Vegan pasta salad, so fresh and nutritious. It’s ready in 15 minutes and made with natural, affordable, and easy-to-find ingredients.
This vegan pasta salad is fantastic for the summertime. It’s refreshing, so convenient to eat on the go, and great to take to a picnic. This recipe is so simple and mostly requires fresh ingredients, so it’s perfect for the whole family to enjoy!
I decided to use penne (short pasta works best for this dish), although you could make it with any other kind of pasta or even rice. However, you can customize it with any ingredient you’d like. It’s ready in just 15 minutes!
Ingredient notes
- Pasta: any type of pasta will do. Use gluten-free pasta if needed.
- Veggies: add any veggies you like or have on hand, such as broccoli, bell pepper, or zucchini.
- Black olives: any type of olives will work. You can omit them too if you want.
- Extra virgin olive oil: I’m Spanish, so I use extra virgin olive oil to cook most of my dishes. However, any type of oil is okay. I always use extra virgin oils when possible because they’re healthier.
- Lemon juice: you could also use white or apple cider vinegar instead.
Dietary variations
- Make it gluten-free: use gluten-free pasta.
- Make it oil-free: use our tahini dressing instead of the suggested dressing in the recipe.
Pro tips
- Feel free to use your favorite salad dressing for this recipe.
- Lemon juice can be replaced by lime juice or even vinegar.
- You can customize your salad with any vegetables such as celery, dried or fresh herbs like fresh parsley, oregano, grape tomatoes, or spices.
How to make vegan pasta salad
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and cool it down with some cold water. Set aside.
- To make the salad dressing just mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl until well combined and set aside.
- Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl and stir.
- Serve your vegan pasta salad immediately.
How to store
- Fridge: store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.
Is pasta salad vegan?
To know if pasta salad is vegan, you just need to check out the ingredients. If it contains animal-derived products such as cheese or tuna, it is not vegan; however, if it is only made with plant-based ingredients, it is.
Serving suggestions
Although this recipe already comes with a dressing, there are plenty of different dressings you can use. I’d recommend you try it with vegan mayo or vegan pesto to taste.
However, if you’d like to add some vegan protein to your meal, feel free to incorporate some chopped tempeh bacon. And don’t forget to add vegan Parmesan cheese on top!
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Vegan Pasta Salad
- Prep: 5 mins
- Cook: 10 mins
- Total: 15 mins
- 2-4 1x
- Main Dish, Salad
- American
- Vegan
Servings 2-4 1x
Vegan pasta salad, so good, tasty, and nutritious. It’s ready in 15 minutes and it’s made with natural, affordable, and easy-to-find ingredients.
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 8 ounces pasta (225 g), use gluten-free if needed
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (200 g), chopped
- 1/2 cup black olives, (70 g), pitted and chopped
- ½ cup English cucumbers (60 g), sliced into thin half-moons
- ½ cup corn kernels (85 g)
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
For the salad dressing:
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and cool it down with some cold water. Set aside.
- To make the salad dressing just mix all the ingredients in a small bowl until well combined and set aside.
- Add all the ingredients to a large bowl (pasta, tomatoes, olives, cucumber, corn kernels, onion, basil, and salad dressing).
- Serve your vegan pasta salad immediately. If you want to try a different kind of dressing, I’d recommend you try it with vegan mayo or vegan pesto to taste. If you’d like to add vegan protein to your meal, feel free to incorporate some chopped tempeh bacon. And don’t forget to add vegan Parmesan cheese on top!
- Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.
Notes
- Feel free to use your favorite salad dressing for this recipe.
- Lemon juice can be replaced by lime juice or even vinegar.
- You can customize your vegan pasta salad with any veggies, fresh or dried herbs, spices, or any other ingredient you want.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 servings
- Calories: 334
- Sugar: 2.9 g
- Sodium: 455 mg
- Fat: 13.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 48.5 g
- Fiber: 8.1 g
- Protein: 10.5 g
Update Notes: This post was originally published in June of 2018, but was republished with new photos, step-by-step instructions, and tips in July of 2022.
You have created another wonderful dish! Tried this recipe today and my family and I LOVED it! It’s so easy and delicious. Definitely going make it again sometime.
★★★★★
Hi Kirsten! Thank you so much 😉 So glad to hear that!
Why would someone not eat oil?
Hi Suzie! You can eat whatever you want, but there are some studies that probe it’s not a super healthy food: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_o4YBQPKtQ
It really looks amazing! I can’t wait to try making this!
Hi Diego! Thanks a lot 🙂 Hope you like it!