesh (baking, roasting)

Okinawan Sweet Potatoes – tan skin with purple/magenta flesh (baking, roasting, boiling, steaming, scalloped)

Purple Sweet Potatoes – light purple skin with light purple flesh (baking, roasting)

Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes – dark purple skin and flesh (baking, roasting)

Purple Sweet Potato with Nut Butter | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666

3. Plantains

The glorious plantain! Eaten while still having green skin (not sweet and good for frying, roasting, or grilling) or eaten when the skin is yellow and the plantain is more ripe and sweet (perfect for baking or roasting, but also for mashing and blending for baking up sweets and breads!). These babies are delicious no matter when you cook them up! Just slices a knife down the skin, remove the peel and cut your plantain how you like!

Grilled Plantains | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666

4. Squashes

There are tons of squashes and the Fall and Winter and squash season! From baking, roasting, soups, salads, pies, breads, and casseroles, the possibilities are truly endless!

Butternut Squash

Spaghetti Squash

 Acorn Squash

Buttercup Squash

Kambocha Squash (also a Red Kambocha variety)

Sugar Pumpkin

Carnival Squash

Sweet Dumpling Squash

Blue Hubbard Squash

Delicata Squash

Red Kuri Squash

Calabaza Squash

Eightball Squash

Bonbon Squash

Butternut Squash | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666

5. Yucca/Cassava

These are a really thick dark brown “bark-like” skin that must be peeled before use. Most commonly used for fries and baked. You need to boil the yucca root first before roasting!

Yucca | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666

6. Parsnips

Perfect for soups, purees, or baked and roasted! Light and “airy” with a very distinct flavor!

7. Turnips/Rutabagas

Pretty common for boiling, mashing, roasting, soups, and casseroles. Peeling is optional!

8. Celeriac Root (Celery Root)

This funny “ugly” looking root is surprisingly really tasty! It’s perfect for (peeling first) then boiling and mashing. A great swap for white potatoes! You can actually eat it raw in salads too or blended into a creamy soup!

9. Lotus Root

This pretty little thing is actually the steam of the lotus flower. It looks like a flower when you slice it and see the holes going around in a circle. Commonly used in Asian dishes, it is great for soups, fried, stir-fried, steamed, and boiled.

10. Taro

This yellow fleshed root with dark brown thick skin is much more starchy than a potato. It must be cooked (dangerous when raw) by either boiling, steaming, mashing. You can blend it then into veggie burgers, soups, or breads.

11. Honorable Mentions: Carrots and Beets

These guys are way more veggie to me, but they are a great addition to some baked non-grains! Slice and roast, boil and puree, they are still both great roots and sources of carbohydrates!

There are so many options that you can never be bored with non-grains! Healthy whole foods from nature, packing in lasting energy. The possibilities for utilizing them all are endless as well. You can never go wrong with roasting, but getting creative and making things like breads, pancakes, and noodles just take non-grains to a whole new level! Before I go, I can a side-by-side comparison of a Stokes Purple Sweet Potato and an Okinawan Sweet Potato. I just need to clear this up once and for all! The left is the Stokes and the right is the Okinawan.

Purple Sweet Potato vs Okinawan Sweet Potato | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666

Different…very different. The inside of a Stokes is dark deep purple. The inside of an Okinawan is purple with white flecks, kinda tye-dyed!

So tell me:

+ What is your favorite non-grain starch/carb? Sweet potatoes (all the varieties), but Stokes will always be my #1!

+ Have you ever been completely grain-free? No and I don’t plan on it!

Comments

  4. Rachel says

    I couldn’t imagine my husband being able to go without his fresh cooked bread or is potatoes cooked in various ways. Great information. I would have to say Squash would be at the top of my list. Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday.

    Reply

  5. Cydnee says

    Great information! I learned a lot! Thank you for joining us at #purebloglove. We enjoy having you every Thursday night on Thursday night at 8PM, EST through Sunday night. ~Cydnee

    Reply

  6. Deborah Davis says

    Hi Rebecca,
    This is such a comprehensive overview of grain-free starches and carbohydrates! I am so delighted that you shared this valuable resource with us at the Healthy, Happy, Green and Natural Party Blog Hop! I’m pinning and sharing!

    Reply

  10. Marla says

    Hi Rebecca,
    Great post and very informative. I love sweet potatoes and eat them frequently. It amazing how many different varieties there are of sweet potatoes. I had never tried the yucca, actually I don’t know that I have ever seen it at my health food store. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & twitted!

    Reply

  11. kimmythevegan says

    Holy crow! I didn’t realise there were so many varieties of sweet potato… my grocery stores certainly don’t carry a whole heck of a lot ;p
    Sweet potato is my favourite. I had taro once in Hawaii and LOVED it, but don’t tend to see it here. Plantains are fairly new to me and are amazing (I have a recipe coming up in the near future you would love!).
    Love this gluten-free list of goodies!

    Reply

  15. Alyssa @ Simply Quinoa says

    This is awesome! I do like my grains, but I can often feel my body needing a break if I overeat them. I’ll definitely be pinning this so I can come back to it later 🙂 And ps totally need those plaintain donuts….like WHAAAAT!? awesomeness.

    Reply

  16. Ariana says

    How delicious!! Thanks for all the suggestions. I never knew there were so many different varieties of sweet potatoes! While nothing beats a baked potato loaded with bacon, butter, and salt in my mind 😉 I love sweet potatoes for their versatility!

    Reply

  19. Ally says

    My favorite grain is carrots. I put shredded carrots on everything. 🙂

    Wow this is a wonderful guide to potatoes! I honestly never really got to know about potatoes and this really opened my eyes. Thank you 🙂

    Reply

  21. genevieve @ gratitude & greens says

    I LOVE purple sweet potatoes! Taro is also one of my favourite root veggies ever, although I see it less in North America. It’s very popular in Chinese cuisine- we use it in both savoury and sweet dishes. Japanese sweet potatoes are also delicious and especially sweet. I’ve only seen them a few times in Whole Foods but they are such a treat! My mom used to bake them for my after-school snack.

    Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      O, I guess I’m lucky then! We always have Japanese sweets in my grocery here in NJ! (The potato selection in DC is rather sad!), but any time I see a good new variety of sweet potato, you know I am so stocking up!

      Reply

  22. Ashley @ A Lady Goes West says

    Hi there! I love grains, and hopefully won’t ever have to give them up, but that doesn’t mean I don’t also love some of these grain-free carbs. I keep seeing so many delicious plantains as sides to meals and I need to get on that. Thanks for the reminder! 🙂

    Reply

  24. Sam @ PancakeWarriors says

    OMG love love love this!! I just love the purple sweet potatoes with the white flesh. Omg heaven when roasted!! I didn’t know about the yucca root needing to e boiled first! Such great tips and I just love this! Pinning!

    Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      There are SO many varieties! I love how they each taste and have different textures!

      Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      Plantains are so incredible! I just made some grain-free doughnuts yesterday with an over ripe one 😛

      Reply

  29. EA-The Spicy RD says

    Such a great list! Of all of those, the humble ‘ol plain potato is probably my all-time favorite, but I love so many of the others as well. Except turnips. And, taro. Going grain-free is good for some of my clients, but luckily I do well with all non-gluten grains 🙂

    Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      All potatoes are king! But plantains are my second love!
      I love my buckwheat flour and quinoa! I’d never be fully grain-free!

      Reply

  31. Audrey @ Unconventional Baker says

    I had no idea squashes were considered starchy/carby — they’re more on the vegetable side for me. I love them all though, especially butternut <3. If I only had to choose one carby/starchy item, it would most definitely be a sweet potato!

    I have been grain free before for over a year. I was trying out a specific diet that was meant to help my health, but after a year I didn't feel like cutting out the grains did much, so I went back to eating them. I see them as a valuable source of nutrition, and unless avoiding for specific health reasons I see no need to cut them out. I consume a pretty minimal amount of grains though on the whole.

    Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      No, I don’t consider them a veggie (any way, they would be a fruit since they have seeds!) But they are their own food category!

      Reply

  32. RFC says

    I’d *probably* be able to tell the purple potato from the others because, well, it’s purple (is it really purple?). But other than that…they all look the same to me. Don’t’ hate me.

    Side note: baked potato wedges covered in sea salt and placed in a zip lock baggie shoved in your hydration vest make KILLER long mid-run fuel. Yum!

    Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      A lot of people think “purple potatoes” are the same as “purple sweets” too…it’s really sad!

      Reply

  36. Ivanna says

    Great post! I also love starches. These are some great ideas. I lived in Okinawa for 4 years while I was in the Air Force and they made everything with the Okinawan sweet potatoes. Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply

  38. Shashi RunninSrilankan says

    Such an interesting read Rebecca! I love these options – there are so many of these I have yet to try!

    Reply

  41. Natalie @ Feasting on Fruit says

    There are so many different varieties of sweet potatoes I’ve never heard of (or seen), I love some of those names! Like a Creamsicle sweet potato?! Although I may be a little sad when it doesn’t taste like a fruity orange popsicle ;D

    Do you ever eat plantains raw when they are SUPER ripe? I know people who do, but I’ve never tried it.

    Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      Haha, thanks Taylor! Plantains, yucca, they are all so good! As long as you can find them in the store, you’ll never be without options!

      Reply

  47. Rebecca U says

    Thanks for this, really useful. I’m going gluten-free so its always good to think about adding starches to the meal – sweet potatoes and squash are my favourites at the moment #tastytuesday

    Reply

    • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      Sweet potatoes will always be my love! You’ve got to try plantains if you haven’t!

      Reply

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rebecca

Meet Rebecca

Hey there, welcome to Strength and Sunshine! I’m Rebecca and I’m so glad you’re here! This is your go-to destination for delicious, fun, and (mostly) healthy gluten-free and allergy-free recipes, tips & tricks, advice, as well as celiac and food allergy coaching services!

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