This Zesty Southwest pasta salad is an easy & quick vegetarian pasta salad recipe! Perfect for your next potluck, picnic, or quick meal prep. This Pasta salad is totally versatile, you can serve it warm, room temperature, or even cold garnish with fresh herbs and seasoning – perfect as a side dish to your next backyard BBQs.
This creamy vegan southwest pasta salad is loaded with black beans, corn, onions, tomatoes, and al dente pasta tossed in super creamy southwest salad dressing and garnished with fresh cotija cheese to give this pasta salad a perfect Mexican touch!
Why do I just love this southwest pasta salad? It is probably because this vegetarian pasta salad recipe brings out the perfect combination of creamy, fresh, and nourishing flavors or it goes so well with grilled protein or any main dish. You can make this vegan salad recipe in just 20 minutes, the super smooth and creamy cashew-based vegan dressing gets tossed in the al dente pasta with crunchy veggies and beans. These colorful veggies add extra freshness to every bite while the super creamy vegan southwest dressing gives a perfect touch of zingy and peppy heat. It’s so delicious, best for meal prep & a great easy to make weeknight dinner recipe for summer nights.
Why You’ll Love Southwest Pasta Salad
- Its naturally vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, oil-free, and vegetarian pasta salad recipe
- Easy on your budget, best for meal prep!
- Best side dish with your favorite grilled dinner
- Great refreshing and nutritious dinner option for your busy weeknight
- Best make-ahead meal option stays well in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.
- Not a typical mayo loaded pasta salad recipe
Ingredients for Vegan Southwest Pasta Salad
The ingredients list for this vegetarian southwest pasta salad recipe is not too long (just like the greek chickpea salad!) and you do not need any special ingredients. This recipe is easily customizable and you can find these ingredients in a regular grocery store.
For Southwest Vegan Pasta salad:
- Whole wheat pasta or noodles
- Bell pepper (red, yellow, green)
- Red or green onion
- Black beans (canned or boiled)
- Cherry or grape tomatoes
- Corn (fire-roasted or boiled with seasoning)
- Salt, black pepper
For Super Creamy Southwest Salad Dressing
- Raw cashews (unsalted, roasted)
- Lime juice
- Garlic cloves
- Fresh cilantro or parsley
- Chilli flakes
- Chilli powder or sriracha or hot sauce
- ground cumin
- Salt and black pepper
- Water
How to Make Vegan Southwest Pasta Salad Recipe
(Note: full recipe instructions are provided in the recipe card below)
- Boil the pasta or noodles: Boil the pasta in saltwater (literally heavily salt water), it’s the only chance you get to season your pasta. Do not overcook your pasta, just cook until its just
- Whip up the super creamy Southwest salad dressing: Add all the ingridents in a blender with some seasoning and water and blend it until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning and consistency as per your preference.
( Do you want some simple yet tasty salad dressing ?? Try this easily customizable salad dressing!) - Toss everything together! Take a large mixing bowl and add cooked pasta with onion, tomatoes, corn, black beans, bell pepper, fresh herbs like parsley and cilantro & super creamy southwest dressing and toss to combine everything properly.
More healthy salad Recipes: Thai Peanut Pasta Salad, Easy Greek salad, Mediterranean Chickpea Pasta Salad
Super Creamy Southwest Salad Dressing
This super creamy southwest vegan salad dressing is raw cashew-based (unsalted), it does not require oil or mayo to achieve the creamy and smooth texture. It’s healthy, oil-free, and dairy-free that you can whip with just a few simple ingridents.
You must be wondering, do we need to soak the raw cashew before blending it? If you have a high-speed blender then you dont need to soak them, but it’s recommended to soak the cashew to get the smooth and creamy texture out of it. It takes few minutes to make this creamy southwest vegan dressing.
Bonus!! This vegan salad dressing stays well in the fridge for about a week, make sure to store the leftover in an airtight container. And drizzle this creamy dressing over salads, tacos, or fajitas just before serving them.
Also, Try some more Healthy PASTA Recipes !!
Southwest Pasta Salad Tips & Variations:
- Do not forget to add salt to the pasta water while cooking pasta. You need to add at least 2 tbsp salt, as this is the first chance to season the pasta.
- I would recommend chopping all the veggies and whip up the vegan cashew dressing ahead of time. Store the veggies and dressing in a separate airtight container and toss everything before serving it, garnish with some freshly chopped herbs.
- Do not overcook the pasta, cook just 1 or 2 minutes less than what the pasta package is recommending. If the pasta package is recommending 8 to 10 minutes cook just for 7 minutes. Once the pasta is al dente, strain it immediately on a colander and toss the cooked pasta with 1 tbsp of olive oil, this will prevent sticking the pasta together.
- Want to add more protein? You can add roasted chicken, roasted shrimps, or roasted chickpeas whatever you prefer you can toss to this pasta salad.
- Use freshly smoked corn for the best flavors, but you can also use canned if you can not find fresh corn.
- If you do not like cashew, you can substitute it with coconut milk or almond milk.
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