15 Perfect Pasta Salad Recipes

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These pasta salad recipes are fantastic for parties and snacks, but equally good for weekday lunches! Grab the recipes as well as tips on how to make your pasta salads perfect.

6 tips for making pasta salad

When it comes to healthy recipes, pasta salads may not be at the top of your list, but they should be! Skip the heavy dressing and add extra veggies and you can make a light pasta salad that’s fresh and flavorful.

Here are my top tips:

Add salt to the water

I think sometimes we want to avoid salting pasta water because we’re afraid of going overboard with sodium, but remember: most of that salted water is going to go down the drain anyway!

Salting the cooking water makes the pasta more flavorful—and when the pasta is more flavorful, it means you don’t need to add copious amounts of dressing and cheese to make your pasta salad delicious.

Get dressed in two phases

If you’ve ever made a pasta salad ahead of time only to find it bone dry in the fridge, this is the solution. Immediately add half of the dressing while the pasta is still warm. Throw on the coat.

Then, just before you plan to serve, add the rest of the dressing. This allows your pasta salad to soak up some of the dressing while it’s warm so it doesn’t soak up the rest of the dressing when you add it before serving.

Consider your supplements

Another tip for making a pasta salad ahead of time is to leave out any toppings that won’t do well when refrigerated. Croutons and nuts, for example, will lose their crunch, and fresh spinach and arugula will wilt. Add these types of mixes right before serving to keep your pasta salad tasting fresh.

Swap the mayo

If you have some classic pasta salad recipes that you want to lighten up, I recommend replacing some or all of the mayonnaise with plain Greek yogurt. It’s creamy and rich, but also has added protein and a fantastic tangy flavor. Yogurt lightens up your pasta salad while making it more satisfying.

Increase the ratio of vegetables to pasta

Turn the typical ratio upside down to make your pasta salad more salad than pasta! This is my favorite way to make pasta salads lighter.

It works not only because you add more vegetables than calorie-rich pasta, but because the vegetables have more flavor than the pasta, which means you can get away with less dressing.

Let it come to room temperature

Instead of serving the pasta salad chilled, I like to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes. This makes creamy salads creamier and allows you to really taste all the flavors.