Strawberry Cucumber Pasta Salad

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Cucumbers are the unsung hero of pasta salads. Easy to cut, crisp cucumbers deserve more credit for being a wonderful addition to pasta salads that deserve to be a feature ingredient like they do here.

Strawberries and cucumbers are meant to be together. If you haven’t tried this pair, you need to because it will become one of your refreshing spring/summer favorites.

This salad has an incredible mix of savory and sweet. With fruit, veggies, nuts and cheese, each bite has something to get excited about and will keep you going back for more. It has a similar energy to my pistachio strawberry goat cheese salad or my mixed berry kale salad .

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Farfalle: Flatter than other short pasta shapes, bow ties work really well with with sliced cucumbers and strawberries. You can substitute with rotini, penne or another short pasta.
• Strawberries:  I look for a package that has a variety of sizes from small to medium berries rather than very large ones.
• Cucumbers: English cucumbers are narrower, have fewer seeds and more delicate skin than standard cucumbers. That’s why I prefer them for salads.
• Arugula: Even though it’s technically a salad green, when I throw in a handful of baby arugula into a dish, I think it also works like fresh herbs too because of its distinct peppery taste.
• Scallions: Thinly sliced, these green onions add crisp mild oniony flavor. If you want something stronger, you can substitute with 1/4 cup finely chopped red onions.
• Almonds: Chopped nuts give the pasta salad additional crunch to go with the crisp cucumbers.
• Blue cheese: This pungent cheese adds another element to the mix of savory and sweet ingredients. If you’re not a fan, you can use goat or feta cheese instead.
• Parsley: I always include chopped fresh herbs in pasta salads.
• Balsamic vinaigrette is the obvious choice for this salad because strawberries and balsamic vinegar pair so well together. The dressing also has garlic, whole grain mustard, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

How to Make this Strawberry Cucumber Pasta Salad

1. Cook the pasta until al dente. Follow the recommended cook time on the package directions. Drain the pasta in a colander and rinse it with cold water. This stops the warm noodles from getting soggy and soft and sticking together.

2. Make the salad dressing. Whisk together the mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

3. Combine the salad ingredients including the pasta, cucumbers, strawberries, arugula, scallions, blue cheese, almonds and parsley in a large bowl.

4. Drizzle in the vinaigrette and toss everything together.

Serving

You can think of pasta salad as a side dish, or treat it like a spring or summer vegetarian main dish. The freshness of the berries and the cucumbers goes with pretty much anything that’s grilled and smoky like these grilled vegetable pesto sandwiches or these easy barbecue vegetable & tofu skewers.

More Pasta Salad Recipes

Roasted Vegetable Chickpea Pasta Salad
Grilled Vegetable Orzo Salad
Tortellini Pasta Salad
Arugula Pasta Salad
Bow Tie Pasta Salad

Check out my collection of simple seasonal salad recipesincluding some of my favorite ingredients and tips for making better salads. Also, if you love pasta for dinner, don’t miss my easy pasta guide for inspiration all year long.