This Fresh Southwest Pasta Salad is my go-to whenever I need to take a dish to a party, and also a favorite summer dinner at our house. It’s great with grilled chicken (Grilled Taco Chicken is a perfect pairing) or by itself as a one-dish dinner. This dressing is based off of our favorite Cilantro Vinaigrette. It’s so good and flavorful, packed with veggies, and does well sitting out or in the fridge for while before or during serving. Leftovers are fantastic, too!
Ingredients Needed for the Salad
- bowtie pasta – you could use a different shape if you wanted, but keep it short and “twisty”; don’t use long, thin pasta. Rotini, fusilli, or cavatappi are other excellent choices! These shapes have more surface area and grooves, allowing them to better hold onto dressings and mix-ins.
- black beans – drained and rinsed. Canned works great!
- roma tomatoes – diced. If you don’t have any around, you could also use about ¾ cup halved cherry tomatoes.
- bell pepper – red, yellow, or orange are all delicious here; we don’t recommend green pepper for this recipe.
- green onions
- corn – we always recommend frozen corn. Canned corn has a unique flavor profile that doesn’t mesh well with most recipes. In this recipe, you’ll add the corn in frozen – no need to thaw it!
- limes
- chicken – optional. You’ll want to cook and chill this before preparing the salad. If you want something extra delicious, make this taco chicken. It fits the flavor profile perfectly!
- Queso Fresco or Cotija Cheese – I like to sprinkle on the cheese just before serving. Queso Fresco or Cotija is my favorite, or you can use grated pepperjack, jack, or cheddar.
Ingredients Needed for the Dressing
- fresh lime juice – from about 3 juicy limes
- white wine or rice vinegar
- garlic – roughly chopped
- chili powder
- cumin
- coriander
- kosher or sea salt
- sugar – if you find your limes are very sour or bitter, add a touch more than the recipe originally calls for.
- canola oil
- cilantro – roughly chopped. If you’re not a cilantro fan, you can always leave it out!
How to Make Southwest Pasta Salad
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Be sure to only cook the pasta until it reaches al dente stage.
- Blend together dressing.
- Combine pasta salad ingredients.
- Pour dressing into salad and toss gently.
- Chill for one hour before serving.
- Add cheese right before serving.
Storage & Other Tips
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 – 5 days.
- The flavors of this salad may mellow after storage. If you’d like, you can reserve a small amount of dressing to add right before enjoying any leftovers. You can also add more lime juice, salt, and pepper.
- You can make this salad up to a few hours ahead of serving. Toss is all together, but keep the dressing separate. Toss together one hour before serving, chill again to let the flavors meld together, then add cheese right before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! It’s even better after the flavors meld in the fridge. For best texture, consider mixing in the dressing right before serving or refreshing it with a bit more dressing.
Absolutely. While the recipe includes a delicious spin on our Cilantro Vinaigrette, you can use store-bought chipotle ranch, cilantro-lime dressing, or even a creamy vinaigrette.
Cook the pasta al dente and rinse it in cold water to stop the cooking process. If storing overnight, keep the dressing separate until serving.
Yes! Grilled chicken (like our Taco Chicken), shrimp, or even taco-seasoned ground beef can turn this into a hearty main course.
You can use kidney beans, chickpeas, or omit them entirely. Roasted red peppers or diced zucchini make great substitutes for corn.
Southwest Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- ½ lb bowtie pasta
- 1 14-oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 2 roma tomatoes, diced or about ¾ cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper, red, yellow, or orange large, diced small
- ½ cup green onions sliced
- ½ cup corn, frozen
- zest from 2 limes
- 8 ounces chicken, cooked, diced optional; try our taco chicken
- ½ cup Queso Fresco or Cotija Cheese or you could substitute grated jack, cheddar or pepperjack
Dressing
- 6 tablespoons lime juice, fresh about 3 juicy limes
- ¼ cup white wine or rice vinegar
- 4-5 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- ½ teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 2 teaspoon sugar add a touch more if your limes are extra sour/bitter
- ¾ cup canola oil
- ½ cup cilantro roughly chopped
Instructions
Cook Pasta
- Boil pasta in salted water according to package directions. While it's cooking, prepare dressing.
Dressing
- Zest limes and place the zest in a large salad bowl.
- Place the lime juice, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt and sugar in a blender. (Basically everything except the cilantro and oil).
- Process until smooth. With the motor running slowly, add the oil in a steady stream until incorporated.
- Add the cilantro and pulse so it gets broken up, but some pieces still remain in tact.
Combine Salad Ingredients
- When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse immediately with cold water to cool.
- Place the pasta in the large salad bowl with the lime zest. Add black beans, tomatoes, diced pepper, green onions, corn (no need to thaw the corn), and chicken if desired. Toss with dressing. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Chill for 1 hour before serving.
- Right before serving, sprinkle cheese on top. Serve with extra lime wedges if desired.
Questions & Reviews
I need simple, easy and cheap recipes thanks!! got 2 cans of canned white chicken and i wanna make a pasta salad with {macaroni pasta} for my boyfriends lunch to take to work…..
I made this for an Open House and it was a hit with all our friends and family. The color really set it apart from all the other salads. I received your cookbook for Christmas and love it. I use your recipies everyweek. Thanks for making me look good 🙂
I’ve been nominated to “bring a salad, any salad” to our next family gathering. I found your recipe and cannot wait to try it! Sounds delicious!
Someone else found this recipe and printed it off for me to make for a party. Honestly, I didn’t think it sounded very good. Oops, I was wrong again. Just made it. Used tri-color spirals instead of bow-tie and no cheese. Pretty tasty and at least I know there will be at least one vegetarian dish at the party.
Thanks!
This salad is amazing! Loved It and so did my famiy. We took it to a picnic at the park and shared it. Everyone asked for the recipe. Love your site and your recipes. Thanks for all you do, it is greatly appreciated!
Julie, red wine vinegar would work fine too, and if you don’t have that either, then play around with what you do have. Just do it to taste!
Is there a vinegar I could substitute for the rice wine or white wine vinegar, I don’t have either.
I made this salad to take to a picnic…and it was a hit. I didn’t have tomatoes, so I used avocado and I put in small cubes of pepper-jack. Thanks for such awesome recipes!
My usual rule of thumb is “don’t try a new recipe on a crowd of people” but I always break that rule when using one of yours. I just made this salad to take to a BBQ and you’re totally right…it’s a party in your mouth! No more boring pasta salads for me! Thanks!!
Heh, I was actually just looking for a way to print just the recipe, used my browser’s search feature for “print,” and only found your comment. Guess we’ll be copying and pasting this into Word. 🙂
This looks like a tasty and gorgeous salad! I was assigned to bring a pasta salad to my sister-in-law’s housewarming party this weekend, and came straight to your site because I figured you’d have something Score!