This Southwest Pasta Salad is an awesome summer side dish that's perfect for potlucks and backyard barbecues. It's a simple, make-ahead recipe that's loaded with flavor and texture.
Is it just me, or post-Covid have we been doing a lot less gathering? I miss the days of backyard barbecues and summer potluck parties where everyone would bring a dish, gather in the sunshine, and eat and talk and listen to music and make real connections under the open sky. We broke our habit of getting together for a simple feast, and I think we should bring it back.
Let's all start inviting each other over for casual dinner parties or meeting in the local park for some good food and good chat. Let's fire up the grill and crank up the tunes and laugh out loud. This is what the lazy days of summer are made for. Let's stop waiting to be invited and start doing the inviting. Life's to short to keep letting days pass by without feeding our friends something awesome.
What makes Southwest Pasta Salad so awesome?
I promise that once you try this Southwest Pasta Salad, you're gonna want to bring it along to all those awesome potlucks you're about to start attending. It's the perfect summer side dish. It needs to be made ahead of time and actually gets more flavorful after a few hours, or even the next day. It's got plenty of color from black beans, bell peppers, green onions, and corn. And the Southwest viniagrette is full of flavor.
This is awesome to serve alongside a Spicy Southwest Burger or some grilled chicken. I've also just eaten a big bowl for lunch and been very happy about it. And you can double this recipe if you're serving it to a crowd at something like a church picnic. And it's vegetarian, so your veggie friends will love it. If you need it to be vegan, just swap out the cheese for a plant based option. It's gonna be a total crowd pleaser.
Magical Properties of Lime
Lime zest and juice is a key flavor in this recipe, and you can call on its energy to make it magical. Limes are tied to the element of water and ruled by the Sun and Venus. Use them to call in love, peace, protection, and relaxation. With their gorgeous green color, they can also be used in prosperity magick. (Source: The Kitchen Witch's Guide to Healing & Self-Care by Maggie Haseman)
For more on the magical properties of the ingredients in this recipe, be sure to check the Kitchen Magick page.
Ingredients
Here's everything you'll need to make this dish. The full details are in the recipe card below.
- Pasta - I've made this with a variety of short pastas, but spirals are great for holding onto the dressing.
- Limes - You'll need the zest and the juice. You may want some bottled lime juice as well if that's something you keep on hand. It will save you having to squeeze extra limes.
- Black beans - canned, rinsed, and drained
- Bell peppers - red are my preference, but go with whatever you like and can get your hands on
- Green onions - aka scallions or spring onions
- Corn - Frozen is easiest, but canned also works. You could cut it fresh from the cob if you're feeling fancy.
- Spicy cheese - pepper jack if it's available or cheddar with chillies if it's not
- Apple cider vinegar
- Garlic - fresh or paste
- Spices - You'll need chilli powder, cumin, and coriander
- Salt
- Sugar
- Olive oil - This is the time to use your nicely flavored extra virgin if you've got it.
Tips for making Southwest Pasta Salad
There's a long list of ingredients, but it's actually really easy to bring this Southwest Pasta Salad together. While your pasta is cooking, add your lime zest, drained black beans, chopped bell pepper, and sliced green onions to a big bowl and stir them together. Don't add your cheese just yet or it will melt when you add the hot pasta. Once your pasta is drained, add it to the bowl as well and stir it all together.
The easiest way to make the viniagrette is to add all the ingredients to a jar with a tightly sealed lid and give it a good shake. If you need to whisk it in a bowl, mix together everything but the oil first, then slowly stream in the oil as you whisk.
Then pour about two-thirds of your viniagrette over your pasta, add the cheese, and give the whole thing a good mix. Cover the bowl and stash it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Before you serve it, give it another good stir, and add a bit more viniagrette if you think it needs it. It will soak up the dressing as it chills, so I like to always top it up a bit just before I serve it.
This is awesome leftover as it just keeps getting more and more flavorful.
FAQ
This is a very unscientific answer, but generally, if it doesn't smell weird or have something growing on it, it's probably fine. To be safe, I'd eat this within five days. It's never lasted longer than three days in my house. Just be sure to store it in an airtight container and don't leave it out of the fridge for longer than 2 hours.
Are you ready to go to a good old fashioned potluck? Armed with this awesome Southwest Pasta Salad, you'll be begging for an invitation just so you can show off.
Looking for more awesome side salad recipes? Try this Za'atar Potato Salad or a vegan Red Bean Salad.
PrintSouthwest Pasta Salad
This Southwest Pasta Salad is an awesome summer side dish that's perfect for potlucks and backyard barbecues. It's a simple, make-ahead recipe that's loaded with flavor and texture.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Southwest
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- ½ pound small pasta, your favorite shape or whatever's in your pantry
- zest of 2 limes
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ bell pepper, diced
- 3 green onions, chopped (I use scissors)
- ½ cup frozen corn
- ½ cup shredded pepper jack cheese
for the dressing
- 6 Tbsp lime juice (Use what you can get from the limes you zested earlier, then top up with bottled lime juice if you need to)
- ¼ cup cider vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-½ tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- ¾ cup olive oil
Instructions
- Cook your pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, according to the time on the package. Drain
- Zest your lime into the bottom of a large mixing bowl.
- Add the black beans, bell pepper, green onion, corn, and cheese. Stir to combine.
- Add the pasta and stir it up.
- The easiest way to make the dressing is to combine all the ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Give it a good shake until the oil has mixed in. If you need to mix this in a bowl, whisk together all ingredients apart from the oil, then drizzle the oil in slowly, whisking all the while until everything is well combined.
- Pour the about ⅔ of the dressing over your salad and give it a stir. If you want more, add it. If not, save it for when you're ready to serve. You might find that after the pasta salad has cooled in the fridge, it can take a little more. Drizzle it over and stir well before serving.
- Allow the salad to chill in the fridge for at least an hour, but overnight is even better.
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