Roasted Tomato Pesto Pasta Salad
on May 26, 2022, Updated Aug 07, 2026
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This roasted tomato pasta salad has major summer energy with pesto mixed into the roasted garlic vinaigrette. It also has fresh mozzarella and toasted pine nuts. Together these classic Italian ingredients make a great salad for a potluck or barbecue side dish or a meal-prep lunch.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
The ingredients take inspiration from a caprese salad, but it’s way more filling. That’s what’s happens when you add pasta to the tomatoes and mozzarella.
Pesto is an instant flavor boost. Whether it’s homemade basil pesto or store-bought, this no-cook sauce adds its herby personality.
This is the perfect summer picnic salad. My favorite time of year to make this recipe is during tomato and basil season. Sometimes I also serve it as a light vegetarian dinner.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes are best. Roasting intensifies their flavor.
- Garlic: The recipe calls for 6 cloves. This may sound like a lot, but roasted garlic is more mellow. The cloves roast with the tomatoes, and then I use them in the pesto dressing.
- Pasta: I love how curly cavatappi pasta hugs the tomatoes and mozzarella, and it picks up the pesto. Fusilli or penne are good substitutes.
- Pesto: I make my own. If you buy it at the grocery, look for pesto in the refrigerated section rather than jarred in the Italian food aisle because it will taste fresher.
- Olive oil is generously poured into the pan where the tomatoes roast. That mixture of oil, vinegar and tomato juices is important in the dressing.
- Balsamic vinegar: For acidity and tang, I add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the marinade for the tomatoes.
- Mozzarella: I tear fresh mozzarella balls into pieces that are close in size to the halved roasted tomatoes.
- Pine nuts, lightly toasted, give the pasta salad a little nutty crunch. You can substitute with chopped walnuts.
- Basil & chives: To supplement the pesto, I also stir in torn fresh basil leaves. Chives add light onion flavor.
- Kosher salt & black pepper season the balsamic vinaigrette for roasting the tomatoes. As with every pasta salad, I taste it when I have it assembled to see if it needs additional seasoninng.
How To Make This Roasted Tomato Pasta Salad
1. Roast the tomatoes. Stir the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper in a rectangular baking pan. Add the tomatoes and garlic, arranging the tomatoes cut-side up. Roast until the tomatoes are wrinkled but still juicy, about 30-35 minutes.
2. Cook the pasta and make the dressing. After you simmer the pasta, rinse it with cold water in a colander. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and mash them into the pesto and all the remaining oil from the pan. Do this in a bowl big enough for the entire salad, then stir in the al dente pasta.
3. Add the tomatoes, mozzarella, pine nuts, chives and basil to the pasta.
4. Toss everything together. Taste it to see if it needs more salt or pepper, which is typical with pasta salads.
Serving
You can serve the pasta salad warm, at room temperature or chilled. It’s good pretty much any which way. You will just need to taste and adjust the seasonings. You can pair it with with these baked zucchini corn fritters.
More Tomato Pasta Salad Recipes
Classic Italian Pasta Salad
Roasted Veggie Chickpea Pasta Salad
Roasted Vegetable Bow Tie Pasta Salad
Bruschetta Pasta Salad
Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad
If you’re a salad person, don’t miss my easy seasonal salad guide for inspiration all year long. Find more pasta ideas in my seasonal pasta roundup featuring tomato sauce, pesto, vegetables and pasta salads.
Roasted Tomato Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt plus more for seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper plus more for seasoning
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
- 6 garlic cloves, in their skins
- 8 ounces cavatappi pasta
- 2 tablespoons pesto
- 6 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn into small pieces
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons minced chives
- 1/4 cup torn basil leaves
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a rectangular baking dish, whisk the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes and garlic cloves, arranging the tomatoes cut-side up. Roast for 30-35 minutes until the tomatoes have deepened in color and have slightly wrinkled. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them from the pan to a plate, leaving the oil mixture in the pan.
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente according to package instructions. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water in a colander.
- In large bowl, squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and mash and stir them into the pesto and the oil mixture from the roasting pan.
- Stir the pasta into the dressing.
- Add the roasted tomatoes, mozzarella, pine nuts, chives and basil.
- Stir everything together.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
That sounds and looks gorgeous. I’m adding a link to it in my post today. Glad to have found you and now I am of fro a browse.
I’ve made this recipe dozens of times and always get so much praise! This pasta salad is my go to recipe for parties, holidays, summer, boat days, literally everything. I have gotten a little lazy over the years and tend to omit the pine nuts and not slice the tomatoes. And it’s just as good in my opinion! But those are nice touches too if you have the time. I also add garlic cloves with my heart. Thanks for this recipe!