This colorful, easy-to-make pasta salad 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.
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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. I don't think we've ever made this pasta salad the same way twice, and yet it's a winner every time!
Make It a Meal
Summer Salad, as we like to call it, is on our short list of 10-Minute dinners: meals that can be prepared in 10 minutes or less. When serving it as a complete meal, we often add a little chopped rotisserie chicken, leftover turkey, or a little cubed cheese to it for added protein.
What Goes into this Recipe
Salad Ingredients & Substitutions
The ingredient list 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 whatever garden veggies you love: tomatoes, zucchini (cooked or raw), cucumbers, onions, sweet peppers, fresh peas, snow peas, cooked eggplant, etc.
Summer Salad is a great way to use up leftover veggies and "little bits of this and that."
★ 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.
★ 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 Summer Garden Pasta Salad
Cilantro Dressing
Layer all the dressing ingredients in a blender cup and blend until smooth.
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.
Pour prepared dressing over the top.
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.
FAQs & Expert Tips
Recipe Variations
There are hundreds of different summer salad combinations, depending upon what vegetables, beans, and pasta you use. The salad below was made with leftover grilled eggplant, small red beans, and bowtie (farfalle) pasta.
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.
More Garden Fresh Recipes
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Garden-fresh Summer Pasta Salad
Equipment
- 1 Blender or immersion blender
Ingredients
- 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
Nutrition
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.
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Nathan says
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!
Mirlene says
This pasta salad was the perfect summer salad to have. The cilantro dressing was to die for! Its so delicious.
Caitlin says
This is the best pasta salad recipe ever - the cilantro is a game changer!
Ieva says
This cilantro dressing was one of the best pasta salad dressings I've ever tasted! So good! Love how flexible this salad is!
Cherryl Davies says
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.
Renée ♥ says
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!
Theresa says
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
Renée ♥ says
So glad you like it!! I should try out that quinoa pasta - that's a new one for me. Thanks for the tip!
Heather says
I LOVE pasta salads!! Thanks for linking up to Good Tastes Tuesday!