This pesto pasta salad recipe is tossed with a vibrant basil pesto and filled with tomatoes and mozzarella. Serve it for dinner, or pack it up for a picnic!
This pesto pasta salad recipe is super summery and fresh! Vibrant basil pesto (preferably homemade) coats curly noodles, juicy cherry tomatoes, crunchy pine nuts, and creamy mozzarella cheese. Lemon juice peps it up, and whole basil leaves and arugula intensify the herbaceous flavor.
Like most pasta salads, this pesto pasta salad is a great dish to make ahead for potlucks and picnics. But we enjoy it so much that I also like to serve it as a weeknight dinner! On a hot summer night, it’s a refreshing alternative to traditional pesto pasta. Plus, made with pesto AND basil leaves, it helps me take advantage of the basil plants that I often have growing in my garden.
I hope you’ll try this recipe this summer! Keep reading to find my best tips and tricks for making it…along with a few fun ways to change it up. 🙂
Pesto Pasta Salad Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this pesto pasta salad recipe:
- Pasta, of course! I recommend choosing a fun, curly pasta shape. We love fusilli, cellentani, rotini, or cavatappi.
- Basil pesto – It creates a lightly creamy, flavorful dressing for the pasta salad. See the callout below for my tips for making homemade pesto or subbing store-bought.
- Cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes – They add sweet, tangy flavor and juicy texture to the salad. I like to use a mix of colors to make this recipe extra-vibrant.
- Fresh mozzarella balls – They add creamy richness to the salad. I use ciliegine, or cherry-size, balls and cut them in half. I love that they’re the same size as the cherry tomatoes. In a pinch, mozzarella pearls would work well too.
- Arugula – It adds peppery flavor and crunch.
- Lemon juice – It makes the salad nice and bright.
- Toasted pine nuts – For nutty crunch.
- Fresh basil leaves – They’re a pretty finishing touch for this pesto pasta salad, and they add an extra punch of basil flavor.
- And salt and pepper – To make all the flavors pop!
If you like, you can add a pinch of red pepper flakes for a hint of spice.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Making Homemade Pesto
I love to use homemade basil pesto in this salad. If you’ve never made fresh pesto before, don’t let it intimidate you! It’s super simple:
- Pulse together pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a food processor.
- Add fresh basil and pulse to combine.
- Then, with the motor running, drizzle in olive oil to form a vibrant pesto sauce.
For detailed step-by-step instructions, see my pesto recipe. Note that for this pesto pasta salad, I like to use more oil than I normally would, 1/2 cup instead of 1/4. It helps the pesto maintain a lightly creamy texture once it coats the noodles.
Feel free to use store-bought pesto if you prefer. You’ll need roughly 1 cup to dress the salad.
How to Make Pesto Pasta Salad
To make this pesto pasta salad, you’ll start by cooking the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water.
- Make sure to cook it a little past al dente so that it doesn’t harden as it cools.
- And before you drain it, reserve 3/4 cup of the starchy, salty pasta cooking water. It’s a key ingredient in this recipe—it helps the pesto coat the noodles and veggies, creating a rich, lightly creamy pesto sauce for the salad.
After you drain the pasta, toss it with a little olive oil and spread it on a large baking sheet to cool. Allow the reserved pasta water to cool too.
When the pasta is cool, add it to a large bowl with the pesto, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water. Toss to combine.
- Note:Â The pasta will seem very saucy at this point, but once it absorbs some of the sauce and you add the remaining ingredients, the ratios will balance.
Fold in the tomatoes, mozzarella, and arugula, adding more pasta water as needed to coat the pasta in a lightly creamy sauce.
Season to taste and top with the pine nuts, basil, and a pinch of red pepper flakes, if you like. Enjoy!
Recipe Variations
- Use another type of pesto. My pesto recipe works well with a variety of soft, leafy herbs and greens! Use a mix of basil and another herb, or replace the basil with parsley or arugula. You can change up the nuts too. Walnuts and pepitas are nice (more affordable) alternatives to pine nuts.
- Toss in other veggies. I love thinly shaved raw zucchini or summer squash in this pesto pasta salad recipe. Bell peppers or roasted eggplant would be delicious too!
- Use sun-dried tomatoes or roasted tomatoes for a concentrated savory, umami flavor. You can roast all the tomatoes or use a mix of roasted and raw.
- Fold in some chickpeas for plant-based protein.
Let me know what variations you try!
Storage
This pesto pasta salad recipe keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
I love to make it ahead for potlucks and picnics in the summertime. And when I make it for dinner, I always hope to have leftovers. They’re delicious for lunch the next day!
More Pasta Salad Recipes to Try
If you love this pesto pasta salad, try one of these pasta salad recipes next:
Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 12 ounces spiral pasta, such as rotini, fusilli, or cavatappi
- ¾ cup pasta water
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1½ cups mini mozzarella balls, halved (8 ounces)
- 1½ cups arugula
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts, optional
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- Red pepper flakes, optional
Pesto
- ½ cup toasted pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare the pasta according to the package instructions, cooking until slightly past al dente. Before draining the pasta, scoop up ¾ cup of the starchy pasta water and set aside. Drain the pasta and toss it with a little olive oil so that it doesn’t stick together. Spread the pasta on a baking sheet and let it (and the reserved pasta water) cool to room temperature.
- Make the pesto: In a food processor, combine the pine nuts, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and several grinds of pepper and pulse until well chopped. Add the basil and pulse to combine. With the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil and pulse until combined. Add the cheese, if using, and briefly pulse to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the pasta, pesto, ½ cup of the reserved pasta water, lemon juice, salt, and several grinds of pepper and toss. Fold in the tomatoes, mozzarella, and arugula and season to taste, adding more pasta water as needed to coat the salad in a lightly creamy sauce. Top with the pine nuts, basil, and red pepper flakes, if using. Serve at room temperature.
I have to adhere to a Low FODMAP diet without dairy, garlic or gluten, so I omitted cheese, garlic, and used a gluten free pasta. I added some fresh tomatoes, chives, and mint. This was a huge hit today with people who had no idea it had dietary changes. I never would have thought of using raw squash like this, but it was perfect timing as I had one of each fresh from the garden today. Thank you for such a delicious, simple, light summer pasta salad.
I’m so glad you loved it, Ashley!
Is the basil 2 cups by weight, as in 16 oz of basil? Or is it whatever fits in a measuring cup to 2 cups?
I’m needing to make this recipe x11 for a large party but I can’t figure out how much basil I need to buy.
Hi Ashley, it’s 2 measuring cups full.
I made this tonight and it is a winner! I always have a profusion of basil in my garden an d this is anngreat way to use up a lot of it. It’s also super easy. I totally agree with using a mandolin to slice the veggies – that way you don’t have to blanch them. I used cellentani pasta, which I think works better than fusilli as the pasta is not as thick. Oh, and definitely add some crushed red pepper for a little kick.
A few minor modifications:
1. I doubled the garlic because, well, garlic! This recipe uses less garlic than pesto sauce used for pasta, which makes sense since it’s going to be eaten cold, but one small clove is just not really enough.
2. I added one thinly sliced carrot for color and just more variety of veggies.
3. I increased the parmesan cheese to 1/3 cup so it tastes more like traditional pesto.
4. I added an extra tbsp of lemon juice to give it a little more bite.
I’ve made this several times now and my family and I love it… such a quick fix for a work-day meal!
While I love this recipe as-is, I did mix it up a bit for dinner tonight and lightly sauteed the squash with some onions, garlic and chick-peas. We have company that doesn’t care for raw squash, so I made a compromise, then added the rest to make this a more filling meal that would stretch a bit for the extra person. In the past, I have also added grated carrot, peas, etc. Very flexible recipe!!!