A typical serving of pasta is made up of semolina flour, water, and sometimes eggs. The semolina flour is milled from wheat, which is a complex carbohydrate in its own right. When you cook pasta, the starches in the semolina flour break down into simpler sugars, but the overall structure of the carb remains relatively intact.
This is what makes pasta a bit of a special case when it comes to carbohydrates. On the one hand, it's made from a complex carb source, but on the other hand, the starches in pasta can be quickly broken down into simpler sugars during digestion. It's kind of like a carb that's pretending to be something it's not - but in a good way, like a chameleon of the food world.
Whole Grain Pasta Nutrition Label
So, is pasta a complex carbohydrate? The answer is, it's a little bit of both. While it's true that pasta is made from a complex carb source, the way it's processed and cooked can make it behave more like a simple carb in the body. But hey, who doesn't love a good carb enigma?