Veggies and noodles smothered in an herb infused oil and vinegar dressing.
Feast for the whole week and have packed lunches to go with this veggie pasta salad; featuring beets, cucumbers, bell peppers, broccoli and red onions. The herb infused dressing is one of my favorite additions, adding healthy omega fatty acids and numerous benefits from all the spices and herbs.
My favorite summer salad from my childhood was pasta salad. My mom would always put in red bell peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, blocks of cheddar cheese, and kraft Italian dressing. She probably would have put in onions too, but I didn’t like them too much then.
With my purified lifestyle change came the need to change up my mom’s pasta salad recipe. I love the classic array of vegetables, I just needed a dressing that wass flavorful, healthy and easy to make.
Behold the perfect pasta salad dressing. It’s really easy to make it just takes a few days to fully infuse all the herbs and spices with the oil. It is well worth the wait guaranteed!
The most essential part of a good dressing is quality oil and vinegar. I remember the kraft Italian dressing left this weird acidic taste in my mouth that was hard to get rid of. The best quality unfiltered oil and vinegar that I have found is the Braggs brand. I can’t praise them enough, seriously incredible stuff!
When the dressing is a few days old, I boil the pasta, chop the veggies and mix it all together. As the flavors of the pasta salad meld together it gets better and better. I always save a bit of dressing for each individual bowl just in case. You could use this dressing for a number of things, like on bread, or over greens.
If you need a gluten free pasta I would try the tinkyada brown rice pasta. That is the only brown rice pasta I know of that will stay soft when cold.
I encourage you to experiment with different veggies and ways of cutting them. I used my mandolin to slice the carrots and the beets, but I also like to shred the veggies too. Let me know down below how you like it.
Veggie Pasta Salad with Herb Infused Dressing
INGREDIENTS
- 17 oz pasta
- 1/2 cup cucumber
- 1/2 cup carrot
- 1/2 cup beets
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup bell pepper
- 1/4 cup red onion or scallions
- 1/4 cup basil
- 2 garlic cloves
Herbal Infused Dressing
- 1.5 cups olive oil
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp herbs; basil rosemary
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp scallion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cook the pasta al dente, rinse with cold water until the noodles are room temperature.
- Cut all the veggies to your preference, shredded or roughly chopped.
- Mix the veggies, noodles, and dressing in a large pot, or bowl.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Herbal Infused Dressing
- Dice the garlic and onions and add all the other dressing ingredients together in a pint sized jar.