If you’re looking for a way to change up your pasta salad game during the warmer months, then you have to try this strawberry cucumber pasta salad. No offense to tomatoes, peppers and the usual go-to ingredients for this potluck mainstay, but this combination of berries, cucumbers, bow tie pasta, arugula, almonds and blue cheese, tossed in balsamic vinaigrette, is what you will be craving.
If you’re in the mood for berry salads, try this Mixed Berry Kale Salad or this Pistachio Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad.
Cucumbers are the unsung hero of pasta salads. Easy to cut, juicy and crisp, cucumbers deserve more credit for being a wonderful addition to pasta salads. And they deserve to be a feature ingredient like they do in this recipe.
Strawberries and cucumbers are meant to be together—forever. 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.
This is what you need:
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 pasta, cucumbers, strawberries, arugula, scallions, blue cheese, almonds and parsley in a large bowl.
4. Drizzle in the vinaigrette and toss everything together.
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. Those flavors will all play well together.
The pasta salad is best the day that it’s made, but you can prep certain things in advance. You can cut the strawberries and cucumbers a day ahead. Just store them separately in airtight containers in the fridge.
The balsamic vinaigrette can be made up to 3 days in advance. Keep it in a jar in the refrigerator. Then let it sit out at room temperature for 15 minutes to give the oil a chance to warm up and become liquid again if it has hardened.
I wait to make the pasta until the day of because I don’t want to risk the noodles softening or sticking together when they are sitting in the fridge.
If you do have pasta salad leftovers, you can keep them in the fridge up to 3 days. Please be aware that the texture will lose some of crispness the longer it is stored. Stir in more arugula before you eat leftovers.
Do not overcook the pasta. It’s very important that it is al dente, so the pasta salad has the best consistency possible.
Don’t be tempted to cook the pasta too early. For the freshest pasta salad, you should wait to cook the pasta until you are ready to assemble and serve the salad, or you will end up with soggy noodles.
Taste the pasta salad and adjust the seasonings. Cold food tends to need more salt. That’s very true with cold pasta. Take a couple bites and add more salt and pepper as needed to suit your tastes.
Did you make this pasta salad recipe? Please leave a rating and comment below. Thanks!
Recipe originally published May 27, 2021. Updated: May 4, 2023.
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