This super easy Pasta Salad with Avocado Dressing highlights summer produce, like corn, tomatoes, and bell pepper, tossed in a light and creamy avocado dressing. This recipe is simple, quick to toss together, healthy, and perfect for summer. Plus it can be easily modified to make it vegan/vegetarian/plant-based.
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Pasta Salad Ingredients
This pasta salad is super easy to throw together and only requires a handful of ingredients.
Pasta. You can use any pasta you want for this recipe. We prefer smaller, sturdy pastas, like elbow, mini bowties, or penne, that won’t turn to mush when cooked and mixed with dressing.
Fresh produce. We wanted to showcase fresh summer produce in this recipe, so we chose in-season veggies, like bell peppers, cherry/grape tomatoes, and corn on the cob to add seasonal flair and flavor. You’ll also need avocado, lime, and fresh cilantro for the dressing. And you can customize it to include other fresh produce, like zucchini, carrots, or yellow squash, or dressing of your choice (we love this classic pasta salad dressing).
Condiments. For the dressing, you’ll need light mayo (we really love Hellmann’s Lite mayo) and apple cider vinegar. We aimed to keep this recipe light so we recommend reduced fat mayo options.
Seasonings. The seasonings for this recipe is really simple: salt, pepper, and fresh garlic. That’s all it takes!
How to Make Pasta Salad
In a food processor or blender, combine avocado, mayo, water, vinegar, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, and salt and pepper. Pulse until creamy, about 30 seconds. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Prepare the veggies. Chop the bell pepper. Dice the onions. Halve the tomatoes. Shuck the corn.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the two corn cobs to the water. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove the corn carefully with tongs and place on a plate to cool. Once the corn is cooled, use a sharp knife to cut the kernels off of the cob.
Add the pasta to the still boiling water. Cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain the pasta and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add in the pepper, red onion, tomatoes, corn, green onion, additional cilantro (if desired), and avocado dressing. Toss well. Serve and enjoy!
Is This Pasta Salad Vegan?
This recipe can easily be made vegan/vegetarian/plant-based friendly. Simply swap out egg-based mayo with vegan (egg-less) mayo. There are tons of vegan mayo options out there, like Hellmann’s, Primal Kitchen, and Chosen Foods. All other ingredients are vegan.
Let us know what you think about this recipe for Pasta Salad with Avocado Dressing by dropping a comment and/or rating below! We love to hear from you. Also please share on Pinterest/social media if you’re a fan!
Check out our other summer-ready recipes:
- Summer Peach Pasta Salad
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Chicken Burger
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Creamy Chipotle Chicken
Pasta Salad with Avocado Dressing
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
Pasta Salad
- 16 oz elbow pasta (or other small pasta of choice)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- ½ red onion, diced
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 ears of corn
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Avocado Dressing
- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and seed removed
- ¼ c light mayo or vegan mayo
- 3 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ c fresh cilantro
- ½ tsp salt
- â…› tsp cracked black pepper
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, combine avocado, mayo, water, vinegar, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, and salt and pepper. Pulse until creamy, about 30 seconds. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
- Prepare the veggies. Chop the bell pepper. Dice the onions. Halve the tomatoes. Shuck the corn.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the two corn cobs to the water. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove the corn carefully with tongs and place on a plate to cool. Once the corn is cooled, use a sharp knife to cut the kernels off of the cob.
- Add the pasta to the still boiling water. Cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain the pasta and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add in the pepper, red onion, tomatoes, corn, green onion, additional cilantro (if desired), and avocado dressing. Toss well. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- To keep this recipe vegan/vegetarian/plant-based, swap out light mayo with vegan (egg-less) mayo.
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