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This cold pesto pasta salad is one of my favorite summer recipes. Perfect for when you’re having a potluck or picnic! I promise you that everybody will be impressed by this amazing combination of flavors.
This Healthy Cold Pesto Pasta Salad is a must have for all your summer gatherings! Fresh, flavorful, light but filling and it comes together in just 20 minutes! Made with gluten-free lentil rotini, kale pesto, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and mozzarella balls.
This cold pesto pasta salad is one of my favorite summer recipes. Perfect for when you’re having a potluck or picnic! I promise you that everybody will be impressed by this amazing combination of flavors.
Best part? You can totally customize this pasta salad recipe. I’ll talk about it more below!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HEALTHY COLD PESTO PASTA SALAD:
First, cook the pasta al-dente. Feel free to use any pasta you like! I love used this gluten-free lentil pasta which added so much protein and nutrients!
While the pasta is cooking, make the kale pesto. Pesto made with kale is literally my favorite. I pretty much always try to have a fresh jar in my fridge so I can toss it with pasta, salad on spread it over pizza or sourdough toast! It’s so good. Check out this whole wheat kale pesto pizza with peaches that I made recently!
When the pasta is ready, rinse and drain it. Then toss it with kale pesto, sliced strawberries, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and handful of kale. You can use either baby kale or regular kale to add to the salad and to make the pesto with. Season it with salt and pepper and that’s it!! So good and easy.
HOW TO MAKE THE COLD PESTO PASTA YOUR WAY:
You can totally substitute most of the ingredients in this recipe and still make a delicious pasta salad!
Use any shape and type of pasta that you like!
If you’re not a big fan of kale, make the spinach pesto, cashew pesto or any type of pesto that you like.
If you don’t like fruit in your salad, feel free to skip the strawberries!
Add some avocado, olives or anything that you have on hand!
Swap the mozzarella balls for burrata, feta or your favorite cheese. If you want to make the salad vegan, you can totally skip the cheese!
As you can see there’s so many ways to customize this cold pesto pasta depending on what you like and have on hand!
If you make healthy cold pesto pasta salad yourself, don’t forget to use hashtag #natteats and tag @natteats so I can see your creations! If you’d like to stay updated with my recipes, go ahead and visit myFacebook or Instagram page and subsribe to my blog!
Ingredients
KALE PESTO:
1 1/2 cup kale or baby kale
1 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup oil, such as grapseed, avocado or olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
PASTA SALAD:
2 cup dry gluten-free pasta
handful of baby kale
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes
8-10 mini mozzarella balls
Instructions
Cook the pasta al-dente. Then rinse and drain it. Set aside.
Meanwhile, combine all the kale pesto ingredients in high speed blender or food processor and blend for about 1 minute. It doesn't need to be perfectly smooth.
Toss the cooked pasta with kale pesto, sliced strawberries, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and handful of baby kale.
