If you're looking for a tasty and healthy way to enjoy pasta, you might want to try out a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) pasta salad with pumpkin seed pesto. This dish is not only delicious, but it's also packed with nutrients, fiber, and protein from the whole food ingredients used to make it.
Note: Pumpkin seeds are quite strong in flavor, so make this only if you have eaten green pumpkin seeds before and like the taste of them.
Pumpkin seeds are very nutritious and contain a lot of zinc. Seeds and nuts are also a great source of natural fats. Cashew nuts have a milder flavor, so they balance out nicely with the strong pumpkin seeds.
Why you will love this recipe
- Packed with nutrition. Pumpkin seed pesto is a delicious and healthy alternative to traditional pesto sauces, as it's made with whole food ingredients like pumpkin seeds, garlic, and lemon juice. Arugula provides a peppery flavor and plenty of vitamins and minerals.
- Great for meal prep: One more recipe for your weekly plant-based meal-prep. You get 6 portions to enjoy as lunch or dinner.
Notes on ingredients and replacements
- Use whole grain pasta for maximum fiber and nutrition. Any shape of pasta is ok to use. My favorite is penne in this recipe.
- Swap the leek for red onion or spring onion.
- If you don't like sundried tomatoes, try a variation of roasted bell peppers.
- Regular tomatoes can be used instead of cherry tomatoes.
- The recipe has arugula and baby spinach but you can use chopped massaged kale as an addition.
- Cashew nuts in the pesto sauce can be replaced with macadamia, peeled hemp seeds or pine nuts.
What goes with pasta salad?
- Sundried tomatoes
- Grilled red peppers
- Artichokes
- Arugula
- Basil and other fresh herbs
- Garlic sauce
- Pine nuts
- Black or green olives
- Plant-based mozzarella
- Avocado
- Grilled zucchini or eggplant
- Asparagus
- Red onion
- Cherry tomatoes
To make a red pasta salad, a great variation, use muhammara red pepper spread as sauce.
Some roasted Italian vegetables also go really well with this salad.
Storing
Pasta salad lasts in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. If you added very moist ingredients such as cucumber and regular chopped tomatoes, I recommend to eat in 2 days. If you store your pasta salad in a vacuum food container, it will hold for a week.
Do you add pesto to hot or cold pasta?
Mixing the pesto to warm pasta allows the flavors to meld nicely together. Waith though before adding lettuce and other greens , since they will wilt in warm pasta.
📖 Recipe
Pasta salad with pumpkin seed pesto
Ingredients
- 16 oz whole grain pasta ( 450 g, dryweight)
- ⅓ leek
- ¾ cup sundried tomatoes
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 2 cups arugula
- 3 cups lettuce or baby spinach
- ¼ cup halved olives
Pesto
- 1 bundle fresh basil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup green pumpkin seeds
- ⅓ cup cashew nuts
- ⅓ cup water
Decorate(optional
- 2 tablespoon basil leaves
- 2 tablespoon roasted pine nuts
Instructions
- Boil the pasta as recommended in the package. Drain it in a colander after cooking.
- During cooking, make the pesto sauce. Roast the seeds on a hot pan for a moment. (do not burn) Make the pesto with an immersion blender or a food processor by mixing the water, pumpkin seeds, cashew nuts, fresh basil, nutritional yeast and salt into a paste.
- Mix the pesto sauce with the pasta. Let the mixture cool down a bit.
- Wash and chop the veggies you want in your salad. Mix everything together.
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