Pesto is delicious in a pasta salad! If you’ve never had this combination, you’ll be delighted. Make fresh basil pesto and decorate spiral pasta with olives, cherry tomatoes, green peas and pine nuts. Great for lunch or a light dinner.
When it’s potluck barbecue season, pesto pasta salad is a quick and easy dish you can make for a gathering!
Spiral pasta catches and holds the pieces of basil pesto. You can flavor the pesto and pasta with any number of ingredients.
What’s your favorite summer pasta salad? Let us know in the comments.
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Check out this easy pesto pasta salad recipe
What is pesto?
The word “pesto” is the past tense of the Italian word “pestare” which means “to crush”. That’s because it was traditionally made by crushing the ingredients in a mortar and pestle. The most popular variety is the Genoese version made with basil, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil, which we use here. But you can make pesto with just about any greens.
Never made pesto before? Try our Basil Pesto Recipe, a favorite!
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Pasta salad keeps well in the fridge. However, the pesto will quickly darken and oxidize. So add the pesto as soon as possible before serving.
That being said, this recipe is great for weekday lunches or light dinners when it’s too hot to cook. It’s also a great camping or picnic food, as it’s meant to be served at room temperature.
It should keep in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 days.
More delicious pasta recipes to try!
- Pasta e fagioli
- Fly pasta with peas, prosciutto and arugula
- Caprese pasta salad
- Greek pasta salad
- Creamy pasta with chicken and asparagus
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Pesto Pasta Salad
Prepare the salad while the water for the pasta is boiling.
For pasta salads, it is best to use dry pasta instead of fresh pasta. They hold their shape better when tossed with the other ingredients.
ingredients
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4 cups uncooked fusili Noodles (use rice noodles for the wheat-free version)
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1 Cup fresh basil Pestostore bought or homemade
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2 tablespoon chopped green olives or olive tapenade
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1/3 Cup pine nuts
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1 Cup frozen peasthawed (or fresh if you can get them)
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12 ounces sorted cherry tomatoeshalved
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Several fresh basil leavesroughly chopped
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1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
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Kosher salt taste
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Fresh ground black pepper taste
method
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Cook pasta:
Cook noodles according to package directions. Make sure the water is salted (one and a half teaspoons per liter). Remove pasta from heat and drain when pasta is cooked but still al dente.
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Roast pine nuts:
While the pasta is cooking, toast the pine nuts in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Keep an eye on them, because pine nuts can go from nice and toasty to spicy and burnt in a matter of seconds.
When most of the nuts are golden brown, transfer them to a cool bowl or plate to rest. They will burn if you leave them in the pan.
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Mix salad noodles:
Place noodles in a large bowl. Mix in the fresh basil pesto, green olives, and pine nuts. Gently fold in the cherry tomatoes, peas, fresh basil leaves and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve at room temperature.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 371 | calories |
| 22g | Fat |
| 34g | carbohydrates |
| 10g | protein |
