This easy Vegan Pasta Salad is as colorful as the rainbow and simply delicious. It will impress family and requires less than 30 minutes to make, so dinner can be on the table in no time flat.
Table of contents
What I love about this vegan pasta salad. It’s…
- So easy to make
- Light but filling
- Versatile with veggies that can be used
- East to use garden-fresh or frozen veggies
- Has a tangy-sweet dressing
- Oil-free
- Vegan
- Delicious!
I love a great pasta salad, and this one is amazing because it’s loaded with an assortment of veggies and beans that is light but will keep you feeling full for hours.
Summertime is a terrific time to serve vegan pasta salads, but really any time of year is perfect for them to me. In the summer, fresh veggies from the garden are wonderful. But even in the winter, frozen vegetables make this dish come together in a snap.
You can serve it warm, but I typically prefer my pasta salad cold. Simply rinse your cooked pasta under cold water to cool it down before mixing it with the veggies and the dressing.
How to make a vegan pasta salad in minutes
The recipe card at the bottom of the page has the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions.
Use whole grain pasta for a hearty dose of fiber–up to 6 grams per serving!
I used whole wheat penne pasta in this, but any variety could really be used. Another great one would be a whole grain spiral pasta.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse pasta with cool water. Even though I used penne pasta in these photos, I have since determined that my favorite for this recipe is spiral pasta.
Defrost the frozen vegetables by placing in a colander and running warm water over them.
In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients: pasta, beans, and veggies.
To make the dressing, in a small bowl, mix all the ingredients and whisk together.
Pour dressing over salad and stir gently. Adjust seasoning to your taste preferences. Serve and eat!
In addition to the whole grain pasta, this recipe calls for baby lima beans, corn, carrots, and red kidney beans. I like to use frozen vegetables because they are economical and convenient to keep on hand.
Are frozen vegetables healthy?
In some cases, frozen vegetables may be more nutritious than fresh ones that have been shipped over long distances. The latter is typically picked before ripening, which means that no matter how good the vegetables look, they’re likely to short-change you nutritionally.
For example, fresh spinach loses about half the folate it contains after eight days. Vitamin and mineral content is also likely to diminish if produce is exposed to too much heat and light en route to your supermarket.
This applies to fruit as well as vegetables. The quality of much of the fruit sold in retail stores in the U.S. is mediocre. Usually it is unripe, picked in a condition that is favorable to shippers and distributors but not to consumers.
Worse, the varieties of fruits selected for mass production are often those that merely look good rather than taste good. I keep bags of frozen, organically grown berries on hand year-round – thawed slightly, they make a fine dessert.
The advantage of frozen fruits and vegetables is that they usually are picked when they’re ripe, and then blanched in hot water to kill bacteria and stop enzyme activity that can spoil food. Then they’re flash frozen, which tends to preserve nutrients.
If you can afford it, buy frozen fruits and vegetables stamped USDA “U.S. Fancy,” the highest standard and the one most likely to deliver the most nutrients. As a rule, frozen fruits and vegetables are superior nutritionally to those that are canned because the canning process tends to result in nutrient loss.—Weil
Terrific side options for this vegan Italian pasta salad would be a baked sweet potato, corn on the cob, crusty bread, or even grilled asparagus. Nothing says delicious and convenient like a fast, fresh, and easy pasta salad.
Oil-free salad dressing for pasta salad
Recently, I have found that my Oil-Free, 3-Ingredient Salad Dressing goes well with this recipe. It has fewer ingredients than the dressing used here and makes a great substitute for those that want to give it a try.
It’s so easy to make with only 3 ingredients–balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and maple syrup.
Other great salad recipes
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Vegan Pasta Salad
This vegan pasta salad is delicious and as colorful as the rainbow. It will impress your family and requires less than 30 minutes, so dinner can be on the table in no time flat.
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 4 cup whole grain pasta, cooked, spiral pasta prefered
- 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, corn, green peas, carrots, green beans, etc.
- 1/2 cup fresh red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup frozen baby lima beans
- 1 cup kidney beans, cooked
- 1/4 cup green onion, diced
Dressing Ingredients
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup Dijion mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1-1/2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic, I used the jarred
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse pasta with cool water. Even though I used penne pasta in these photos, I have since determined that my favorite for this recipe is spiral pasta.
- Defrost the frozen vegetables by placing in a colander and running warm water over them.
- In large bowl, combine all salad ingredients: pasta, beans, and veggies.
- To make dressing, in a small bowl, mix all the ingredients and whisk together.
- Pour dressing over salad and stir gently. Adjust seasoning to your taste preferences. Serve and eat!
Notes
Detailed instructions, in-process photos, and my personal helpful tips can be found in the article above.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4Amount Per Serving: Calories: 481Total Fat: 4gCarbohydrates: 97gFiber: 12gProtein: 13.7g
To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
Sookie
Thursday 10th of August 2017
Hi! Do you measure 4 cups of pasta before it is cooked, or 4 cups of cooked pasta?
EatPlant-Based.com
Thursday 10th of August 2017
This is 4-cups cooked pasta. Enjoy!