Steal the show at your next cookout, with this hearty southwestern pasta salad. Bursting with hearty black beans, juicy bell pepper, and sweet summer corn kernels in a zesty cilantro-jalapeño dressing!
Pasta salad is such a great idea in theory, but it can really be so bad! I’ve had way to many soggy pasta salads made with boring veggies and bottled salad dressing.
Well it doesn’t have to be like that! This was the best pasta salad I’d ever tasted. My husband said it tasted like summer on a plate. The cilantro dressing is full of flavor and I had a hard time resisting eating it from a spoon. This one is absolutely perfect alongside a black bean burger, and perfect for wowing vegans and non-vegans alike.
Southwest Pasta Salad Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need!
- Rotini pasta
- Fresh cilantro
- Olive oil
- Shelled walnuts
- Jalapeño pepper
- Lime juice
- Garlic
- Cumin
- Salt
- Black beans
- Red bell pepper
- Corn (fresh or frozen!)
- Scallions
How to Make Southwest Pasta Salad
Start by cooking your pasta. Boil it in some salted water according to the package directions, then drain it and give it a rinse in some cool water.
While the pasta cooks and/or cools you can make the dressing. Place the cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Blend it up until it’s almost smooth — you want the texture to be somewhat like pesto.
Place your pasta into a bowl, along with the black beans, diced red bell pepper, corn, and scallions.
Add the dressing and toss! Give your pasta salad a taste-test and make any adjustments you think are needed — more lime juice, more salt, more cumin, that kind of thing.
Dig in and enjoy!
Southwestern Pasta Salad Tips & FAQ
- This pasta salad is best served right away, at room temperature. Most pasta salads keep pretty well, and I often prefer them chilled, but I find the flavor of this one is best right after it’s been prepared.
- If you do have leftovers, they’ll keep in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3 days. I added a little extra lime juice to bring the flavor back up before serving my leftovers.
- Can this pasta salad be made gluten-free? Yup! Just use your favorite gluten-free pasta.
- I hate cilantro. Is there a substitute? I don’t have a substitute for this particular dish, so you might be best off using a different recipe. Try my antipasto pasta salad or Greek orzo salad.
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Southwestern Pasta Salad
Steal the show at your next cookout, with this hearty southwestern pasta salad. Bursting with hearty black beans, juicy bell pepper, and sweet summer corn kernels in a zesty cilantro-jalapeño dressing!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dried rotini pasta
- 1 (14 ounce or 400 gram) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup fresh or frozen (and thawed) corn kernels
- 2 scallions, chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
For the Dressing
- 2 cups fresh cilantro (about 1 medium bunch), packed
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 medium jalapeño pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
-
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook it according to the package directions.
-
While the pasta cooks, prepare the dressing. Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.
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When the pasta has finished cooking, drain it into a colander and rinse the pasta with cool water.
-
Transfer the pasta to a bowl and add the dressing, black beans, bell pepper, and corn. Toss to evenly coat everything with the dressing.
-
Taste-test and adjust any seasonings to your liking.
-
Serve.
In lure with the italian-mexican fusion happening here! Love the refreshing new take on the (sometimes) dull pasta salad :)
You had me at “cilantro” and “lime juice.” My husband is one of those people who thinks cilantro tastes like soap, so unfortunately, I won’t be able to make this for us. (Good thing I didn’t know that about him until after we were married. It might have been a deal breaker for me. Just kidding!) The good news is that hubby and I do attend potlucks often. This would be a great potluck dish, especially since it looks so quick and easy to prepare. Thank you for sharing!
I made this cilantro pesto and put it over tofu, asparagus, and brown rice. It’s delicious!
Glad you liked it! I’ve been wanting to try it on some other stuff too – maybe grilled veggies. Thanks Bonnie!
Yum this sounds really delicious. I love trying new recipes from blogs. Thanks for sharing :-)
Simon
Pasta is my favorite dish, i love to eat pasta. I definitely try this pesto pasta.
oh hell yeah, I love that you combined pasta and beans 😍 we’ve got heaps of fresh cilantro growing in the garden now, so I’m having so much fun exploring all the recipes where I can use it. This is up next 😋
I just made this and it’s absolutely wonderful – the dressing is AMAZING! Thank you for the great recipe. I’m definitely going to make this again and again.
We loved this recipe. Our garden cilantro had gone to seed, but had a lot of healthy, flavorful Thai basil, so I made the substitution. EXCELLENT!! I wasn’t sure the cumin flavor would work with basil, but it was delicious!!
So for those who are not fans of cilantro, we loved it with Thai basil. Be brave!
Thanks for another wonderful and versatile recipe, Alissa.
I’m intrigued…and jealous of your Thai basil! It does sound delicious though – I’ve made curry pastes that include Thai basil and cumin, so I can see how it would work. I’ll be giving your version a try some time!
This was excellent . Everyone enjoyed it!