24 Noodle and Pasta Salads to Upgrade Your Cookout
For a cookout-ready side dish, look no further than pasta salad. Whether you prefer orecchiette or soba noodles, these recipes use fresh veggies and herbs to create simple and delicious sides. Our collection includes vibrant Esquites-Style Poblano Pasta Salad, deeply flavorful Mung Bean Vermicelli Salad with Spiced Coconut and Greens, creamy Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese, and many more tasty noodle and pasta salad recipes to elevate your next outdoor gathering.
"Best of the Olive Bar" Pasta Salad
Fresh oregano, cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese bring bright flavor to this easy summer salad that comes together in just 15 minutes with help from the grocery store olive bar. Customize this recipe with whatever captures your imagination at the store — casarecce pasta, stuffed olives, stemmed caperberries, pickled garlic — the possibilities are nearly endless.
Mung Bean Vermicelli Salad with Spiced Coconut and Greens
Cookbook author Hetty McKinnon drew inspiration for this dish from the bright, lively flavors of urap sayur, an Indonesian salad made with steamed or boiled vegetables. Traditional recipes often call for finely grated fresh coconut, but McKinnon uses large flakes for added texture and crunch. Pan-frying the aromatic blend of chile, shallots, garlic, ginger, and lime leaves intensifies and blends their flavors for a complex and deeply flavored chilled pasta salad.
Esquites-Style Poblano Pasta Salad
Esquites is the creamy corn salad version of elote, the beloved Mexican street food where corn on the cob is slathered with mayo and sprinkled with chili powder and Cotija cheese. Here, we've taken esquites and turned it into a pasta salad, loaded with charred corn, zucchini, scallions, and poblano chile. A crema-mayo mixture flavored with lime and cilantro adds a bright finish, and Cotija and ancho chile powder seal the deal.
Warm Puttanesca Pasta Salad
Cherry tomatoes are the star of this vibrant dish, which also includes crispy prosciutto, fragrant herbs, anchovies, and punches of garlic. A couple tablespoons of petite capers pull their weight, lending an unmistakable briny goodness. Serve the salad warm or at room temperature.
Green Goddess Pasta Salad
Super bright and refreshing, this pasta salad is the exact dish you want to serve alongside grilled chicken, burgers, and corn at your next outdoor party. The sharp, peppery radishes with creamy artichokes and earthy asparagus mixed with the pasta and tangy green dressing also make for a stunning presentation.
Spanish-Style Pasta Salad with Tuna and Marinated Tomatoes
Spanish pantry staples like mildly spicy, sweet piparra peppers and tangy sherry vinegar bring bold flavor to this hearty pasta salad from 2015 F&W Best New Chef Katie Button. "I love this pasta salad because it incorporates fresh summer ingredients, like tomatoes and herbs, with staples I already have on hand in the pantry," she says. "This is a go-to salad in my house, and when I pack it for a picnic or a hike, it feels like I've won."
Fregola with Charred Onions and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Fregola is a bead-shaped pasta from Sardinia; it's nicely chewy and can be used as a phenomenal base for a summer salad. Chef Jeff Banker roasts cherry tomatoes in the oven before he adds them to the fregola, which makes them especially sweet.
Chilled Soba Noodle Salad with Yuzu Dressing
"Using the ready-made jams and marmalades found in Asian supermarkets, we can build dressings for chilled noodles that pair excellently with a variety of vegetables, creating a dish that is anything but generic," says 2021 F&W Best New Chef Lucas Sin. Here, he uses yuzu tea, ponzu, and yuzu kosho in his tangy dressing.
Anu's Noodle Salad with Crunchy Fruit
A joyful romp of textures, restaurateur Anu Mahendro's refreshing salad combines crisp bell pepper, juicy grapes, pineapple, chewy egg noodles, carrots, and fresh apples dressed with a homemade vinaigrette. To maintain the textures, serve it chilled.
Pasta Salad with Feta and Herbs
This Southern-inspired pasta salad gets a touch of tangy heat from hot sauce and loads of crunch from nutty sunflower seeds. Use Duke's mayonnaise for an extra-tangy bite to the dressing. This colorful, eclectic pasta will fit in well with any picnic or cookout spread.
Soba and Zucchini Noodle Salad
This soba salad offers bracing heat that's most welcome on a hot day when the coldest beers are at hand. Tender buckwheat noodles and crispy strands of zucchini "noodles" soak up a pleasantly piquant dressing laced with both gochugaru and gochujang for a double hit of spicy Korean peppers mellowed by a touch of brown sugar.
Greens Pasta Salad
Former F&W culinary director at large Justin Chapple dresses pasta with a tangy and creamy mix of buttermilk, vinegar, and mayo, then mixes in plenty of greens.
Thai-style Beef Salad over Angel Hair Pasta
Laab — ground beef seasoned with chiles, lime juice, fish sauce, and mint — is a traditional Thai meat salad eaten warm or at room temperature. We've added thin noodles to turn it into a pasta salad, but you can always eat the meat mixture by itself; just cut down on the fish sauce, or the beef may be too salty.
Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese
We take pasta salad to a new level with sweet grilled corn, zucchini, and a creamy lime dressing spiked with chile powder. Fresh cilantro adds brightness, then the whole salad gets topped with tangy slivers of fresh goat cheese.
Cold Saimin Salad with Soy-Ginger Grilled Pork
This Hawaiian-style cold ramen noodle salad is topped with slices of savory, crispy pork shoulder, crunchy bean sprouts, tender ribbons of egg, shredded nori, and slices of Japanese pickled cucumber. A cooling dressing of dashi, rice wine vinegar, and sake brings it all together.
Smoked Salmon Macaroni Salad with Spinach, Lemon, and Goat Cheese
This bright and flavorful smoked salmon macaroni salad with spinach, lemon, and goat cheese is sure to become a summertime favorite.
Soba Noodle Salad with Pesto and Grilled Eggplant
"Buckwheat and basil actually work really well together," chef Bill Kim says about his unlikely match-up of Japanese and Mediterranean flavors. This chunky salad has a great mix of textures, too: velvety grilled eggplant, crunchy radishes, and juicy cucumbers.
Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad with Artichoke Hearts
Using canned artichoke hearts cuts the preparation time for this salad way down. They're surprisingly good; just be sure to rinse them thoroughly to get rid of any extra acidity or "tinny" taste.
Spicy Lobster Noodle Salad
This cellophane noodle salad, with creamy avocados, crunchy peanuts, and a chile-honey dressing, is an excellent showcase for Caribbean spiny lobsters. Also known as rock lobsters, they're sweet but can be slightly dense. This recipe uses Maine lobsters; they're more tender than spiny lobsters — and just as delicious.
Chilled Rice Noodle and Cabbage Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing
This peanut dressing has quite a list of ingredients but it's definitely worth the effort, as its flavor has a delicious and fresh complexity to it that isn't found in store-bought peanut sauces. Toss in fresh herbs and chopped peanuts to the noodles at the end for added texture.
Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Arugula, Pine Nuts, and Herb Dressing
This basic pasta salad is jazzed up with peppery arugula and a lively mayo-based dressing made with garlic, lemon juice, and a trio of fresh herbs. We use sweet grape tomatoes, which are delicious year-round.
Mac Salad
Creamy and velvety, this macaroni salad with potatoes and hard-boiled eggs is a staple side dish of the Hawaiian plate lunch.
Fusilli with Spinach and Sun-Dried-Tomato Pesto
Our tomato pesto packs a wallop of flavor. Use it in this colorful pasta salad or toss it with hot pasta instead. You may also want to try the pesto on top of grilled chicken, lamb, or vegetables; as a sandwich spread; or mixed with cream cheese on a bagel.
Thai Seafood Noodle Salad
The classic flavors of Thai cuisine — sweet, salty, spicy, sour — can all be found in the dressing on this salad, a delicious tangle of chewy rice noodles, shrimp, squid, and peanuts.
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