Flour Power: 5 Starch-Resistant Flours

It’s National Flour Month, and there’s more to flour than meets the eye! Most people think of flour as just a baking staple, but certain flours offer a hidden health benefit: resistant starch. Unlike refined white flour, which digests quickly and can spike blood sugar, resistant starch flour feeds beneficial gut bacteria, supports digestion, and helps maintain steady energy levels.

What is resistant starch? It’s a unique type of fiber that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the gut, producing beneficial compounds that support metabolic health. Choosing flours that contain resistant starch is an easy way to improve gut health and promote better blood sugar balance—without changing the way you cook and bake.

This guide explores the best resistant starch flours, their health benefits, and the easiest ways to use them in your favorite recipes.

Let’s get the scoop on how these flours work for your gut and metabolism! 😉

Buckwheat Flour

✔ Naturally gluten-free despite the name

✔ Rich in antioxidants, fiber, and resistant starch

✔ Supports blood sugar balance and gut health

Buckwheat flour is a nutrient-dense, fiber-rich option with a bold, earthy flavor that works well in both sweet and savory dishes. Despite its name, buckwheat isn’t related to wheat—it’s a pseudocereal, meaning it functions like a grain but comes from a seed, making it naturally gluten-free.

Packed with antioxidants like rutin and quercetin, buckwheat flour offers anti-inflammatory benefits and supports cardiovascular health. It also contains resistant starch, which helps feed beneficial gut bacteria and slow carbohydrate absorption, supporting steady blood sugar levels.

Best Uses: Buckwheat flour is a staple in crepes, pancakes, and traditional Japanese soba noodles, where its distinct flavor shines. It also works well as a partial substitute in breads, muffins, and crackers, adding depth and a nutritional boost. In gluten-free baking, it’s often blended with other flours to balance texture and flavor.

Chickpea Flour

✔ Packed with protein, fiber, and resistant starch

✔ Supports digestion and blood sugar balance

✔ Mildly nutty flavor with natural binding properties

Chickpea flour is a high-protein, high-fiber alternative that supports gut health, digestion, and stable blood sugar. Made from finely ground chickpeas, it contains resistant starch, which slows carbohydrate absorption, promotes steady energy, and nourishes beneficial gut bacteria. Its natural prebiotic properties make it a gut-friendly choice for those looking to support digestion and metabolic health.

Beyond nutrition, chickpea flour is a kitchen staple for egg-free and gluten-free baking due to its natural binding ability. When mixed with water, it creates a sturdy, slightly elastic texture, making it an ideal replacement for eggs in baked goods, veggie burgers, and even savory dishes like socca or thickening sauces.

Best Uses: Chickpea flour is an excellent choice for flatbreads, pancakes, and gluten-free baked goods like muffins and cookies. Its binding properties make it useful in veggie burgers, fritters, and as a thickener for soups and sauces. It can also be used as a partial substitute in traditional flour-based recipes to increase protein and fiber content.

JBB Bakes Tip: Need an egg substitute?  Mix two tablespoons of chickpea flour with two tablespoons of water and one teaspoon of oil to replace one egg in baking and cooking.

Green Banana Flour

✔ One of the highest sources of prebiotic-resistant starch

✔ Supports gut health, digestion, and blood sugar balance

✔ Mild, slightly earthy taste

Green banana flour is one of the best sources of resistant starch, making it an excellent choice for gut health and metabolic support. Unlike traditional starches that break down quickly into glucose, resistant starch ferments in the gut, feeding beneficial bacteria, improving digestion, and promoting stable blood sugar levels.

Because it’s made from unripe bananas, this flour has no strong banana flavor—instead, it has a mild, slightly earthy taste that blends seamlessly into a variety of recipes. Its light texture makes it an easy addition to baked goods and smoothies without overpowering other ingredients.

Best Uses: Green banana flour can be blended into smoothies, mixed into oatmeal, or used in gluten-free baking for a fiber and prebiotic boost. It also works well as a thickener for soups and sauces and can be used in homemade tortillas, pancakes, and energy bars for an extra dose of gut-friendly nutrition.

Oat Flour

✔ Naturally rich in beta-glucans and resistant starch

✔ Supports digestion, heart health, and blood sugar balance

✔ Soft texture, mild taste

Oat flour is a fiber-rich whole grain that supports gut health, digestion, and steady energy levels. Its standout benefit comes from beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that forms a gel in the digestive tract, slowing digestion and stabilizing blood sugar. It also contains resistant starch, which feeds gut bacteria and supports metabolic health. While whole oats provide the most intact fiber structure, oat flour retains these benefits—especially when paired with other fiber-rich or protein-packed ingredients.

With a mild flavor and soft texture, oat flour blends seamlessly into both sweet and savory recipes, making it a versatile choice for healthier baking.

Best Uses: Oat flour’s soft, fine texture makes it ideal for pancakes, muffins, waffles, and quick breads, creating a naturally tender crumb. It also works well as a thickener for soups and gravies and can even be stirred into smoothies or homemade protein bars for an added fiber boost.

Oat flour is a great partial substitute in yeast-based breads and pizza dough, helping to improve texture while adding mild sweetness. Its resistant starch and beta-glucan fiber make it a smart choice for supporting gut health and balancing blood sugar.

Teff Flour

✔ Tiny grain, big nutrition!

✔ Rich in iron and prebiotic-resistant starch

✔ Supports gut health, metabolism, and sustained energy

Teff flour may be small, but it delivers serious health benefits. As an ancient grain native to Ethiopia, teff is naturally rich in iron, calcium, magnesium, and resistant starch—a powerful prebiotic fiber that feeds beneficial gut bacteria, supports digestion, and helps maintain balanced blood sugar levels. The resistant starch in teff ferments in the gut, producing short-chain fatty acids that promote a healthier microbiome and long-lasting energy.

Teff also contains slow-digesting complex carbohydrates, making it a great option for sustained energy and steady blood sugar control. Its mild, nutty flavor pairs well with both sweet and savory dishes, and its naturally fine texture blends seamlessly into a variety of recipes.

Best Uses: Teff flour is perfect for pancakes, porridge, and traditional Ethiopian injera, a soft, fermented flatbread known for its signature tangy flavor. It also works well as a thickener for soups and stews and can be added to baked goods like muffins, cookies, and energy bars for extra fiber and a subtly hearty taste. 

Flour & Blood Sugar: Making Smart Choices

Flour choice has a direct impact on blood sugar balance. Refined white flour digests quickly, leading to rapid glucose spikes, while resistant starch flours help slow digestion, feed beneficial gut bacteria, and promote steadier energy levels. Green banana, teff, oat, buckwheat, and chickpea flours contain resistant starch, a unique type of fiber that supports gut health and metabolic function.

Baking with just better.® prebiotic fiber takes it a step further, transforming any recipe into a healthier-for-you option—helping to balance blood sugar, curb cravings, and support gut health without changing taste or texture. 

Why Bake with just better.®?

• Supports Blood Sugar Balance: Slows glucose absorption for steady energy.

• Helps You Feel Fuller: Keeps you feeling satisfied for longer.

• Makes Every Recipe Fiber-Rich: A scoop of just better.® closes the fiber gap in your favorite foods. 

• Gut-Healthy: Fuels beneficial gut bacteria for digestive and whole-body health.

• 100% Dissolvable: No grit, no texture changes. 

• Completely Flavorless: No weird taste, no aftertaste, just invisible benefits!

JBB Bakes Tip: For a lower-sugar, high-fiber treat, replace up to half the sugar in your baking recipes with just better.® prebiotic fiber!

A simple swap with just better.® prebiotic fiber makes your favorite foods do more for your healthy living goals!  

Flour Power: The Takeaway on Resistant Starch

Food fuels everything—from energy levels to gut health to long-term wellness. Resistant starch flours offer a way to bake smarter, eat better, and support a healthier body without giving up the foods you love.

Trying something new in the kitchen is where the fun happens. A simple swap can turn an ordinary recipe into one that feeds the gut, sustains energy, and supports metabolism. Whether it’s experimenting with teff pancakes, baking with oat flour, or blending green banana flour into a smoothie, there’s power in choosing ingredients that work for you.

Better ingredients + Smart choices = A simple way to live just better.®!