Pasta & Grain Salads

Summer Pesto Pasta Salad

Most pesto pasta salads dry out within an hour, because cold pasta absorbs oil and the sauce disappears. The fix is to dress the pasta twice — once warm, so it drinks in a thinned pesto, and again just before serving with the thicker remainder. Blistered cherry tomatoes bring sweetness and a bit of jammy liquid, mozzarella pearls keep it creamy, and toasted pine nuts stop it feeling soft. It travels well, it feeds a crowd, and it is one of the few pasta salads that tastes deliberate rather than assembled.

Summer Pesto Pasta Salad
15 minPrep time
20 minCook time
35 minTotal time
6Servings
420Kcal / serving

Ingredients

  • 450g fusilli or orecchiette
  • 60g basil leaves, packed
  • 40g pine nuts, toasted, plus extra to finish
  • 40g Parmesan, grated
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 350g cherry tomatoes
  • 200g mozzarella pearls, drained
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • Salt and black pepper

Instructions

  1. Blister the tomatoes

    Heat the oven to 220°C/425°F. Toss the cherry tomatoes with 1 tbsp oil and salt, and roast 15 minutes until they split and caramelise. Keep all the juices.

  2. Make the pesto

    Blend the basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic, lemon juice and remaining oil with a good pinch of salt until it is a loose sauce. Set aside a third of it.

  3. Cook and dress warm

    Boil the pasta in heavily salted water until al dente. Reserve a cup of the water, drain, and immediately toss the hot pasta with the larger portion of pesto plus a splash of pasta water. Spread it out to cool.

  4. Finish

    Once cool, fold in the tomatoes and their juices, the mozzarella and the reserved pesto. Adjust with more pasta water if it looks tight. Top with extra pine nuts and black pepper.

For a lighter grain option try Lemon Orzo Salad, or serve it beside Grilled Zucchini Ribbons. Storage advice is in our Keep Salad Fresh guide.

The EasySaladBowl secretSave the pasta water. A splash of that starchy liquid stirred in just before serving brings a fridge-cold pasta salad straight back to life.

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