This vegan pasta salad is packed with flavor and color and drizzled with a fabulous sesame dressing. Ready in 15 minutes.
Don’t you just love all the color in this dish? I love that this vegan pasta salad takes something quite bland on its own, like pasta, and adds all this beautiful color, freshness and flavor to it, turning it into a gorgeously colorful, high nutrient power meal.
Since you serve it cold, this is an ideal meal to whip up quickly and keep in the fridge so that your next few meals are covered.
It’s filling, satisfying, and tasty as all heck. Not to mention that this meal comes together in the time it takes you to cook the pasta. Now that’s what I call fast food.
And if you love pasta (and salad) then also check out our vegan macaroni salad!
How To Make Vegan Pasta Salad
Full instructions and measurements can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is just a summary of the process.
- It’s so simple to make this salad!
- You just put on a bag of pasta to cook (go for the whole bag, you WANT to have leftovers here), and while it’s boiling away, you chop up your fresh veg to go with it, and mix together your sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- As soon as the pasta (regular or gluten-free) is finished cooking, you simply drain it, rinse it under cold water, drain again and then add it to a serving dish.
- Pile all your chopped veggies on top, toss it up, then pour over your sauce and you have a beautifully tasty and fabulous looking salad.
The Sauce
The sauce is a simple and tasty mix of sesame oil, soy sauce (or tamari if you want to make it gluten-free), maple syrup, crushed garlic and dried herbs and there you have it!
As a bonus I also added in some vegan mayonnaise, just to add some extra creaminess and I can tell you, it’s not an essential ingredient, but boy does it round out those flavors nicely!
What Kind of Pasta Is Best For Pasta Salad?
We used bowtie pasta and that worked great in this salad, but penne, shells, elbow, fusilli would also all work great in this recipe.
Make Ahead
This salad is great to make up ahead of time as it actually just gets even better after a few hours chilling in the fridge! So if you need to make it the day before, that works really well for this.
Storing your leftovers
Keep your leftovers stored in the fridge and enjoy within around 5 days. It is not freezer friendly.
More Vegan Salad Recipes
- Vegan Quinoa Salad
- Vegan Couscous Salad
- Marinated Tofu Salad
- Vegan Caesar Salad
- Vegan Chickpea Salad
- Vegan Greek Salad
Vegan Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 2 Medium Stalks Celery
- 1 Medium Red Bell Pepper
- 1 Medium Yellow Bell Pepper
- 2 Spring Onions
- 20 Cherry Tomatoes
- 2 Small Cucumbers
- 20 Green Olives
For the Pasta:
- 16 ounces Bowtie Pasta (450g) Dry Weight, or Penne, Shells, Elbow, Fusilli
For the Sesame Dressing:
- 2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1/2 tsp Crushed Garlic
- 1/4 tsp Dried Basil
- 1/4 tsp Oregano
Optional:
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup Vegan Mayonnaise
- Fresh Parsley for serving
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
- While the pasta is cooking, chop up the celery, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, spring onions and cucumber. Cut the cherry tomatoes and olives in half.
- Prepare the dressing by adding the sesame oil, soy sauce or tamari, maple syrup, crushed garlic and dried basil and oregano to a jug and mixing together.
- When the pasta is cooked, rinse and drain it and add to a serving dish. Then pile on all the raw veggies on top and mix in together.
- Pour over the dressing and combine.
- Then add the vegan mayonnaise (optional) and mix together.
- Keep covered in the fridge where it will keep perfectly well for a few days.
Video
Notes
- Mayonnaise: The amount of mayonnaise you use just depends on how creamy you want it to be. Mix in 1/4 cup first and then see if you'd like to add more.
- Gluten-free: To make this salad gluten-free simply use a gluten-free pasta and use a gluten-free soy sauce or switch for tamari.
- Nutritional information includes 1/4 cup of vegan mayonnaise.
- This recipe was first published in October 2016.
As additional ingredients, we add 1 cup boiled peas, 1 medium grated carrot, 5-6 finely chopped cucumber pickles, 1 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons vegan yogurt, 1 teaspoon dried mint, half lemon juice and four spoons of olive oil. We do not use soy sauce and maple syrup. I recommend you to try it.
Thanks for sharing Deniz!
This is a pasta salad recipe that I absolutely ADORE! The sesame and soy sauce + vegan mayo is *swoon. Thanks Alison!
Awesome! Thanks so much Alex!
Super simple, quick and delicious! I think its best when you let it set overnight!
Thanks for sharing and the awesome rating Kelly Ann! 🙂
This is delicious. I made this without the optional vegan mayo the night before and added just a little extra sauce about a quarter recipe more and added some pepper the day after. So good, thank you!
Awesome Suzanne! Thanks a million for the review! 🙂
Sounds like a delicious vegan pasta! I want to try making it tonight. Are there any specific herbs that anyone would recommend adding on to this recipe other than dried garlic? Thanks!
Hi Carly, dried herbs like oregano and dried basil would be great for this! 🙂
This turned out as delicious as it was pretty! I’m not the best cook but anyone can chop veggies, boil pasta and mix a simple sauce. My dad has been vegan since diagnosed with cancer so we made this version for him. I served with grilled chicken and goat cheese on the side for non- vegans to add to their plate. It was a hit! Thank you!
Wonderful to hear that it was a hit Rebecca! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
This is my go-to pasta salad recipe, and the whole family loves it. It’s light and refreshing, but still so flavoursome.
Awesome! 🙂 Totally agree, it is a winner! Thanks so much for sharing Heike! 🙂