Bursting with a lemony herb dressing, this Gluten-free Pasta Salad with Artichoke is cold, refreshing, and a definite crowd-pleaser. This recipe can easily be made ahead of time and it’s as easy as tossing all of the ingredients into a bowl and mixing it.
I used a variety of colorful vegetables like: artichokes, cherry tomatoes, vibrant purple cabbage, cooling cucumbers, crunchy carrots, crisp bell peppers, spinach, radish, and onion. By all means, if you do not have all of these vegetables or if you do not like one, feel free to use what you have on hand AND use what best suits your pallet.
I pretty much will devoir any vegetable that lands on my plate :).
Do you rinse pasta for a cold pasta salad?
Yes. When the pasta is rinsed in cold water, it stops the cooking process.
I used Fusilli certified gluten-free pasta from Wegmans Organic. It’s a brown rice pasta and it held up really well in the pasta salad. It was chewy and tender, just the way I like it.
When boiling pasta, don’t forget to season the water really well with kosher or any course sea salt. That’s the chance to season the pasta well. The water should be salty like the sea, so dump it in!
How can I make my pasta salad more flavorful?
There are two secrets to flavorful pasta salad every time. One, make sure to have an out-of-this-world dressing (practical, right?). Two, always use plenty of salt!
Because pasta salad is a cold dish, our taste buds naturally cannot taste that much flavor on our tongue, that is why salting generously and having a tasty dressing is key.
What goes good with pasta salad?
Buttery grilled corn pairs perfectly with cold salad, a side of peas, broccoli or grilled chicken to name a few. Your pasta salad will initially replace any other salad that you would usually serve.
What is the best pasta for pasta salad?
My favorite pasta shape for a cold salad is fusilli, orzo, and penne . They all taste the same, just a different shape.
More Deliciousness!
- Roasted Delicata Squash Recipe with Parmesan
- Sautéed Brussel Sprouts Recipe (with crispy bits of turkey)
- Gluten-Free Waffles Recipe (cinnamon + sugar)
Gluten-free Pasta Salad with Artichoke
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Delicious Gluten-free pasta salad with artichokes that is bursting with rainbow colors and tossed in a lemony herb dressing that can feed a crowed.
Ingredients
- 16 oz gluten-free pasta
- 2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced into halves
- 2 cups cucumber, small dice
- 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
- 2 cups, roughly chopped spinach
- 1/2 cup, finely chopped purple cabbage
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 tbsp kosher salt to season the pasta water.
- For the dressing
- ½ cup EVOO
- ½ cup lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- cracked black pepper
- 2 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Prepare the vegetables
- Chop, slice, and dice all the vegetables, herbs, and have them ready. Having all the ingredients prepared will make everything 10x easier. When ready, let’s cook the pasta next.
Cook the pasta
- Cook the gluten-free pasta according to the manufacturer’s instructions (my pasta needed 4 quarts of water, a generous handful of salt, and cook time took approximately 10-12 minutes.)
- After the pasta has cooked in a well-seasoned pot of water, transfer the pasta into a colander, and gently run cold water over it to help stop the cooking process. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. While the pasta continues to cool, let’s make the dressing.
Make the dressing
- In a mixing bowl, add the extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, garlic powder, oregano, cilantro or parsley, salt and pepper, and whisk until a creamy homogenized dressing forms (set aside). Now let’s put it all together.
Put it all together
- Add all of the pre-chopped vegetables to the bowl with the cooled pasta. Add the dressing and toss until all of the ingredients are well- combined.
Notes
No cherry tomatoes? Use grape, heirloom, Roma or any sweet tomato you can find.
Which Cucumbers? Feel free to use seedless English cucumbers, seeded cucumbers, or Persian cucumbers.
This salad would also taste delicious with Bulgarian soft cheese or Greek dried cheese.
- Category: lunch
Keywords: glutenfree salads lunch