Pesto Pasta Salad is a light, simple side or easy meal that is bursting with so much flavor! In only 10 minutes, cooked pasta noodles are tossed with all your favorite veggies, and coated in a zesty pesto sauce. Whether you’re bringing this to the backyard BBQ, or you’re in need of a quick and tasty lunch, this pesto pasta salad recipe is the one for you.
Reasons You’ll Love This
Sooo Simple! – All you need is 10 quick minutes, and and a handful of simple ingredients before this irresistible pasta salad is ready to eat and enjoy!
Customizable – You can add extra veggies or proteins to this pesto pasta salad to curate it to your exact liking.
Light and Fresh – This is a perfect dish to eat when you don’t want anything too heavy, but still want something that’s packed with your favorite flavors.
Pesto Lovers – It’s hard not to put pesto on everything. You can either use your favorite jar of pesto for this recipe, or use this incredible homemade pesto sauce.
Spice it Up! – Tired of the old Italian dressing pasta salads? This is a great way to change it up to keep your lunches fresh and exciting.
Veggies, pasta, pesto, oh my! This is the salad for those of you who don’t want a salad but still like to say you’re eating a salad. And yes, this counts! It has everything you need in a meal, all tossed together in harmony. Don’t wait any longer, you’ve gotta make this now.
Let’s discuss how to make Pesto Pasta Salad, as well as the ingredients that are needed. Please take note that below you will find discussion, expert tips, and answers to frequently asked questions about this recipe to help you recreate it in your kitchen. If you *just* want the recipe itself, scroll down. The full printable recipe itself, with exact measurements and instructions, is found at the bottom of this page.
Ingredient Info
- Pasta – Bowtie pasta, or farfalle pasta is a great pasta shape for this recipe because the ridges in the noodles do a great job scooping up all that pesto sauce. You can use any pasta shape you prefer. Some great substitutes are cavatappi pasta, rotini or penne.
- Pesto – Use whatever kind of pesto sauce you prefer. However, I highly recommend going with this homemade pesto sauce recipe. You can never go wrong with a homemade sauce, and the flavors are insane.
- Spinach – Gotta have the greens! Shredded spinach is easier to eat rather than throwing in the whole leaf. If you’d like, you can substitute the spinach for arugula for a more peppery taste.
- Pine Nuts – Highly recommend toasting the pine nuts, but you don’t have to. You can also substitute them for a different nut like cashews, chopped almonds or walnuts.
- Tomatoes – You can stick with the classic cherry or grape tomatoes for this recipe or you can use diced tomatoes of any kind.
- Red Onion – Red onion adds that sharp flavor that you know and love. If you want you could substitute this for some sliced green onion, or white onion.
- Lemon Juice – Fresh lemon juice is always recommended for most recipes unless specified, but bottled lemon juice will do the trick.
- Parmesan – Parmesan is a classic pesto pairing, but some of those little mozzarella pearls would be wonderful in this recipe instead.
Step By Step Instructions
- Begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. While it boils, grab a large skillet, and place it over medium-low heat. To the pan, add the raw pine nuts. Stir the nuts around for 6-7 minutes, or until toasted. Keep a close eye on them, and stir often to make sure they don’t burn. Transfer the toasted pine nuts to a separate plate and let them cool off to the side. To the boiling water, add salt, then add the pasta. Let that cook according to the package directions. Drain the cooked pasta into a strainer then run the pasta under cold water. Add the cooled pasta to a large mixing bowl. Mix the lemon juice with the pesto sauce before adding it to the pasta.
- Toss the pesto and pasta together until evenly combined.
- Add the tomatoes, red onion, spinach, salt and pepper to the pasta and toss to combine. Top the tossed pasta salad with freshly grated parmesan cheese and the toasted pine nuts. Serve and enjoy!
Tips and Advice
Storage – Leftovers will store nicely in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. I don’t recommend freezing this recipe.
Equipment – For this recipe you’ll need a large pot, a large skillet, a large mixing bowl, and a few utensils to stir and toss with.
Make Ahead – You can prep all the ingredients ahead of time, and assemble them when you’re ready to serve. If you chose this method, I recommend cooking and storing the pasta noodles a bit differently. Boil and salt the water as directed, but cut the cooking time down by 2 minutes because the pasta will still cook after drained. Drain the pasta well, run it under cold water, then transfer it to a large gallon Ziploc bag. To the bag, add a table spoon of olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other, as well as 1/2 a teaspoon of Kosher salt. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. Prep all the other ingredients as normal, and store them in airtight containers or baggies until you’re ready to assemble.
FAQs
The great thing about this recipe is that you can add so many more ingredients to the salad. Here’s a list: olives, bell peppers, artichoke hearts, pepperoncini peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, chickpeas, cucumber, shaved carrots, red pepper flakes and so on and so on. If you’d like to serve this dish as a main course meal, you can top it off with some protein like shredded chicken, grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, salmon, etc.
Yes. This is not a hot dish, and is safe to eat cold.
Sometimes, pesto can have a bitter taste. If you used old pesto, or old olive oil to make the pesto, that could be why. Check out this recipe for homemade pesto sauce, and read how to avoid bitterness in your pesto.
Serves Well With
Serve this pesto pasta salad as a side dish to many different proteins like creamy chicken, grilled pork, baked parmesan chicken, and turkey breast. This also works well with a lot of different side dishes including dinner rolls, baked beans, corn on the cob, glazed carrots, and so much more.
Recipes You’ll Love
Still can’t get enough? Try out a few more zesty, flavor packed recipes just like this one.
- Chicken Pesto Pasta
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Easy Rotini Pasta Salad
- Summer Pasta Salad
- Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad
- Ambrosia Fruit Salad
- Homemade Pesto Recipe
Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta bow tie pasta (farfalle) is a great choice
- 1 cup homemade pesto or 7 to 8 ounces of jarred pesto sauce
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups fresh spinach shredded and measured packed
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes – halved or grape tomatoes
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1/3 cup pine nuts for garnish
- fresh grated parmesan for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, watching carefully, so they don’t burn. Toasting the pine nuts will take about 6-7 minutes. Transfer the pine nuts to a plate. Set aside to cool.
- When the water boils, add about 2 tablespoons of salt. Add pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente pasta.
- Drain the pasta when done. Cool under running water. Shake off excess water, then pour pasta into a large bowl.
- Add lemon juice to the pesto. Add pesto to pasta, and toss to combine
- Add salt and pepper, spinach, tomatoes, and onion. Toss again.
- Top with grated parmesan cheese and toasted pine nuts.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Sharon says
This was a real hit at a family gathering this weekend. It’s definitely going to be my new go-to pasta salad recipe!
Mamie Henson says
Wow! I don’t usually like pasta salad but this one is amazing! I love it with the pesto. So much flavor and super easy to make. I think this will be a hit tonight at my ladies event!