• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Good Hearted Woman logo
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers, Small Bites & Snacks
    • Beverages
    • Bread
    • Comfort Food
    • Ingredients & Techniques
    • Condiments
    • German Recipes
    • Main Dishes
    • Salads
    • Seafood Recipes
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups
    • Sourdough
    • Desserts & Sweets
    • 30-Minute Meals
  • Cozy Living
    • Arts & Crafts
    • For Music Lovers
  • US Travel
    • Rocky Mountains
    • Southwest
    • The South
  • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipe Index
  • Cozy Living
  • Food Holidays
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipe Index
    • Cozy Living
    • Food Holidays
    • About Us
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Home » Recipes » Salads

    Garden-fresh Summer Pasta Salad

    Published: Aug 12, 2013 · Modified: May 15, 2023 · by Renée B. · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe   Print Recipe
    Prepared pasta salad in a glass serving bowl, ready to serve. Pin text reads: Summer Garden Pasta Salad with Creamy Cilantro-lime Dressing | fresh, fast, easy,

    This colorful, easy-to-make summer pasta recipe is a cool mix of garden vegetables and fresh herbs, all held together with a creamy cilantro-lime dressing. Comes together in under 30 minutes; perfect as a light main, hearty side, or easy potluck dish.

    Prepared pasta salad in a glass serving bowl, ready to serve.
    Jump to:
    • Why You Will Love this Recipe
    • What Goes into this Pasta Summer Salad Recipe
    • How to Make this Summer Pasta Recipe
    • Variations
    • Storage
    • Top Tip
    • FAQ
    • More Pasta Recipes
    • Pairing
    • Garden-fresh Summer Pasta Salad

    Why You Will Love this Recipe

    We all have a few go-to meals that we pull out in a pinch. Fast, easy, and forgiving, this recipe is one of our summer favorites - a cool bowl of garden-fresh awesome with a little pasta thrown in.

    One of the things you will love best about this pasta salad recipe is how quick and easy it is to put together. If you have the dressing made already you can make it in less than 10 minutes!

    The thing that makes this recipe a real go-to, though, is its flexibility. You can use small pasta, any fresh or cooked garden vegetables, and small cooked beans. It's a great way to use up leftovers, too: add roasted vegetables, leftover corn-off-the-cob, cooked meats - whatever you can find in the fridge. I don't think we've ever made this pasta salad the same way twice, and yet it's a winner every time!

    What Goes into this Pasta Summer Salad Recipe

    Summer Salad ingredients, labeled: veggies, cilantro dressing, beans, corn, pasta, fresh herbs.

    The ingredient list for this pasta salad is very flexible. Choose any small pasta, any fresh or cooked garden vegetables, and any small cooked beans.

    ★ Pasta: Rotini and bowtie pasta work especially well for this salad.

    Sometimes we use a lot of pasta, and sometime much less, depending on whether we are going for a "pasta salad" or a "salad with pasta."

    ★ Summer vegetables: Use the garden veggies you love: tomatoes, zucchini (cooked or raw), cucumbers, onions, sweet peppers, fresh peas, snow peas, cooked eggplant, etc.

    ★ Corn: The corn adds a welcome pop of sweetness to the salad.

    Tip: If you leave out the corn, add 2 teaspoons of sugar to the dressing.

    ★ Beans: We prefer using black beans when we have them, but small red beans, navy beans, calypso beans, or any small cooked beans will work.

    ★ Fresh herbs: Use your choice of fresh cilantro, mint, and basil; or use a mixture of two or all three.

    Dressing Ingredients

    This cilantro-lime dressing is super versatile all by itself! We try to keep a bottle in the fridge all the times, especially in the summer. (Visit Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing for more ways to use this tasty dressing.)

    Cilatro dressing ingredients on a tray, labeled: oil, mild green chilis, cilantro, lime, Greek yogurt, cumin, salt.

    ★ Cilantro: Use fresh cilantro. If cilantro taste like soap to you, try making the dressing with basil (or a 50/50 mixture of mint and basil) instead.

    ★ Greek yogurt: We use full-fat plain Greek yogurt when we make this dressing. You can also use 2% Greek yogurt with good results.

    We do not suggest using non-fat yogurt: it makes the dressing too runny for our tastes.

    ★ Diced green chilis: You can roast a couple of mild chilis yourself, or use a small can of diced green chilis. In this case, either one is a good choice.

    When I use canned chilis, I try to buy the whole ones in a big can and distribute them into freezer bags to be used as needed. This ends up being much less expensive than buying the little cans.

    ★ Lime zest: Make it a habit to zest every piece of citrus that goes through your kitchen before juicing it. When sealed in a small, air-tight bag, citrus zest freezes very well, and will keep for up to three months in the freezer.

    ★ Oil: We use a light-tasting olive oil or Canola oil. Use any light, neutral oil.

    How to Make this Summer Pasta Recipe

    Cilantro Dressing

    Layer all the dressing ingredients in a blender cup and blend until smooth.

    Dressing ingredients in a tall blender cup, unmixed.

    Summer Salad

    We usually make this salad with leftover pasta. If you need to cook the pasta, do so ahead of time, according to the package directions. When the pasta is done, rinse it under cold water and drain, then chill until ready to use. Cooked pasta will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

    Gently toss salad ingredients - vegetables, beans, corn, fresh herbs, and cooked pasta - together in a large salad bowl.

    Summer salad of beans, cilantro, pasta, onions, tomatoes, corn, without dressing, in a glass mixing bowl.

    Pour prepared dressing over the top.

    Closeup of cilantro dressing poured over ummer salad of beans, cilantro, pasta, onions, tomatoes, and corn.

    Toss to coat everything. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

    The salad is ready to eat immediately; however, it is even better when given a little time to marinate, and be made up to a day ahead of time.

    Pasta salad with cilantro dressing stirred in.

    Variations

    There are hundreds of different summer salad combinations, depending upon what vegetables, beans, and pasta you use.

    • Chicken Pasta Salad: Add a couple of handfuls of diced chicken to the salad.

    • Italian Pasta Salad: Add thin strips of pepperoni, genoa sausage, etc., and cubed mozzarella.

    The salad below was made with leftover grilled eggplant, small red beans, and bowtie (farfalle) pasta.

    Pasta salad with bow-tie pasta and summer vegetables in a serving bowl. Garnished with corn, tomatoes, and lime slices.

    Storage

    Store pasta salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

    Top Tip

    How to Quickly Chill Pasta for Salads

    While the pasta is cooking, fill a large bowl halfway with ice. Add just enough cold water to come up to the top of the ice.

    When the pasta is cooked as desired, immediately drain it in a colander. Place the colander in the prepared ice bath and give it a little shake to allow all the pasta to float free in the ice water for a minute or two.

    When fully chilled, lift the colander out of the ice water and drain. The pasta will be chilled and ready to use.

    FAQ

    Can pasta salad be made ahead of time?

    We recommend making summer pasta salad ahead of time to give the flavors a chance to marry and meld. While the salad is ready to eat once it is assembled, it will be all that much better after marinating 4-8 hours, and up to 24 hours.

    Once prepared, pasta salad will last 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator.

    Prepared pasta salad in a glass serving bowl. Corn and tomatoes in foreground.

    More Pasta Recipes

    Looking for more main course summer pasta salad ideas? Try our delicious Cold Turkey Pasta Salad with honey-citrus dressing!

    • Large glass serving bowl filled with a mix of spiral pasta, cubed turkey, grapes, celery, and other ingredients.
      Cold Turkey Pasta Salad with Honey-Citrus Dressing
    • Classic American Spaghetti Sauce with meat, over thin spaghetti noodles.
      Mom's Classic Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
    • Plate of couscous garnished with orange slices and fresh mint.
      Cranberry Orange Pearl Couscous
    • Pasta tossed with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan, garnished with fresh basil, served on a highly textured bowl.
      Sun-dried Tomato Carbonara

    Pairing

    This easy summer pasta recipe pairs perfectly with summer and barbecue dishes, including fried chicken, Nashville hot chicken, corn-on-the-cob, fried green tomatoes, and grilled Caprese sandwiches.

    • A chilled slice of no-bake chocolate éclair cake resting on a blue plate beside a dessert fork, highlighting the creamy vanilla and chocolate layers.
      No-Bake Chocolate Eclair Cake (Old-Fashioned Icebox Dessert)
    • Peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream in a dessert bowl, with a pan of cobbler in the background.
      Easy Southern Peach Cobbler
    • 9-panel collage of various ice creams, scooped for serving.
      15 Homemade Ice Cream Recipes for Ice Cream Makers
    • Italian Grilled Eggplant Panini

    Want More Free Recipes?

    Subscribe to our newsletter to get family-friendly recipes and cozy living ideas in your inbox each week!
    Find us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, too.

    Prepared pasta salad in a glass serving bowl, ready to serve.
    5 from 4 votes

    Garden-fresh Summer Pasta Salad

    This colorful, easy-to-make pasta salad is cool bowl of garden-fresh herbs and vegetables, all held together with a creamy cilantro-lime dressing. Comes together in under 30 minutes; perfect as a light main, hearty side, or easy potluck dish.
    Print Pin Add to Shopping List Go to Shopping List
    Course: Main, Salad, Side Dish
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Vegetarian
    Prep Time:15 minutes minutes
    Total Time:15 minutes minutes
    Servings: 8 servings
    Calories: 260kcal
    Author: Renee
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Equipment

    • 1 Blender or immersion blender

    Ingredients

    US Customary - Metric
    • 4 cups cold cooked pasta rotini, bow-tie, etc.; ~6 ounces dry pasta
    • 2 cups chopped or sliced summer veggies tomatoes, onions, eggplant, zucchini, etc.
    • 1½ cups black beans drained and rinsed; or small red beans
    • 1 cup sweet corn give or take
    • ¼ cup chopped fresh herbs i.e., basil, cilantro, mint
    Cilantro Lime Dressing
    • 1½ ounces fresh cilantro 1 cup, rough chopped
    • ⅓ cup olive oil
    • ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
    • 4 ounces mild green chilis 1 small can
    • 2 cloves garlic rough chopped
    • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
    • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
    • zest & juice of 1 lime

    Instructions

    Cilantro Dressing

    • Layer all the dressing ingredients in a blender cup and blend until smooth.

    Salad

    • We usually make this salad with leftover pasta. If you need to cook the pasta, do so ahead of time, according to the package directions. When the pasta is done, rinse it under cold water and drain, then chill until ready to use.
      Cooked pasta will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
    • Gently toss salad ingredients - vegetables, beans, corn, fresh herbs, and cooked pasta - together in a large salad bowl.
    • Toss to coat everything. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
    • The salad is ready to eat immediately; however, it is even better when given 30 minutes (and up to 24 hours) to marinate.

    Notes

    The ingredient list is very flexible: Choose any small pasta, any fresh or cooked garden vegetables, and any small cooked beans.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1serving | Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 214mg | Potassium: 322mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 751IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 2mg
    This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
    Have you tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

    Thank you for visiting the Good Hearted Woman. Remember to bookmark this site, and come back soon!

    More Salad Recipes

    • Curried chicken salad sandwich on a plate, on a picnic blanket.
      Curried Chicken Salad
    • Two avocado halves filled with shrimp salad and a small bowl of shrimp salad arranged on a square glass platter.
      Shrimp Salad with Lemony Mustard Vinaigrette
    • Creamy Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing
    • Grilled Eggplant & Tomato Stacks
    7921 shares
    • Share
    • Flipboard

    About Renée B.

    Renée is self-taught home chef with a penchant for creating healthy(ish) comfort food recipes, and adapting vintage recipes for the 21st century cook. In her spare time, she writes unfinished novels and songs about cowboys.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      5 from 4 votes

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating





      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Nathan says

      September 01, 2022 at 11:11 am

      5 stars
      This really does look like an ideal pasta salad for summer, such a great mix of ingredients! Very excited to try it for myself. Thanks for the recipe!

      Reply
    2. Mirlene says

      September 01, 2022 at 10:53 am

      5 stars
      This pasta salad was the perfect summer salad to have. The cilantro dressing was to die for! Its so delicious.

      Reply
    3. Caitlin says

      September 01, 2022 at 10:49 am

      5 stars
      This is the best pasta salad recipe ever - the cilantro is a game changer!

      Reply
    4. Ieva says

      September 01, 2022 at 10:37 am

      5 stars
      This cilantro dressing was one of the best pasta salad dressings I've ever tasted! So good! Love how flexible this salad is!

      Reply
    5. Cherryl Davies says

      June 14, 2014 at 8:24 am

      I am always on the look out for fast, easy meals to take on the road as I drive all day and am trying to lose some weight. There are no healthy meals to be found on the road. I have found that I get bored with the same old tossed salad lunches everyday. I would appreciate any healthy options that travel well.

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        June 14, 2014 at 10:42 am

        Great comment! This one travels very nicely, and stays good for a couple of days. I will see what I can do about coming up with some new ideas along the same line. Thanks for the idea!

        Reply
    6. Theresa says

      August 21, 2013 at 5:48 pm

      I usually don't eat alot of pasta salads because I'm gluten intolerant. I substituted quinoa pasta shells for this recipe. Love it. Had family over for the afternoon and served this, they loved it too. Plus, on a side note they were eating gluten free and had no idea..lol Thanks for a delicious recipe. Will definitely use this one again. Super quick and delicious.
      Thank you,
      Theresa

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        August 21, 2013 at 6:40 pm

        So glad you like it!! I should try out that quinoa pasta - that's a new one for me. Thanks for the tip!

        Reply
    7. Heather says

      August 13, 2013 at 7:41 pm

      I LOVE pasta salads!! Thanks for linking up to Good Tastes Tuesday!

      Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Renée!

    Welcome to The Good Hearted Woman — a cozy corner of the internet where comfort food meets modern life. From heirloom recipes and easy weeknight dinners to seasonal dishes, homemade breads, and potluck favorites, we share the kind of food that brings people together.

    When we’re not in the kitchen, you’ll find us hosting guests at Parkside Acoustic Bed & Breakfast, our music-themed B&B in Ashland, Oregon — where good food and warm hospitality go hand in hand.

    More about Me & Mr B →
    • Nine-panel collage showing images from rhubarb recipe roundup.
      15 Delicious Straight-Up Rhubarb Recipes (Plus Freezing Tips)

    • A chilled slice of no-bake chocolate éclair cake resting on a blue plate beside a dessert fork, highlighting the creamy vanilla and chocolate layers.
      No-Bake Chocolate Eclair Cake (Old-Fashioned Icebox Dessert)

    • Breakfast casserole muffin on a plate with arugula and chopped avocado.
      Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole Muffins

    • A bowl of pecan granola in a small bowl, setting on an outdoor bistro table.
      Healthy Maple Pecan Granola

    • Two German Beef Rouladen rolls sliced on plate to show layered pinwheel, with sour cream and spätzle on the side.
      Authentic German Beef Rouladen (Rinderrouladen)

    • Small glass jar filled with habanero syrup, with one small habanero pepper sitting to the side.
      Habanero Simple Syrup

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Statement
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Accessibility Statement

    Follow

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • Twitter

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Meet Me & Mr B

    Content on this website may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we earn from qualifying purchases. Please check out our privacy Policy for more details.

    Copyright © 2025 The Good Hearted Woman. All rights reserved.

    7921 shares
    7.9K shares
    We Value Your Privacy
    We use cookies to make this website a better place. Cookies help to provide a more personalized experience and relevant advertising for you, and web analytics for us. To learn more about the different cookies we use, check out our Cookie Policy.
    Functional Always active
    The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
    Preferences
    The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
    Statistics
    The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
    Marketing
    The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
    Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
    View preferences
    {title} {title} {title}
    We Value Your Privacy
    We use cookies to make this website a better place. Cookies help to provide a more personalized experience and relevant advertising for you, and web analytics for us. To learn more about the different cookies we use, check out our Cookie Policy.
    Functional Always active
    The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
    Preferences
    The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
    Statistics
    The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
    Marketing
    The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
    Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
    View preferences
    {title} {title} {title}

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.