Roasted Broccoli Pasta Salad
on Apr 27, 2026
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This roasted broccoli pasta salad is an easy multipurpose, multi-season recipe. It ticks the boxes for meal-prep lunches and for a vegetarian dinner or potluck side dish. Packed with vegetables, it also has grated parmesan, toasted almonds and scallions, all tossed in a zesty lemon vinaigrette.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
It goes big on veggies. I like pasta salads that are more about the other ingredients. Having lots of vegetables keeps pasta salads lighter and more interesting with different flavors and bites.
Broccoli is a fast roasting vegetable. It only takes 10-12 minutes to cook in the oven. No offense to other veggies, but sometimes I don’t have a half hour or more to wait until they’re ready.
You can enjoy this pasta salad year round. Broccoli gets me through the fall and winter months when I crave green vegetables. Then even when the weather warms up, I take advantage of hearty broccoli for spring and summer potlucks to make a salad that lasts just like my broccoli quinoa salad.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Broccoli: It’s best if you use small to medium broccoli florets, so they mix in well with the pasta. If you buy pre-cut broccoli and you get some big ones, just cut them. I also like those smaller bits and “veggie crumbs” because they get nice and crisp and brown when they roast.
- Pasta: My first choice are corkscrew shapes such as fusilli and rotini because the hold onto the dressing, scallions, almonds and smaller pieces of broccoli when you toss everything together.
- Parmesan, garlic and lemon are perfect with roasted broccoli. I like the umami that grated parmesan cheese adds to the salad.
- Sliced almonds: It’s important to toast the almonds for 5-7 minutes in a 350-degree F oven to bring out their nutty flavor. I usually do this in batches, so then I have them ready in my pantry for multiple recipes.
- Scallions are simple to quickly slice. For me, they do the work of onions and herbs, layering in more flavor.
- Parsley: To go with the green onions, I also include chopped parsley because I’m a big fan of fresh herbs in salads.
- Lemon vinaigrette: The dressing has minced garlic, whole grain mustard, fresh lemon juice, olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper. You will also need oil, salt and pepper plus red pepper flakes for roasting the broccoli.
How To Make This Roasted Broccoli Pasta Salad
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
1. Roast the broccoli. On a sheet pan, toss the broccoli with oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Roast for 10-12 minutes. The green color will get brighter and some of the edges touching the pan will brown.
2. Make the vinaigrette. Stir the minced garlic, mustard, salt, pepper, lemon juice and oil in a small bowl.
3. Cook the pasta. Follow the recommended cook time on the package directions. Then drain and rinse it with cold water in a colander.
4. Assemble the salad. Put the pasta, roasted broccoli, scallions, parmesan, almonds and parsley in a big bowl. Then toss it with the dressing.
Serving
If you are making this for meal-prep, wait to toss the salad with the dressing, so the pasta will keep more of its al dente bite. You can serve this pasta salad as a vegetarian main dish or enjoy it as a side dish with sheet pan mediterranean vegetable and halloumi, these grilled veggie sandwiches or this vegetable barley soup.
If you’re a salad person, don’t miss my easy seasonal salad guide for inspiration all year long. For more pastas, I have a roundup of my favorite pasta recipes.
Also, find more roasted veggie ideas in my seasonal roundup.
Roasted Broccoli Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For broccoli
- 1 pound broccoli florets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
For vinaigrette
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 lemon, juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
For salad
- 8 ounces fusilli or rotini
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Toss the broccoli with 1 tablespoon olive oil, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper on a baking sheet. Spread out the florets in a single layer. Roast until they're crisp-tender and some of the edges are lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes.
- While the broccoli is roasting, make the vinaigrette. Whisk the garlic, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, lemon juice and 1/4 cup olive oil in a small bowl.
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water in a colander.
- Combine the pasta, roasted broccoli, scallions, parmesan, almonds and parsley in a large bowl. Drizzle in the dressing and toss to combine.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
