Rotate non-kinematic 2D rigidbody on different axis

I'm using the 2D engine with 3D objects to make a 2.5D game. I want to use the Y axis to rotate my characters from side to side smoothly. I've read that moving/rotating non-kinematic rigidbodies with transform.position/transform.rotation is just as bad as moving a static collider so I want to avoid using transform.rotation.

Is there a way to rotate a rigidbody2D on a different axis? If not what options do I have other than making the rigidbody kinematic and using transform.rotate?

Here's where I got the info on moving non-kinematic rigidbodies with transform (ronronmx's post around halfway down the page): http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/what-exactly-is-considered-moving-static-colliders.159434/