Honey-Citrus Pasta Salad with Turkey

Large glass serving bowl filled with a mix of spiral pasta, cubed turkey, grapes, celery, and other ingredients.

This sweet and savory main dish pasta salad is loaded with turkey, grapes, and toasted walnuts, and tossed in a deliciously refreshing honey-citrus dressing.

Course Main, Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 249kcal

Author Renee

Equipment

1 Blender or immersion blender
1 large serving bowl

Ingredients

Salad

12 ounces rotini cooked to al dente + 1 minute, according to package directions
1 pounds roasted turkey ¼- to ½-inch cubes
6 ounces mozzarella cheese ¼- to ½-inch cubes
1 pounds grapes
½ cup chopped walnuts toasted
2 stalks celery ¼-inch cubes
sprigs fresh mint optional; garnish

Citrus Dressing

⅔ cup fresh orange juice juice from ~2 large oranges
1 teaspoon orange zest zest from 1 large orange
⅓ cup honey
⅓ cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prep Ingredients

Pasta: Cook pasta according to package directions for one minute more than indicated for al dente. (i.e., if the box says that the rotini will be al dente after boiling 7 minutes, cook it for 8 minutes.) Do not overcook the pasta!
Turkey: Cut turkey into ¼- to ½-inch cubes, depending upon your preference.
Walnuts: Chop the walnuts by hand. This will give you some variety in chop-size, which is a good thing.
[Optional] Heat a small, dry skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped nuts and stir or toss the nuts almost constantly until the color changes slightly and they begin to smell toasty. Remove from heat immediately.
Mozzarella: Cut cheese into ¼- to ½-inch cubes, depending upon your preference.
Celery: Cut celery into ¼-inch cubes.

Honey-Citrus Dressing

To make the honey-citrus dressing, combine honey, orange zest, orange juice, kosher salt, and vegetable oil in a blender cup.
Blitz until thoroughly blended.

Pasta Salad

Toss together the cooled, cooked pasta with cubed turkey, cubed cheese, grapes, toasted nuts, and cubed celery in a large bowl.
Set aside.
Pour Citrus Dressing over pasta mixture and toss to coat everything.
Refrigerate for at least one hour; preferably overnight.
Toss pasta salad again just before serving.
Garnish with orange peel and sprigs of fresh mint.

Notes

Honey-Citrus Pasta Salad is best when it can marinate in the fridge for at least a few hours so that the flavors can mingle, meld, and marry. (It’s even better if it can sit overnight!)

Nutrition