Rainbow garden Pasta Salad is one of my favorite salads ever! This amazing one-bowl meal gets its bright colors and flavors from multicolored, multi-flavored (spinach and tomato flavored) rotini or spiral pasta, black olives, orange carrots, green dill pickles, fresh green dill leaves, green peppers and red tomatoes along with radishes in a tangy homemade vinaigrette.
Chop up a big bowl of this and you can have a complete meal of it with added proteins like tofu, paneer (Indian cottage cheese), shredded or cubed cheese or some healthy walnuts, sunflower seeds etc.
I am a huge lover of salad, any salad! The only thing I missed (really!!) when I moved back to India in the 90s was those huge salad bars in restaurants in USA.
I used to love to spend a looong time in the restaurant, savoring all different types of premade mixed salads (pasta, potato, greens etc.), the humongous variety of salad greens and other fresh vegetables along with a mind boggling array of salad dressings (blue cheese, mayo, Italian, honey-mustard etc.).
With visual treats (exciting for the gourmet in each one of us) of various kinds of breads, desserts and sometimes Italian dishes like pizza or soups, every trip to US was never complete with a visit to a local salad bar!
With summer here (and so enjoyable in winters too!), nothing sounds more inviting than a big bowl of fresh salad, packed with onions, radishes, carrots or sometimes fresh, tender zucchini in a tangy vinaigrette; bottled store bought or even better, homemade!
Addition of pasta (any variety like macaroni, spiral/rotini or even some penne; try to use the enriched ones) adds a lovely texture as well as some carbs to the meal; sprinkle some nuts (sunflower, heart-healthy walnuts, almonds etc.) and some sweet raisins or even some chopped up dates (adds a sweet and pleasant dimension to the salad) to elevate the nutrition quotient.
Sometimes, when I do add tofu (soybean curd) or paneer (Indian cottage cheese), and sometimes precooked beans like red kidney beans, chickpeas or even black beans; stirring some in elevates the protein content and gives a nice and different texture to this bowl of goodness.
Pasta salads are normally dressed up with a creamy dressing with mayonnaise. I love my homemade Italian vinaigrette any day. Almost always, I do have a big bottle of homemade vinaigrette in the refrigerator. It is so easy to make with easily available ingredients already in your pantry.
Just blend oil (any cooking oil or salad oil; olive oil is the best) with some vinegar (white or red wine), a little water and seasonings like salt, pepper, oregano or Italian seasoning and a dash of fresh garlic (minced or grated finely). Shake well in a jar and your homemade vinaigrette (without all the added chemicals, preservatives and not to mention the high cost of store bought dressing) is ready.
Of course, if you are out of any of these ingredients or short on time, store bought can also be substituted.
I had some fresh dill along with Kalamata olives, (I love the flavor of dill and my family loved the aroma it lent to the salad!), so I added some chopped dill leaves too. You can substitute with any other fresh herb like cilantro or even mint leaves.
For added crunch, I have stirred in some dill pickles (always in my pantry; use them in sandwiches or for a low-calorie snack attack!) but the crunch, texture and flavor of dill pickles in my salads are so good!
The best part of this salad is you can make it ahead of time (stays fresh for a day or two in the refrigerator) and serve later with any meal.
Make a big bowl and they are great for parties or potlucks. Just take some extra dressing to drizzle on the salad just before serving for extra flavor. A squeeze of lemon adds fresher tang to the dish.
Add more veggies to pasta and you can indulge in this guilt free any time. So, it does not matter what veggies you have in your pantry or refrigerator, as long as they can be eaten raw or if not, blanch them (like broccoli, green beans etc.), an amazing healthy pasta salad is just a few minutes away. Do not like pasta? Just omit them and enjoy the salad anyway!
UPDATED JANUARY 2022:
Although it is winter, we still love our pasta salads, be it Zesty Macaroni Salad or this one!
Made a large bowl of it using red radishes, cherry tomatoes, blanched broccoli, chopped green and red bell peppers, sliced onions, dill pickles, walnuts and raisins. Just make sure to add the walnuts and raisins just before serving or they my turn soft, especially the raisins. If using dates, it is fine to add ahead.
Used a store bought Zesty Italain Dressing this time.
Do try this one and let me know in the comments below or on my facebook page.
If you do happen to try this, I would be thrilled to hear about it; please leave your comments and thoughts (do not forget to rate it with a star rating) in the box below or share your version on Instagram (tagging @curryandvanilla16; #curryandvanilla16) and/or share it on my Facebook page.
More tasty salads you can try:
- Spinach, Walnuts and Apple Salad
- Mung Bean Sprouts, Mango and Corn Salad
- Carrot and Beetroot Salad
- Indian Fruit Salad
- Marinated Vegetable Salad
- Grated Carrot Salad with Coconut
One bowl meal of mixed fresh vegetables, pasta and nuts/raisins in a delicious salad dressing; homemade or store bought
Ingredients
- 2 cups tricolor rotini pasta (using natural flavors) or your favorite pasta
- 1 cup chopped capsicum
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes)
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
- 1 cup sliced red radish
- ½ cup chopped dill pickles
- ½ cup sliced red onions
- ¼ cup black raisins
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- 1 bottle Ranch or Creamy Italian dressing (or your favorite creamy dressing)
- Chopped dill leaves
- Pumpkin seeds
- Chopped dates
- Grated carrots
- Shredded cabbage
- Walnuts (chopped) etc.
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and keep aside to cool.
- Once you have drained the pasta, use the same hot water to blanch the broccoli florets until just tender.
- Or add broccoli florets about 2 minutes before draining the pasta.
- Drain and keep under running cold water to stop the blanching (this retains the dark green color of the vegetable), drain and cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all the salad ingredients: pasta, broccoli, cucumber, tomatoes, capsicum, onions, radish, dill pickles etc.
- Drizzle your favorite dressing (ranch in this case) over the whole mixture.
- Stir together to combine well.
- Chill in refrigerator until serving time. Pasta salad tends to absorb dressing over time, so drizzle some more dressing just before serving, mix and enjoy!
Notes
You can add any fresh/raw vegetable you like or have. If using green beans, broccoli, peas etc. blanch them a bit before mixing into the salad. Use any kind of pasta you like or have or omit it altogether to make a carb free salad. For added protein, you can add chopped tofu, paneer, cooked beans like red kidney beans, garbanzo beans, black beans etc.
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I'm not a salad person, but love salads like these! Looks lovely and so perfect for this hot weather!
Thanks Freda 🙂 I can have a whole meal of just salad,especially with some pasta or beans like kidney or garbanzo! Thanks a lot for stopping by 😀