This Creamy Lemony Vegetable Pasta Salad is my new favorite quick and easy weeknight dinner. The vegetables boil with the pasta in the water, meaning less time, effort, and fewer dishes (yay!).
The whole thing takes only 20 minutes to throw together, especially since the minimal amount of prep work can be done while the pasta and veggies cook. It’s dressed in a light, bright dressing made of lemon juice and zest, mayonnaise, garlic, and extra-virgin olive oil.
It’s so good, in fact, that I’m sitting here writing this post at 9 in the morning munching on the leftovers (which, by the way, hold up extremely well!).
This is the second time I’ve made this in two weeks. The first time, I used Banza chickpea pasta, which made it more hearty, higher in protein, gluten-free, and great for a full meal.
The second time, I made it as a side along Two-Ingredient Crispy Oven Baked BBQ Chicken for a fun visit from Zoey’s great-grandmother. I had to share this photo with you- it’s just too good. Four generations of Texans in one picture!
With veggie-packed recipes like this, I hope Zach and I will be healthy as we grow old and be able to appear in a photo like this with our great-grandchildren if we have them!
The best part about this recipe is how well the leftovers stay in the fridge. Often times, pre-made salads can get soggy over time, since any salt in the dressing will draw out the liquid from the vegetables.
Since almost all the veggies in this are already cooked, there is less liquid, and since it’s pasta-based, the noodles continue absorbing any liquid that’s released. It was just as good 3 days later as it was right after I made it!
Since the leftovers are so delicious, this creamy vegetable pasta salad recipe is a perfect thing to make for meal planning lunches all week. Make a batch and add some cooked chickpeas or white beans, chicken, shrimp, or other protein to make it a bit heartier.
Or, if you’re making this for a crowd, make it the day or two before and just take it out when you’re ready to serve. Straight from the fridge is fine since it’s best served cold.
I used broccoli, peas, corn, and arugula as the main vegetables in this. It would be delicious with asparagus, edamame, other leafy greens, green beans, zucchini or summer squash… there are so many yummy possibilities.
If you use a vegetable that takes longer to cook than the others, add it to the boiling pasta water before the others, as I did with the broccoli in the recipe below. Here’s a nifty chart that can help with figuring out times.
Other Vegetarian Pasta Salad Recipes:
- Caprese Pasta Salad
- Greek Goddess Pasta Salad
- Greek Pasta Salad with Herb Vinaigrette
- Pesto Pasta Salad
And be sure to check out these other 20 easy pasta salad recipe ideas.
Here you go! Creamy Lemony Vegetable Pasta Salad. Hope you like it :-)
Creamy Lemony Vegetable Pasta Salad
Equipment
- Colander
Ingredients
- 1 lb. farfalle pasta or other medium shape- regular, whole wheat, chickpea, or any variety you like
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- juice and zest of one lemon (about 2 tablespoons juice)
- 1 small garlic clove finely minced
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large head broccoli cut into small florets (about 4 cups)
- 5 oz. baby arugula or spinach, or a mixture of both, roughly chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1/4 cup red onion finely diced
- 1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
Instructions
- Cook the pasta as directed on the box in heavily salted boiling water.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the mayonnaise (3/4 cup), lemon zest and juice, garlic, and olive oil (1/4 cup) in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- 5 minutes before the pasta is finished cooking to al dente, add the broccoli florets to the water.
- 1 minute before the pasta is finished cooking to al dente, add the arugula and/or spinach, peas, and corn to the water.
- Drain the pasta and vegetables in a large colander and rinse with cold water until completely cooled (if it's still hot, it will absorb much of the dressing and the pasta salad will become dry). Shake off as much of the excess water as possible while it's in the colander.
- Add the drained and cooled pasta and vegetables to the bowl with the lemon mayonnaise dressing. Mix together with the chopped red onions and almonds. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to four days (see notes).
Notes
- This pasta salad holds up extremely well in the refrigerator. Use it for meal planning your lunch all week, adding chickpeas or white beans, cooked chicken, shrimp, or other kinds of protein to make it more hearty.
- Make ahead instructions: If you make this in advance, I recommend reserving half the dressing to mix in just before serving, since the pasta will absorb some of the dressing as it sits in the fridge.
- Make it vegan: use a vegan mayo.
- Make it gluten-free: use a GF or alternative pasta, such as Banza.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
vivian
Delicious pasta salad! We love lemony flavours in our house, so this was really to our taste. The only thing I did differently was that I didn’t cook the spinach at all, as my husband and daughter don’t like cooked spinach. Baby spinach is so tender, I don’t think it really needed cooking. Thanks for a great recipe!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Great idea to just leave the spinach raw in there! Glad you and your family liked it :-)
Lolitha S
Love this recipe! I used shallots in a food processor instead of red onion. (I’m not a big onion fan)
Elizabeth Lindemann
Great idea to use shallots instead of red onion! Green onion would also be a good substitute for a more mild onion flavor. Glad you liked the recipe :-)
Elizabeth S.
I prepared this for a luncheon and it was a huge hit! It was so delicious and colorful. I love the light feel of the dressing and I followed your advice to save some to add as I made this the night before. Your pictures are really appealing and I had fun looking at your recipes . I’ll be using them for sure!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it, and thanks so much for your kind words!
Bernadette
Love this recipe! Have made it 3 times in the last 4 weeks. Everyone loves. I cant do broccoli, so I use either green or white asparagus and I added roasted red pepper (roast whole on the stove then peel and cut into thin slices.) I also found that I prefer a little more of the dressing so I make 1 1/2 batch. It’s so great! People that dont like mayo even enjoy it! Thank you so much. Great for backyard or to bring as a side to a party.
I use the boiling water to soften the asparagus a teeny bit, let those cool while I throw in the pasta in same boiling water. I use frozen peas and frozen corn and pop those in the micro and let them cool. Easy peasy.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Love the idea of using asparagus. Thanks so much for sharing your suggestions!
Carolyne
Do you think adding roasted red peppers would go well with the flavors?
Would like to add some color for the holiday!
Thank you
Elizabeth Lindemann
I think it would be super tasty! Another way to add color would be with fresh cherry or grape tomatoes, stirred in after everything is cool, or sundried tomatoes (although those are usually more brown than red). I recommend going easy if you use roasted red peppers or sundried tomatoes, as both are very strong flavors and may overpower. Hope you like it!
Pat
If you make it the night before,it soaks up all the dressing and gets dry! You will need to make more to add to it! Or just buy bottle of TJ champagne vinaigrette dressing! That’s what I added to it! Works fine!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Ahhh good tip! Yes, this happens with pasta salad a lot. One of my favorite tricks if you make it ahead of time is to reserve half the dressing and mix it in just before serving. I’ll go ahead and add that to the recipe notes now. And thanks for the tip about the champagne vinaigrette dressing- sounds so delicious!
Johanna
I just finished making this – woohoo! Thank you for making it simple and suggesting substitutions for veggies, as well as for the veggie cooking chart…I am a beginner so I need all of that!
Next time I may make some extra dressing – once it was added to the pasta and veggies it didn’t seem thick enough and I felt like it needed more flavor. This could also be because I didn’t quite have enough lemon juice. Thanks again – enjoyed making it and it’s a HUGE volume of food!!!
Elizabeth Lindemann
I’m SO happy you liked it! This is one of my favorites. In fact, I think I’ll pick up the ingredients for it at the store when I go later today!
Kate
I plan to make thus vegan with vegan mayo! Sounds delicious, picture looks fabulous, and I can imagine my family eating it without them complaining that it’s healthy. :)
Elizabeth
Hope you and your family like it! :-)
Kaye
I haven’t tried these yet, but certainly plan to! They sound wonderful! Just wanted to say LOVE the picture. Thank you for sharing.
Elizabeth
Hope you like it, and thanks!!