Cucumber Pasta Salad
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This Cucumber Vegan Pasta Salad is perfect for warm summer months when you just want a nice cold pasta salad that’s easy to make and keeps well for plenty of leftovers!
Guys. I’m feeling the summer slump like crazy! (did I mention that already in a recent post? I don’t even remember). The bad thing is that we’ve moved past the “oh! The weather is just so nice…I want to be outside ALL of the time!” into “OMG the heat index is 105 and all of my makeup was washed away from sweat after being outside for half a minute”. <<<<that’s a REAL struggle.
The good news is that all of that seemingly unbearable heat means that ALL of the good produce of summer is in FULL swing. We’re talking watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, BELL PEPPERS (I love peppers!), tomatoes and the star of this dish: CUCUMBERS! From stories I’ve been told (but have no actual memory of), I apparently loved cucumbers growing up. However, for most of my adult life, I wasn’t that into them. That is, until I started growing my own and had the realization that 1) cucumbers are ridiculously easy to grow and you basically can’t screw them up as long as you give them a good trellis and plenty of water. 2) Homegrown cucumbers are SO MUCH BETTER than the crap cucumbers that they sell at the grocery store. So. much. better.(!!)
So, today’s pasta salad is a super simple one inspired by my favorite summer treats: cucumber and dill!
Conveniently enough, the recipe is very easy to throw together and even more, it makes for GREAT leftovers. The last time I made this, I whipped it up on a Sunday night and took it to work for lunches throughout the week. <<<<having lunch ready to go for pretty much the whole week makes me feel like I have accomplished SO much. It’s the small things.
The dressing that I used on this pasta salad is super simple: vegan mayo, white wine vinegar, Dijon, some spices, and a pinch of sugar. Oh yea! And a bunch of dill. I’m dill obsessed right now and have been sprinkling fresh dill on all the things lately :)
Here’s the deal with the pasta salad dressing:
If you make the recipe as is, the pasta salad will have a rather light dressing on it. I prefer it this way because I want the pasta salad to be light. HOWEVER, if you want a pasta salad with a more striking flavor profile and that is quite a bit more….saucy, then I recommend doubling the recipe for the dressing. You can try adding in half of the doubled recipe in at first and then a couple tablespoons more at a time in order to get it to your desired liking.
But again, I really really like this recipe just as it is written below.
That’s it for today. Here’s to hoping that I pull myself out of this summer slump soon (I can tell that I’m on the upswing!).
OH and if you make this Cucumber Vegan Pasta Salad (or any of my other recipes for that matter), please please please take a cell phone pic and Instagram/ Facebook/ Snapchat it to me :) I can’t tell you how excited I get to see people making (and enjoying!) my recipes!!
Have a wonderful week my friends!
More Vegan Pasta Salad Recipes:
One of my latest videos showing you THREE of my favorite plant based pasta salad recipes:
Ingredients
- 1 box of spiral pasta how much typically about 1 pound or 16 ounces
- 1 English cucumber de-seeded and cut into thin slices
- ½ sweet onion thinly sliced
- ½ cup of vegan mayo plus a bit more if pasta is too dry
- 4 tablespoon of fresh dill chopped
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- ¼ teaspoon of black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon of white wine or plain vinegar
- 2 tablespoon of dijon mustard
- optional: pinch of sugar
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions until it reaches your desired doneness. Once done, set aside to cool while you make the dressing.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo, dill, salt, pepper, garlic powder, vinegar, mustard, and sugar (if using). Mix until thoroughly combined.
- When ready to finish the pasta salad, you can run the pasta under a bit of cold water to cool it down (assuming you want cold pasta salad). Alternatively, you can mix the pasta salad as is and let it cool off in the fridge before eating.
- In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, dressing, onion, and cucumber. Stir until fully combined and the pasta and veggies are well coated in the dressing. If desired, you can add a bit more mayo OR make a double batch of the dressing if you want the salad quite a bit more wet. **see note above about doubling the dressing recipe!
- Serve up and ENJOY!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
