This Vegan Pasta Salad is incredibly flavorful and satisfying. Made with chickpeas, pasta, and vegetables in a homemade dressing, it's delicious.
It's hard not to love a good pasta salad. It has all the best things: filling pasta, crisp and juicy vegetables, and a flavorful homemade dressing that has lots of tanginess. This Vegan Pasta Salad includes chickpeas for added texture and protein, to make this dish truly satisfying. You can serve it as a side dish or enjoy it on its own.
This easy recipe is great for serving to your family or bringing to parties and backyard barbecues for a side dish. It's made with a vinegar-based dressing that keeps well, so you can make this dish a day ahead of time so it's nice and convenient. You really can't go wrong with this tasty Vegan Pasta Salad. Let's talk about the ingredients that you'll be using to make it.
Video Tutorial
What you'll need
- Pasta. Use any pasta cut you like. Great choices are fusilli, bow tie pasta, and penne.
- Chickpeas. These add extra flavor and protein to the salad.
- Veggies. Cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, red onion, and olives.
- Parsley. Or dill.
- Dressing. The dressing is made with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper.
How to make Vegan Pasta Salad
1. COOK THE PASTA. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender, 7 to 10 minutes (check the package for recommended cook time). Drain and rinse well under cold water. Set aside.
2. MAKE THE DRESSING. While the pasta cooks, make the dressing. To a small jar, add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper, and shake well.
3. MAKE THE SALAD. To a large mixing bowl, add the pasta, chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell pepper, olives, red onion, and parsley. Pour the dressing on top and mix well. Serve.
Tips for the best Vegan Pasta Salad
- Salt the pasta water. Adding salt to the water that the pasta is cooked in allows the saltiness to infuse into the pasta as it cooks. This is more effective than salting it afterwards.
- Rinse the pasta in cold water. Using cold water will stop the cooking process so your pasta doesn't become overcooked and mushy and stick together.
- Make the dressing in a jar. Shaking the dressing ingredients in a jar will allow them to emulsify and meld their flavors better than if it was all tossed into the salad and mixed there.
- Cut the vegetables to a similar size. Keep the veggies around the same size, slightly larger than the chickpeas, so no one flavor overshadows another.
Add-ins and Substitutes
- Substitute gluten-free pasta. Make this a gluten-free dish by substituting gluten-free penne or another type of pasta.
- Add other vegetables. Add vegetables like banana peppers, artichoke hearts, corn, or roasted red peppers to this Vegan Pasta Salad.
- Use a different dressing. You can make this with any dressing you like, including this salad's Balsamic Dressing or Vegan Caesar Dressing.
- Add nuts and seeds. Add some extra protein and flavor with pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds, chia seeds, or walnuts.
How to Store
You can store any leftovers of this Vegan Pasta Salad in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
What to Serve with it
- Sandwiches. Serve this salad on the side of a Vegan Curried Chickpea Salad Sandwich, Vegan Gyros, or a Vegan Black Bean Burger.
- Soup. Try it alongside a bowl of Red Lentil Soup, Creamy Vegetable Soup, Cabbage Soup, or Easy Lemon Lentil Soup.
- Vegetables. Enjoy this Vegan Pasta Salad with some Garlic Roasted Okra, Broccoli Rabe with Garlic, Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts, or Steamed Asparagus.
- Bread. Serve this dish with some toasted bread and plant-based butter. Or try it with Vegan Cornbread or Potato Flatbread.
This Vegan Pasta Salad is filling, flavorful, and so easy to make. It goes so well with other side dishes and main courses that you can easily serve it with almost anything. This makes it a great addition to a potluck or buffet. Plus, you can always make it ahead of time.
I hope you love this Vegan Pasta Salad as much as my family and I do. It's truly a great addition to your kitchen repertoire that you'll be enjoying again and again.
More tasty vegan pasta recipes to try:
36 Mouthwatering Vegan Pasta Recipes
Vegan Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 8 oz. dry pasta (fussili, bow tie, or penne)
- ½ can cooked chickpeas, liquid drained
- 2 medium cucumbers, cut into slices
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 small bell pepper, cut into small pieces
- ½ cup pitted kalamata olives, cut in half
- ¼ medium red onion, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
For the Dressing
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 medium garlic clove, minced
- 1 tsp. oregano
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
Instructions
- COOK THE PASTA. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender, 7 to 10 minutes (check the package for recommended cook time). Drain and rinse well under cold water. Set aside.
- MAKE THE DRESSING. While the pasta cooks, make the dressing. To a small jar, add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper, and shake well.
- MAKE THE SALAD. To a large mixing bowl, add the pasta, chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell pepper, olives, red onion, and parsley. Pour the dressing on top and mix well. Serve.
Notes
Tips for the best Vegan Pasta Salad
- Salt the pasta water. Adding salt to the water that the pasta is cooked in allows the saltiness to infuse into the pasta as it cooks. This is more effective than salting it afterwards.
- Rinse the pasta in cold water. Using cold water will stop the cooking process so your pasta doesn't become overcooked and mushy and stick together.
- Make the dressing in a jar. Shaking the dressing ingredients in a jar will allow them to emulsify and meld their flavors better than if it was all tossed into the salad and mixed there.
- Cut the vegetables to a similar size. Keep the veggies around the same size, slightly larger than the chickpeas, so no one flavor overshadows another.
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