5-Ingredient Basil Pesto Pasta Salad
This 5-ingredient pesto pasta salad is the kind of recipe you’ll want to keep on repeat. It’s fresh, flavorful, and comes together in no time. Just toss cooked pasta with pesto, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and a sprinkle of parmesan. Serve it cold for a quick lunch or as an easy side dish for any meal. Simple, delicious, done.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 333kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb pasta (something curly & swirly like fusilli)
- ½ cup homemade pesto (homemade pesto or store bought)
- ¼ cup pasta water (save from cooking pasta)
- 1 cup mozzarella balls (torn to preferred size)
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
Instructions
Prep
- Start by boiling your pasta according to the package directions in salted water. When the pasta is done cooking, drain, and rinse in cool water and save your cooking water.
- While the pasta cooks, prepare your other ingredients. Cut the tomatoes in half, drain the mozzarella balls and cut or tear them in half.
Mix the pasta salad up
- In a large mixing bowl, add your pesto a bit of pasta cooking water and mix it up until you have a looser version of your pesto. Add the drained pasta to the bowl on top of the pesto. Mix the pasta and pesto together until the noodles are fully covered and the pesto well distributed.
- Pile the mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes and pine nuts on top. Then use a spoon (or a gloved hand) to mix everything together it's well incorporated.
- Taste and salt as needed. Once it's all mixed together enjoy right away or pop the pasta salad into the fridge until you are ready to serve.
Notes
- Be sure to save the pasta water from cooking your pasta. It's key to getting your pesto to the right consistency to cover all the noodles well.
- Add torn basil leaves right before serving to really up the pesto ante!
- Homemade pesto or the store bought variety will work in this recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 333kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 160mg | Potassium: 192mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 405IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 1mg
