Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad
I’ve been craving pasta salad lately so onto the menu it went. In effort to up my vegetable intake, I packed this Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad as full of as many veggies that I possibly could. I’m happy to say, it worked. This pasta salad was so good that I’ve been eating it about twice a day!
Don’t be intimidated by the long ingredient list, this salad comes together really quickly. Use whatever vegetables you can get your hands on but I find that it helps to try to hit most of the colors of the rainbow (the prettier the salad, the more appetizing). I also had about 2/3 of a jar of roasted red peppers in my fridge left over from my hummus pizza, so I sliced ’em up and threw them in there as well, but that is entirely optional.
Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad
Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 12 oz bow tie pasta ($1.39)
- 2 medium roma tomatoes ($0.61)
- 1 medium summer squash ($0.39)
- 1 medium zucchini ($0.39)
- 1 medium broccoli crown ($1.27)
- 1/2 medium red onion ($0.57)
- 15 oz jar roasted red peppers (2/3 jar) ($1.34)
- 1/2 bunch parsley ($0.49)
VINAIGRETTE
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil ($0.16)
- 1/4 cup olive oil ($0.44)
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar ($0.21)
- 1 Tbsp dijon mustard ($0.06)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1 tsp garlic, minced ($0.12)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.05)
- fresh cracked black pepper to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and boil for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Drain in a colander.
- While you’re waiting for the pasta water to boil and the pasta to cook, prepare the vegetables (squash, zucchini, broccoli, tomato, onion, parsley, red pepper). Give the vegetables a good wash and then cut into bite sized pieces (onions and red pepper thinly sliced; parsley removed from stems and chopped).
- While the pasta is cooling, prepare the vinaigrette. In a small bowl whisk together the vegetable oil, olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, oregano, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Combine the cooked pasta, chopped vegetables, and vinaigrette. Stir until everything is well mixed and coated with vinaigrette. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat.
Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
Cook the pasta in lightly salted water according to the package directions. Drain in a colander.
While the pasta is cooking, wash and chop your vegetables. Cut everything into small, bite sized pieces. I find it helpful to remind myself to cut the broccoli smaller than I would expect… super large chunks of broccoli throw off the balance of the salad! The onions and red peppers were thinly sliced and I just gave the parsley leaves a good chop.
Once the veggies are chopped and the pasta is drained and cooling, mix up the vinaigrette. It’s super easy, just whisk together the oils, red wine vinegar, dijon, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. Done.
Transfer the mostly cooled pasta (just make sure it’s not piping hot) to a very large bowl and pour the vinaigrette over top.
Add the chopped vegetables…
Stir it all together until everything is well mixed and coated with vinaigrette. Could you ask for anything prettier? Either serve immediately or refrigerate until ready. I like to refrigerate at least a half hour to let the flavors blend.
Oo, I feel like your taste buds match mine, because I think this taste outta sight! The vinaigrette reminds me of an Israeli Salad my local Greek restaurant serves. I modded this to match some ingredients ’round the house (and some I didn’t pick up at the store, whoops) and, yeah, YUM. I added a couple pinches of sugar and a dollop or mayo just to gut some of the acidity.
Today I’m making your Chimichurri Chickpea Salad, I hope it goes as well as this salad! Thank you for posting this recipe. :)
Delicious! Wouldn’t change a thing!
Such a good recipe! We really enjoy this and make it for family get togethers quite often. I have also substituted the pasta with a full head of cauliflower and used an entire bunch of broccoli, to make this gluten free for a relative.
I want to prep ahead of time. Can I make it the night before? Should I wait and add the dressing the day of?
I would add the dressing about 30 minutes before hand. Give it a little time to kind of soak in and flavor everything, and stir once more just before serving. :)
Just received this recipe from my healthcare provider clinic and they said the total cost for the recipe is $7.59…!!! Not likely if one has to buy all of the ingredients. I’m also wondering if they even used today’s dollars due to when this recipe was posted online.
Good recipe, nevertheless, but it is not under $8 to prepare if you need to buy all of the ingredients.
Spot on. I did add feta to give it a little more, but it does necessarily need it.
This is so good that I can’t stop eating it! It is exactly what I crave during these warm summer months. I’m not usually a parsley fan, but it added such a nice, fresh flavor. I substituted artichoke hearts for the peppers because that’s what I had. I plan to eat this all summer long. Yum!
did you use marinated artichoke hearts? Thank you
Salad was very tart. It was good with all of the veggies in it but it was just too much vinegar for my taste.
You could add a little bit of sugar to cut the tartness.
Delicious! I’m not usually a pasta salad fan, but this was a hit in my house. I did make a few changes. I used high protein pasta and fresh veggies from my garden: squash peppers, cucumber, tomato, green onion, dill, and basil. I also added some kalamata olives, frozen corn, sunflower kernals, and a firm cubed cheese. To the dressing, I added some white pepper and red pepper flakes. I served it with vegetarian BLTs, and it was gobbled up!
Is it ok to blanch the vegetables (then cool)? I don’t really like them completely uncooked.
Yes, absolutely. :)
This pasta salad is excellent! I used stone ground dijon mustard instead of plain. Will definitely be making this again!
I just made it and it is wonderful. My husband just had two stents put in his heart and this is really healthy for us. Great for a side dish for dinner or for a main lunch dish.