This pesto spaghetti salad is a healthy and delicious dish that is perfect for dinner or meal prep! This salad combines tasty spaghetti with fresh vegetables and a zingy basil walnut pesto. It is super quick to prepare which makes it perfect for anyone who loves tasty meals that are ready to be enjoyed in no time.
This pesto spaghetti salad is about one thing: combining lovely spaghetti with an incredibly delicious basil walnut pesto and tasty veggies to create a super healthy and easy dish that everyone will love! I have a huge love for recipes that are healthy, delicious and super easy to make. Sometimes, you just don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but still want to make healthy choices. Whenever I feel too lazy to cook, this is one of my go-to recipes. It is very simple, but suuuper delish.
Ingredients
To make this recipe, you’ll need following ingredients:
- Spaghetti. You can alternatively use any type of pasta to make this dish. I love to use whole-wheat spaghetti, but feel free to use chickpea, red lentil or any other type of pasta to make this pesto pasta salad! You could also go for veggie pasta like zucchini noodles.
- Arugula. If you don’t like or can’t find arugula, then go for baby spinach. It will taste a bit different, but it will still be delicious.
- Cherry tomatoes. I love to use cherry tomatoes as they tend to be sweeter, but you could also use grape tomatoes.
- Walnuts. The walnuts are used for the salad and the pesto. They are super healthy and go really well with this recipe.
- Parmesan.
- Basil.
- Lemon.
- Extra virgin olive oil.
How to make pesto spaghetti salad
I promise, this recipe is super easy! All you need to do is follow these simple steps to make a healthy and delicious spaghetti salad:
- Cook the spaghetti. As cooking pasta usually takes around 10 minutes, start by preparing the spaghetti according to package instructions and follow the remaining steps while the pasta is cooking.
- Make the pesto. Making pesto is very easy! Simply add all of the pesto ingredients to a food processor and blend until you have a creamy pesto.
- Prepare the salad ingredients. Now prepare the salad ingredients by chopping them and set them aside.
- Mix. When the pasta is cooked, add the spaghetti and pesto to a bowl and mix everything. Next, add the salad ingredients and mix until everything is well combined. Add more lemon juice or salt and pepper if you want to and serve the salad with some grated parmesan on top.
Can I use store-bought pesto to make this spaghetti salad?
If you can find a pesto that is made with good ingredients (make sure they use extra virgin olive oil), then you can totally go for a store-bought pesto! But I always recommend making it yourself as it doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to prepare a homemade pesto. Plus, you can control the flavor and the ingredients of the pesto. If you buy a basil pesto to make this recipe, you can add a bit of fresh lemon juice to make it taste similar to the one in this recipe.
Tips for serving this salad
You can either enjoy this spaghetti salad as a main dish or serve it as a side. I absolutely recommend serving seared salmon with this dish as the lemon, basil and arugula just go super well with the flavor of salmon! If you want to serve it as a main dish, you could add some delicious mozzarella cheese or enjoy it as it is.
Storage tips
You can easily refrigerate this pesto spaghetti salad for up to 3 days. I recommend taking it out of the refrigerator before eating as it tastes best when it is at room temperature.
More delicious pasta salad recipes
I love creating all kinds of pasta and noodle salad recipes as they are healthy, easy to make and just delish! Here are more recipes you might love:
- Greek Chicken Pasta Salad
- Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger Soy Dressing
- The Best Pasta Salad with Red Pesto
- Lemony Pesto Zoodles with Asparagus and Salmon
Pesto Spaghetti Salad
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 8 oz spaghetti
- 4 handfuls arugula alternatively: baby spinach
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 tablespoon walnuts chopped
- parmesan grated
- salt and pepper to taste
Basil Walnut Pesto Ingredients
- 1 handful basil
- ¼ cup walnuts
- 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 1 ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 ½ tablespoon parmesan grated
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Cook the spaghetti according to package instructions.
- Prepare the pesto by adding all pesto ingredients to a food processor and blend until the pesto is creamy.
- Next, prepare the salad ingredients. Wash the salad and vegetables, cut the cherry tomatoes in half, chop the walnuts and grate the parmesan.
- When the spaghetti are cooked through, add them to a bowl with the pesto and mix everything. Then, add the salad ingredients and mix to combine the salad with the pasta. You can add more lemon juice or salt and pepper and garnish the spaghetti salad with grated parmesan. Enjoy!
Karen
Tried it and it’s Fabulous and thank you for the info
Beri
That's great to hear! Thank you! 😊
Leslie
This is a good combination of flavors except that my idea of a handful of arugula is more than beri's. Arugula has a bitter bite than can overwhelm the mild ingredients. You might want to try starting with a couple of handfuls and adding more if you want.
Beri
Hi Leslie, I'm happy that you liked the recipe and found a way to modify it to your taste! 😊