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Sometimes all you need is a QUICK & EASY pasta dish to make everything okay. Today we’re cooking up this simple VEGAN Pasta Salad that comes together with a handful of simple ingredients and a delicious dressing.
If you’re looking for more pasta salad inspiration, you should also try this Ranch Pasta Salad (vegan friendly!), Vegan Macaroni Salad, Lemon Broccoli Pasta Salad, and this Cucumber Vegan Pasta Salad!
Growing up, I ate a LOT of pasta salad (zero complaints!). This pasta salad is my attempt to replicate my moms pasta salad which is a highly requested dish at ALL family functions.
It’s filled with veggies, pasta of your choosing (I always find myself reaching for spirals or bowties in this dish), and a simple to make dressing to add a nice burst of flavor to everything.
Speaking of the pasta, you can use really ANY kind of pasta here that you would like! Since we’re simply mixing it in with a few other ingredients after it has already been cooked, you can have your pick. Any plant based, gluten full or gluten free pasta would work well here! I’ve tried this before with red lentil pasta and LOVED IT!
How to make this Vegan Pasta Salad:
Pasta is cooked, veggies are chopped, a super simple dressing is made and then it’s ALL mixed together.
I tried out a few combos to decide which dressing to use for this pasta salad. I ended up going with a simple Italian dressing using ingredients I already had in the house.
You can serve it warm but I typically prefer my pasta salad cold. Simply rinse your cooked pasta under cold water to cool in down before mixing it with the veggies and the dressing. Easy peasy.
Needless to say, I’m a huge fan!
Storing the pasta for later:
I made this pasta salad on a Sunday and ate on it for pretty much the entire week. So, if you’re wondering how long this pasta salad is good for, I’d say you’re good for about 4-5 days at least.
To properly store it, I suggest putting it in an air tight container and keeping it in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you’re making it as a meal prep recipe, I suggest rationing out the dressing and pouring it on right before serving.
Other Plant Based Pasta Salads:
See How To Make the Pasta Salad:
Vegan Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta, I used spirals*
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- ½ cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 1 small green bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 can of sliced black olives, mine was 6 ounces
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley or cilantro, I used parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- Good pinch of sugar
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions to your desired doneness. Drain and let cool. If serving the pasta salad cold, run the cooked pasta under cold water to cool it off quite a bit.1 pound pasta
- Make the dressing by combining the olive oil, vinegar, spices, and sugar. Whisk until fully combined and set aside.Salt and pepper to taste, 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, Good pinch of sugar
- In a large bowl, combine the pasta, chopped veggies, parsley (or cilantro) and dressing. Toss until the pasta and veggies are fully coated in the dressing.1/2 red onion, 1/2 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, 1 small green bell pepper, 1 can of sliced black olives, 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
- Salt and pepper to taste and ENJOY!!!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank you so much Brita this was so DELICIOUS!!! I added black beans, doubled your delicious dressing, added a little salt, and almost ate the whole bowl!!!
Just made this dish today – we love it! With fresh veggies from our garden.
Substituted green for black olives just because that’s what we have on hand. And I also used white wine vinegar. I’m saving this one!
We really enjoyed this dish – so fresh!
This was so delicious! I used Banza rotini pasta, substituted red wine vinegar and yellow bell pepper, and skipped the parsley/cilantro. An instant hit.
Nice :) thanks for sharing! I added some mozzarella as well.
My mom is the vegan and that is the reason why i offen look for the vegan recipes to repare meals for her each day. Your pasta salad is really easy to do and full of enery. Thank you so much for your sharing.
Look yummy! One of my favorite Pasta Salad, nice to see your recipe, easy to follow, will cook this for family this weekend. Thanks you!
Awesome! One of my favorite Vegan Pasta Salad, nice to see your recipe, easy to follow, will cook this for family this weekend. Thanks you.
so glad that you liked it!!
This was delicious! I added mushrooms and cucumbers, and the home made italian dressing taste so good that I actually used 3 portions of the dressing and added vegan ranch for creaminess. It was amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
yay! So glad that you liked it!! Now I really want to try it out the way you described!! YUM!
Yum! So good! Thank you.
I’ve never though that we can cook pasta like this. I’m so excited to try it.