Healthy Pasta Salad Recipe - Gluten Free with Veggies - clean cuisine (2024)
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Healthy Pasta Salad Recipe – A summertime favorite, this healthy pasta salad recipe has loads of vegetables and homemade Italian dressing. Quite versatile, you can pick and choose your vegetables based on your own palette.
Versatile and Healthy Pasta Salad Recipe
You cannot go wrong with this recipe — well, unless you use gluten-filled wheat pasta and skip the vegetables. Okay, and maybe use store-bought, unhealthy canola-oil based Italian dressing.
But otherwise, you really can’t do this wrong. Just follow the general instructions below. It’s a balance of 5-6 cups of healthy pasta and 3-4 cups of chopped vegetables. Giving everyone a healthy boost of phytonutrients.
This healthy pasta salad recipe is going to serve 6-8 people easily so feel free to cut it in half if you don’t need that much.
However, I have found that with quick and healthy recipes like this, making extra means we have a side dish for another meal. Or, the kids have a quick and healthy snack without any effort.
Homemade Italian Dressing Makes Pasta Salad Recipe the Healthiest
Italian dressing off the grocery store shelf has canola oil, sugars and a list of difficult-to-pronounce ingredients. So, we came up with our homemade recipe for Italian dressing (with optional anchovy paste).
All you need is a high speed blender and a few simple ingredients to blend up your own dressing. I like to make a double batch and leave some in the fridge to use throughout the week with other recipes. Or just on our favorite side salads.
We would to hear what you think about our balance of vegetables to pasta and our new Italian dressing. Be sure to leave a comment below letting me know.
Healthy Pasta Salad Recipe is PERFECT for Outdoor Picnics
This healthy pasta salad is the perfect salad to take to outdoor picnics and parties this summer. Why? Because, the dressing used on this healthy pasta salad recipe is our homemade Italian dressing. The dressing and pasta salad will last for hours outside without having to worry about going bad.
Perfect Addition to Any Meal – Here’s my Favorite Dinners for Summertime!
We love this healthy pasta salad recipe because of how nutrient-dense it is. Loaded with fresh vegetables, you can easily skip the side salad. Here are some of my favorite dinners that pair really well with this pasta recipe:
Love Old Bay? Try these Salmon Burgers with a bun or wrapped in lettuce. Be sure to top it with our homemade garlic cream sauce.
Burger Bowl Salad is a great way to load up on vegetables and healthy condiments.
This Healthy Turkey Burger recipe has umami flavors and tons of vegetables. So, if you’re looking to geek out on healthy flavors, choose this.
Homemade Lamb Burgers are a great balance to the Italian seasoning in this pasta salad.
Prepare your pasta according to the package. When done, use a strainer to drain the water from the pot and rinse the pasta with cold water. Set aside.
In a classic mixing bowl, combine 3-4 cups of chopped vegetables in any variety and combination using the ideas above.
In a large bowl, add the rinsed pasta, all of the vegetables and drizzle with up to 1 cup of prepared Italian dressing. Stir to combine.
Cover the pasta salad and place it in the fridge to chill before serving.
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Notes
* For this recipe, I used organic brown rice and organic quinoa spiral noodles. You can easily swap this out for chickpea pasta, vegetable pasta or brown rice pasta.
I made this healthy pasta salad recipe on Good Morning America for a healthy 4th of July segment. Made with lots of vegetables, super easy to make & delicious to eat!
Pasta salad can be a healthy meal option if it contains a variety of vegetables, lean protein, and a dressing that is low in saturated fat and added sugars. However, if the pasta salad is made with high-fat meats, cheese, and a creamy or oil-based dressing, it can be high in calories, saturated fat, and sodium.
Make sure to cook it until tender. I usually recommend al dente for hot pasta, but for a gluten free pasta salad you want to make sure the pasta is well cooked to begin with, because it will harden as it cools.
If you love pasta, there's no reason to cut it out from your diet, the experts say. It can be a great way to pack in vegetables, healthy fats from nuts, olive oil and pasta sauces, Linsenmeyer says. "It's fine to include in a regular diet as often as every day. It really is."
This is because refined pasta is high in carbohydrates, without offering much else in the way of nutrients. However, pasta can be made healthier if paired with more nutritionally dense foods, such as vegetables. Whole-grain pasta options are also healthy alternatives to traditional refined pasta.
An experiment on the BBC TV show Trust me, I'm a Doctor, led by Dr Denise Robertson (senior nutrition scientist at the University of Surrey), showed that eating cooled or reheated pasta – turning it into 'resistant starch' – could help to reduce the rise of blood glucose levels.
Also called whole-grain pasta, this type of pasta keeps the bran, endosperm, and germ of the grain together. It's filled with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. This helps you feel full longer and keeps your blood sugar from spiking. It also has a little over 8 grams of protein per cup cooked.
Nevertheless, pasta can be part of a healthy diet, and it's better for you than fried potatoes and white bread, so swapping it in can benefit your health, Morse says. It's often paired with healthy foods, too, such as olive oil and vegetables.
Unfortunately, it is not advisable to reheat gluten-free pasta because it is made of corn and rice, both of which break down more quickly and easily than wheat. As a result, gluten-free pasta tends to become mushy and tasteless when cooked a second time.
On its own, gluten-free pasta is really pretty tasteless. It needs seasoning, in the form of salt, just like regular pasta. After the water comes to a boil, add enough salt to make the water taste like the ocean (about 1/4 cup for a large pot of water), before adding the pasta.
Hellmann's Zesty Italian is made with Romano cheese, Garlic, and Red and Green Bell Peppers and has no artificial flavors. It's Gluten-Free and has 0g Trans Fat. Hellmann's brand is recognized throughout the world for unrivaled quality and flavor and its commitment to real, simple ingredients, like Romano cheese.
Yes, all rice (in its natural form) is gluten-free. Rice is one of the most popular gluten-free grains for people with celiac disease. Many gluten-free packaged goods are made with rice flour instead of wheat flour. Although rice is naturally gluten-free, there are some instances where it may not be gluten-free.
Chickpea pasta is a healthy alternative to white pasta, providing more fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Plus, most types are suitable for gluten-free diets. Its fiber and protein may support blood sugar management, weight maintenance, digestive health, and a reduced risk of numerous health conditions.
If you're making a dish that will be served chilled or at room temp—think cold soba, rice noodles, pasta salad—you do want to rinse so that you get toothsome (sorry) individual strands rather than one big gummy clump. Certain types of noodles benefit from a rinse in almost all applications.
Introduction: My name is Dr. Pierre Goyette, I am a enchanting, powerful, jolly, rich, graceful, colorful, zany person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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