Recipe for a creamy vegan Pasta Salad, that is perfect to bring to BBQs or potlucks! It's ideal for hot summer days and ready in 30 minutes!
Get ready to be the star of every summer gathering this season with this mouthwatering recipe for a Creamy Vegan Pasta Salad. This dish is not only irresistibly creamy and bursting with flavor, but it's also incredibly convenient, making it the perfect addition to BBQs, potlucks, or any outdoor gathering.
With its quick preparation time of just 30 minutes, you'll have more time to get out and soak up the sun, instead of slaving away in the hot kitchen.
This creamy vegan Pasta Salad is the perfect dish for the summer because it's served cold and really easy to make.
I've used farfalle/bow-tie pasta (make sure they are vegan, so without eggs), canned corn, mini cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, arugula from the garden, dill, and made my own mayo-like dressing.
But of course, you can be creative with the add-ins or simply skip ingredients. You could also make a Mediterranean-inspired pasta salad with olives, dried tomatoes, and artichokes. Oh, I think this should be a future recipe (note to myself).
If you have a spontaneous picnic, BBQ, or potluck coming up and don't know what to bring, make this creamy vegan Pasta Salad! It's a real crowd-pleaser.
How to make this Creamy Pasta Salad
As always you will find the whole recipe with detailed measurements in the printable recipe box below but I want to give you an overview of the key ingredients and basic steps with step-by-step photos first.
The ingredients
You will need:
- pasta: I'm using bow-tie pasta, but penne or fusilli are also good choices for pasta salad
- cherry tomatoes: small tomatoes are more flavorful and better for pasta salad because they hold their shape better
- mini cucumbers or a regular cucumber
- canned corn
- arugula
- dill
- for the dressing:
- unsweetened soy milk
- neutral oil e.g. canola or rapeseed oil or sunflower
- apple cider vinegar
- Dijon mustard
- kala namak
- lemon juice
- maple syrup
A dressing shortcut would be to mix store-bought mayo with water or pickle brine to thin it out, and add mustard.
The basic steps
More Vegan Summer Recipes
- Vegan Tzatziki
- Vegan Gyros with Soya Chunks
- Oven Baked Potato Slices
- Orzo Pasta with Roasted Vegetables
- Simple Onion Couscous
Love it? Rate it!
I hope you enjoy this creamy vegan Pasta Salad as much as I do! Let me know if you give it a try!
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Cheers, Bianca
Creamy Vegan Pasta Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegan bow tie pasta
- 1 cup cucumber chopped
- 1 cup canned corn
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- ¼ cup arugula chopped
- 1 tablespoon dill chopped
- salt to taste
Dressing Sauce*
- ¼ cup unsweetened soy milk
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon kala namak Himalayan Black Salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ⅓ cup rapeseed oil or any neutral vegetable oil
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. Once it's done, rinse it with cold water, drain it, and set it aside.
- With an immersion blender, blend all the ingredients except the oil for the dressing. Then add the oil little by little while blending. Blend for additional 3-4 minutes until slightly thickened.
- In a large bowl, add the dressing, dill, drained pasta, halved cherry tomatoes, corn, chopped cucumber, and arugula. Give it a good mix. Add salt to taste.
- Then it's ready to serve or you can store it in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
Haha, I was JUST thinking about doing a German potato salad, but pasta salad sounds fantastic!!!
Bianca says
hahaha isn't it weird it's called a salad but it's not really one? A potato salad is really good too! That's the stuff I grew up with so.. these wanna-be-salads :) will always have special place in my heart.
Melissa says
you should try polish potato salad, it's better than the german one (trust me, I tasted both since I live in germany and am half polish)
Bianca says
Thanks for the tip, Melissa! Actually I've never had polish salad - so I have to try it too :) German Noodle Salad is a dish from my childhood - so definitely a comfort food.
Ayal @ Love Low Fat says
This looks so good! Was a fave of mine growing up before I went vegan, I'm super excited to try it!
Bianca says
Yeay! In the beginning of going vegan I thought I'd have to give up sooo many dishes.. but then I've found a very delicious vegan alternative for pretty much everything. We even have vegan mayo now in the stores.. how cool is that? :)
Crystal says
Yum!!! I really need to try this!!
Valerie says
I made this for dinner this evening. I didn't expect the vegan mayo part of the recipe to work, but it really did!
I didn't have soy milk, so I replaced it with water plus a dab (maybe 2 teaspoons) of almond butter.
We all liked it -- neat!