recipe: cool pesto pasta salad

Jul 5

my husband loves pesto – hot or cold. we have a local, fresh market in town that has an amazing display of cold salads and that is where i usually used to purchase the cold version of the pesto he likes. but recently their recipe has been on the oily side. and it’s expensive to buy in their very small one pound container.

for a while now i have been trying to re-create the recipe at home. yesterday, i think i did it!

this was a great side dish with our 4th of july dinner. if you have been searching for an easy, healthy and delicious cold pesto pasta salad recipe, give this one a try. it’s so easy to make and the recipe makes a big batch. to up the vege intake, i mix both basil and spinach for the pesto…and add in asparagus for even more greens. but you can create whatever kind of pesto you like. personally, we don’t like too much basil, and prefer more spinach. if you like the strong basil flavor, you can add more basil and lower the spinach.

if you have never made pesto, it’s easy! other than cooking the noodles, there is no cooking involved for the sauce. you’ll use your food processor to chop up the spinach, basil, garlic, nuts, and nutmeg…

after everything is finely chopped, you’ll drizzle in olive oil with the processor going…before you know it, you have pesto!…

this cold salad is delicious…

here is the printable. enjoy!

 

comments +

  1. I love anything and everything with pesto. I grow my own basil and freeze lots of pesto to use in the winter.

    • hi there!

      yum!!! we do too – we love it, but especially my husband. this salad is so good and we will be eating it for the next several nights. this recipe made quite a bit of it. hope you can try – and feel free to share some of your pesto recipes with me too! 🙂

      xo,
      samantha

  2. Pinned! I love pesto and my basil is in need of cutting back so I'll be making this on Monday to go with turkey burgers on the grill! Thanks so much!

  3. Kelly says:

    What a great idea! I love making homemade pesto, I have yet to find a jarred version that beats homemade. I'll have to try your version! -Kelly @ Semi Homemade Mom

    • me too! i have only tried a jarred version one time and it was so oily and yuck. it is so easy to make!

      let me know how it turns out for you!!

      best,
      samantha 🙂

  4. […] homemade corn bread, salad (x1 leftover) *grilled chicken, rice, vegetable *hamburgers, cool pesto salad, baked beans *baked potato bar, salad *1 night out with friends *1 business dinner for […]

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