Tossed with a vibrant basil pesto and filled with veggies, this pesto pasta salad is fresh and delicious. 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, shaved zucchini, and crunchy pine nuts. Lemon juice peps it up, and whole basil leaves 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 cellentani, but fusilli would be good too.
- 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.
- Zucchini and summer squash – You’ll be adding them to the salad raw, so make sure to slice them really thinly. I recommend using a mandoline if you have one.
- Lemon juice – It makes the salad nice and bright.
- Toasted pine nuts – For 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 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 measurements and 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, zucchini, squash, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Last but not least, add the reserved pasta water and toss to combine.
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 some cheese, like fresh mozzarella pearls or shaved Parmesan cheese.
- Add tomatoes. Fresh cherry tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes would all be great!
- 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 Favorite Summer Salads
If you love this pesto pasta salad, try one of these summer salad recipes next:
- Easy Pasta Salad
- Orzo Salad
- Cherry Tomato Couscous Salad
- Macaroni Salad
- Greek Salad
- Best Broccoli Salad
What more summer salad inspo? Check out our 51 Best Salad Recipes!
Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 12 ounces spiral pasta, such as cellentani, cavatappi, or fusilli
- ¾ cup pasta water
- 2 small zucchini, sliced into very thin rounds*
- 1 small yellow squash, sliced into very thin rounds*
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- Red pepper flakes, optional
Pesto
- ½ cup toasted pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 small garlic clove
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups basil leaves
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional
Instructions
- 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.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare the pasta according to the package directions, or 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.
- In a large bowl combine the pasta, zucchini, yellow squash, pesto, the reserved pasta water, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and toss. Season to taste. Top with the pine nuts, fresh basil, and red pepper flakes, if using. Serve the salad at room temperature.
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!!!