This Summer Pasta Salad highlights the best of summer veggies! Zucchini, corn, bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes are tossed with noodles in a flavorful cilantro pesto. Vegan and Gluten-free. Video.
Life goes on. It always does.
Dave Stone
Looking for a light and healthy summer meal? This Summer Pasta Salad is crave-worthy! Zucchini, corn, and peppers are grilled (or roasted) and tossed with noodles and a punchy cilantro pesto enhanced with lime juice and jalapeño. Keep it vegan, or sprinkle it with crumbled cotija if you like!
This healthy pasta salad is a hit in our catering business during the summer months. People constantly ask for the recipe, so here it is! Grilling the veggies adds so much flavor. It is such a crowd pleaser, perfect for summer gatherings and potlucks, or meal prep it ahead for midweek meals.
Why You’ll Love This Pasta Salad!
- Healthy and Light! Bursting with veggies and made with optional gluten-free rice noodles, the sauce is vegan- keeping it light.
- Bursting with Flavor! Vibrant and flavorful with Cilantro Pesto.
- Versatile and Easy to Prepare! Adapt to your taste. Add spice, grilled shrimp, chicken, or tofu.
Pasta Salad Ingredients
- Pasta or Rice Noodles: we love gluten free rice noodles or sub pasta (linguini, fusilli, rotini, farfalle, or any pasta shape, cooked to al dente).
- Veggies: Feel free to add any grillable vegetable you like or have on hand. I’ll often pick up what is available at our local farmers’ market—here, we’re using zucchini, red bell pepper, onion, fresh corn on the cobb, cherry tomatoes.
- Herbs: we use cilantro for the pesto, but feel free to sub basil!
- Seasonings: salt, black pepper, coriander, smoked paprika, lime juice and lime zest.
- Extra virgin Olive oil: for healthy richness.
- Pumpkin seeds: to give the pesto nutty flavor and a bit of texture.
- Garnish with lime wedges, pepitas, cilantro leaves and optional cotija cheese crumbles.
How to Make Pasta Salad
Step One: Cook the noodles. Pour boiling water over the rice noodles, let stand for 3 minutes until tender and al dente, then drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. If using regular pasta, cook to package directions.
Step Two: Make the cilantro pesto. Place the pesto ingredients in a food processor and pulse! Set this aside.
Step Three: Grill the veggies. Lightly oil the veggies and season with salt and pepper, and grill over medium heat. *Alternatively you could cut the veggies into small pieces and either roast in the oven or saute them- though grilling gives the best flavor.
Step Four: Combine! Cut up the grilled veggies and place in a large bowl with the noodles and cilantro pesto and toss well! Chill until ready to serve, or serve at room temperature.
Chef’s Tips
- In a hurry? Feel free to use store-bought basil pesto. Season with salt and lemon, if needed. Of course, this will change the flavor a bit, but if the pesto is good, you can make it work.
- Making this ahead? Feel free to grill the veggies, cook the noodles, and make the pesto ahead (but bring to room temp before tossing.) You can store separately in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- Serve with a protein! We love this with grilled haloumi, shrimp, chipotle chicken, or grilled tofu.
- Grilling really elevates the veggies!
- Cook the rice noodles to al dente so they don’t fall apart when tossed.
Serving Suggestions
Serve the pasta salad on a platter or in a bowl, and top with halved cherry tomatoes, sprinkle with more pepitas and cilantro leaves and serve with lime wedges. A delicious side dish alongside Mexican-inspired mains. You can serve this chilled, at room temperature, or even warmed up!
Storage
This pasta salad will last up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
More Favorite Pasta Salads
- Healthy Taco Salad
- Farmers Market Pasta Salad
- Creamy Pesto Pasta Salad
- Pasta Salad with Asparagus & Mushrooms
- Spring Pea Pasta Salad
- Zucchini Pasta
On the home front. This is the first 4th of July in a long time, we didn’t have Dave’s BBQ Chicken. We are in the process of saying goodbye to Brian’s stepdad, Dave, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 9 months ago.
As his body dwindles away, his eyes have become bright and clear with a beautiful and arresting presence. He’s going into this last phase of his life with eyes wide open. I can’t fathom the courage it must take to face your own end.
It’s heart-wrenching to witness, yet incredibly poignant and beautiful. Today, as we commiserated about the inevitable finality of it all, he simply said, “Life goes on. It always does.” Sylvia
Watch how to make Pasta Salad
Summer Pasta Salad
- Prep Time: 35
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: salad, summer, pasta
- Method: grilled
- Cuisine: mexican
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Summer Pasta Salad highlights the best of summer veggies- grilled zucchini, corn, bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes tossed in a flavorful cilantro pesto. Vegan and Gluten-free. Video. Serve chilled, warm or at room temp.
Ingredients
- 6 ounces rice noodles (or sub pasta of any shape- linguini, penne, farfalle, rotini, etc, cooked to package directions)
- 2 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
- 1 red bell pepper, cut in half, seeded
- 1/2 a red onion, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
- 1-2 ears of fresh corn ( or use frozen, roasted corn ), shucked
- olive oil, salt and black pepper for veggies
- Garnish with cherry tomatoes, lime wedges, pepitas, cilantro leaves, or optional cotija cheese.
Cilantro Pesto:
- 1 large bunch cilantro (thin stems ok), or sub basil.
- 2 fat garlic cloves
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped jalapeno (optional)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil – make sure it is not overly bitter
- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (raw)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional- only if you like the smoky flavor)
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Instructions
- Cook the noodles. Pour boiling water over the rice noodles, ( I put them in a baking dish) let stand for 3 minutes until al dente, then drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. If using pasta, cook to al dente.
- Make the Cilantro Pesto. Place the cilantro, garlic and jalapeño in food processor and pulse repeatedly until finely chopped. Add the olive oil, pumpkin seeds, coriander, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and pulse until combined but not too smooth. You should have a fairly loose (runny) pesto -perfect for tossing the salad. Taste, adjust lime to taste. If bitter, add a little sugar. You can do this ahead and refrigerate.
- Preheat the Grill to medium-high.
- Prep the veggies – brush or spray with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the veggies on the grill, lower heat to medium, cover, checking the veggies every few minutes or so….turning to char. Once the veggies are done, cut into bite-sized cubes.
- Assemble. Give the pasta a final cool water rinse, loosening it up. Drain and place in a bowl. Add the Cilantro Pesto and the veggies and an additional ½ teaspoon salt, and possibly more to taste. Adjust lime, salt and heat according to your taste preference. I’ll sometimes add a pinch of chipotle pepper, or chili flakes, or even more finely chopped jalapeño to bump up the heat.
- Serve: Place on a serving platter or in a bowl, top with halved cherry tomatoes, sprinkle with more pepitas and cilantro leaves and serve with lime wedges. Sprinkle with cotija if you like!
Notes
To make it a meal, top it with grilled halloumi cheese, grilled tofu, shrimp, or grilled chicken. You can also serve this chilled, or warm!
Oven Version: To roast the veggies instead of using a grill, cut zucchini, bell pepper and onion into bite-sized pieces, toss with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread out on a sheet pan and roast in a 400F oven for 20-ish minutes, stirring halfway through. You can roast fresh corn as well, cut it off the cob, and add it to the mix.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 318
- Sugar: 4.1 g
- Sodium: 202.6 mg
- Fat: 23 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.8 g
- Fiber: 2.4 g
- Protein: 3.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
It still feels like summer in Southern California, so I tried this for dinner today. The family loved it! I had to make a few substitutions based on what I had in my fridge (green beans vs. bell pepper, regular pasta vs. rice noodles), and it turned out great. This gives me confidence to try another new recipe soon, since they are all so adaptable. We did have shrimp on top which was a nice but optional addition.
Perfect Janine- glad you gave it a go!
This is delicious exactly as written. Thank you so much. I made this for my gourmet club. The theme is Farm to table and I had the side dish starch. It was easy but time consuming to make. I definitely recommend. Great flavor
Thanks Karie!
This came out pretty well – very tasty. It took longer than expected but I will just prep some of the items ahead of time next time I make it. Thank you for these recipes, I have made several and they are really good.
thanks Kay!
Truly delicious. For those who have not made pesto before, add a little bit of the oil with the other ingredients, then while processing slowly add the rest of the oil. I used a little more than the recommended ½cup.
I added blackened chicken breast for the non vegetarians. It was a big hit for the eight of us! Thank you for the great recipe!
Awesome Nathan!
If I dont have a food processor, can i use store bought pesto
Yes, that should work, it will taste different, but should still taste good. 🙂
Hi Sylvia, I loved this recipe. I improvised with pistachios for the pesto, and it turned out delicious! I made the Asian Cucumber Salad as well. I love that salad because it’s fast, easy and crunchy. I make many of your recipes and have yet to be disappointed. My only complaint is that it seems everything I make takes 2-3 times longer for me, and I’m an experienced cook.
So glad you enjoyed this! I will pay more attention to cooking times…I am a fast chopper.;)
Hi Sylvia.
I love your recipes. I, too, find it takes me a long time to produce these lovely dishes especially if my sous chef is unavailable (which is most of the time…teeheehee.)
haha Martie- and yes I hear you. I will try to be more mindful of timing. 🙂
This is so good! I’m definitely adding it to my summer rotation
Gald you enjoyed Daphne!
Hello, Sylvia! I hope you are doing well. I don’t have a grill or a grill pan, so do you think I could try roasting the red pepper, fresh corn, and zuchinnis in the oven? (Maybe I could even turn the broiler on to char them a little). This looks so delicious that even without a grill, I wanted to try it!
I think roasting would work fine!
Love this summer pasta salad- 3rd time making! Don’t change a thing!
I don’t have a food processor. Can I use my blender to do the pesto?
I think it would work- just add the cilantro last, a bit at a time, so the blender blades can get going. 🙂
Thank you so much for your quick response; I will do that; I can’t wait to try it. 🙂
This recipe is fresh, flavorful, and easy to prepare. Actually, every recipe I have tried on the feastingathome blog has been a winner. Thank you Sylvia for making healthy eating delicious.
How many people does this recipe serve
This serves 4 as a “meal”, and 6-8 as a side salad.
Do you think I could replicate this but with a basil pesto instead of cilantro?
Totally!
This was the first recipe I tried from Feasting At Home. WOW! It was amazing. I can hardly wait to make it (and devour it!) again.
Yay! Glad you liked it Cheryl and welcome to the blog.
Made this for dinner twice last week. Super delicious! We topped ours with chicken. I actually found brown rice noodles in the international section of Kroger. They worked really well. I followed the cooking instructions on the package of noodles. Turned out great! Thank you!!
Yay!🙌
How far in advance could I make the pesto and roast the veggies, soften the rice noodles but keep them in separate containers and blend before serving? This looks amazing and I would love to make it for the 4th of July.
I think it would be fine to do the day before!
Delicious and summery! I love the cilantro pesto!
thanks so much Luann!
Made this and it is so good. The sauce is amazing. I didn’t have the pumpkin seeds so used almonds in the pesto. It was great for the texture. I think if you want it as a side, it would work great even without the noodles! This will be one of my go to summer salads!
Thanks Frank!
This turned out quite tasty. I used all the vegetables except for onions, and added chopped avocado as an additional garnish along with grape tomatoes. I wasn’t sure about cilantro pesto, but I quite liked it. I used very thin rice noodles (vermicelli), which I found a bit thin, so next time I’ll use a thicker rice noodle or perhaps some regular pasta. Thanks for the recipe!
Are the pumpkin seeds raw?
Yes!
I love cilantro and this had such an amazing flavour. The corn, zucchini and peppers were a great combination. Even my hubby, who doesn’t love cilantro couldn’t stop raving!
Have donne this pasta salad and it’s excellent and very refreshing for this Time of the year, everybody enjoy it, will do it again that for sure…..thanks à lot for this excellent recipe Sylvia , Xx
Thanks Bruno! Glad you liked it!
This was so delicious! I will make this again!!
YAY! I like this one too!
This looks great! When made ahead, how do the rice noodles hold up? Wondering if I’d be better off using semolina pasta?
Perhaps? Yes, that might be best. 😉
This is so delicious. I was a little hesitant about the cilantro pesto, I like cilantro but as a pesto I thought it might be a bit much but it was perfect. I will definitely makes this again and again and again.
Best pasta salad! I love the color that pesto brings to a pasta salad, especially when it is homemade! The combination of grilled corn, zucchini and tomatoes is also OUT OF THIS WORLD, especially when it’s summer and they are all in season! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for visiting and commenting. You guys are doing such a great job!