Quick and Healthy Pesto Pasta Salad with Proteins
This is Pasta Pesto Salad, but not the way we know it. This is something a bit extra! It’s packed with flavor and texture in every mouthful, making it ideal for lunches, picnics, or as a buffet side dish, and takes only 15 minutes to prepare. Fresh local veggies are easy to source at local farmer’s markets and farm stands. Serve this yummy pasta salad hot or cold. This makes it ideal for leftovers or preparing ahead. Super quick and simple this recipe is sure to become a family go-to because it is so satisfying, healthful, and tasty.
Ingredients for Pesto Pasta Salad
- Choose your preferred type of short-shaped pasta. Maybe try something else to shake things up? Shells, macaroni, tubes, spirals!
- Sweetcorn – tinned and drained. You can use fresh corn if you want; cook it first, then take the corn off the cobs. (This recipe is a great way to use up a couple extra ears of corn leftover from dinner last night!)
- Baby mozzarella – These are the small packs of balls. Before you use the cheese, make sure to thoroughly drain it and pat dry with a paper towel. Bocconcini works nicely too.
- Cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons of mayo (this will keep everything beautifully moist)
- Red onion
- Crispy bacon – Make this pasta salad extra easy by using ready-cooked crispy bacon, which is available at most supermarkets for convenience, but you could also cook your own if you’d like.
- Pesto – Fresh, handmade, or jarred is good.
- Lemon (just the juice)
- Plain Greek yogurt.
- Pine nuts or walnuts (optional but they add great texture and crunch – protein too) – toast nuts lightly for extra flavor
Nothing is more life-saving than knowing that everyone is hungry right now but you don’t have the time, ingredients, or motivation to prepare a whole complicated hot meal. Pasta salads are coming to save you!
This Pasta Pesto Salad is honestly incredibly quick and easy, has only a few ingredients, and goes really nicely together.
Steps to Make Quick Pesto Pasta Salad
- Cook the pasta in salted water as per the package. Maybe just a minute longer. This is because pasta will firm up in the fridge. Meanwhile, prep all of the other ingredients.
- When the pasta has done cooking, drain it thoroughly and rinse it under cold water. Make it as dry as possible. Add the other ingredients and stir thoroughly.
- Toss your pesto pasta salad in this order! pasta, pesto and mayo first. Then cheese and tomato. Lastly, any other veggies or leafy greens.
Options for Your Pesto Pasta Salad
Nuts – I’ve included them as an optional addition if you have them. Toasting them slightly before adding them to the dish adds a nice nutty crunch and an extra depth of flavor.
Veggies – Of course, you can add a few more! Great way to use ingredients. Peppers, for example, would add more bite and sweetness, as would other salad elements.
Meat – The crispy bacon adds a nice crunchy, salty flavor that complements the creaminess of the cheese and yogurt, but other meats will work as well. Simple cooked ham or chicken would be ideal. Of course, you could leave out the meat to make it vegetarian.
Eggs – Add some hardboiled eggs halved or sliced for extra protein and heartiness sure to satisfy everyone in the family.
For more great family recipes, visit our Food & Home section where you can find more family dinners like Pasta Primavera and hearty Soups, along with desserts that include strawberry shortcake.
Try other delicious, kid-friendly recipes, such as an Easy & Delicious Quesadilla and Grilled Cheese With Peaches, pasta primavera and more recipes.
JENNIFER BRYERTON, Ma Ed., our Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, started her career in teaching, Co-founded CharlottesvilleFamily and is a mom of four. A believer in experiential education and an avid gardener, beehives, a fruit and veggie plot, perennial borders and a chicken coop dot the family lawn west of Charlottesville. Jen also enjoys sharing travel, museums, theater performances and nature attractions with her family.
