Gorgeous Vegan Pasta Salad packed with fresh broccoli, zucchini and peppers, tossed in a Creamy Nut Butter or Tahini Sauce. This easy vegetarian pasta salad is perfect for a meal prep lunch or summer potluck.
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I’d been trying to find a savory pasta recipe that uses nut butter for a bit now, but pretty much everything that showed up was either a cashew-based hot pasta or an Asian inspired recipe with Peanut Butter.
But since it’s summer right now, I really wanted a cold pasta salad.
Gave up after like 30 minutes of Googling, played around with some ingredients and just created my own dressing. The key? Nut Butter!
I used a cashew-macadamia blend, a simple cashew or macadamia nut butter (or even tahini) will do, stirred it with some yogurt, lemon juice, jalapeño and some seasonings, and the wonder pasta sauce came to be!
Creamy, nutty and just so delicious! I borderline just wanted to eat the dressing by itself instead of tossing it with the actual pasta and vegetables!
Creamy Vegan Pasta Salad Ingredients
- Pasta! I’d recommend a whole grain or gluten-free one like one of those popular legume-based pastas. Really keeps this pasta salad healthy.
- Broccoli – Use freshly chopped broccoli since it goes really well with the creamy nut butter or tahini sauce in this pasta salad.
- Zucchini – Slice it or spiralize it, but just get it thin so it adds a nice summer touch to this pasta salad. No need to cook 🙂
- Red Bell Pepper for a hint of sweetness
- Frozen Green Peas, but don’t forget to thaw them first
- Onion – I used red onion, but you can go for another if the flavor is too sharp there.
How to make Nut Butter or Tahini Pasta Sauce
This easy nut butter or tahini pasta salad dressing is made with a yogurt base – no mayo or oil -, and is a great dairy free and vegan alternative to the usual creamy dressing.
All you need to do to make this creamy Tahini dressing is stir together the ingredients in a bowl:
- Coconut Yogurt to keep this Vegan, but Greek Yogurt is the other good choice.
- Nut Butter or Tahini – I’d recommend a neutral nut butter like Cashew, Macadamia, Walnut or Coconut.
- Lemon juice for that zing
- Minced Garlic – my fave
- Finely chopped jalapeños – I tried it with a pinch of Cayenne Pepper instead and it was just as good
- Italian Seasoning
- A sprinkle of Salt if you’d like
Put together the Vegan Creamy Tahini Sauce Pasta Salad
The reason I love a good healthy pasta salad is because they’re so easy to put together.
All you need to do here is cook the pasta, steam the broccoli and toss it together with all the chopped vegetables and nut butter dressing.
The perfect almond butter pasta salad recipe ready in about 10 minutes!
Some more ideas for this Vegan Pasta Salad:
- Play around with the vegetables in this Vegan pasta salad – Try some carrots, green bell peppers, celery, artichoke, so many ways to go!
- To make this a nut free creamy pasta salad, pick the tahini for the dressing, or make a seed butter sauce with cashew.
- Or use almond butter in the sauce for this pasta salad recipe.
- Turn it into an Italian dressing Vegan pasta salad recipe with some added herbs and seasonings in the sauce, and maybe some sliced olives too.
- Add some protein like grilled chicken, or tofu for the Vegan option, along with the veggie, and toss them all together to make this pasta salad a full-fledged meal.
How to Store Vegetarian Veggie Pasta Salad and Dressing:
The best part about pasta salad is that you can make it ahead of time and even store the leftovers – if there are any that is!
Keep any extras of this broccoli pasta salad in the fridge for up to 2 days after its mixed with the tahini sauce.
To meal prep, you can combine all the vegetables and pasta, and store this mix in separate containers. For the tahini dressing, you can toss it with the broccoli pasta salad base and store it together for about 2 days.
Another option is to just prep the veggies and pasta and keep it up to 5 days, but make the nut sauce and toss it in fresh when you’re ready to eat.
Some more Creamy Vegan Pasta Recipes – salad or no – you might like:
- Creamy Dreamy Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce (Vegan and Nut-free)
- Cream-less Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta
- Creamy Vegan Lemon “Parmesan” Orzo with Asparagus
- Unbelievably Creamy Avocado & Spinach Pasta
Vegan Pasta Salad with Creamy Nut Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 oz Whole Grain or Gluten-free Pasta, 112g, about 1 cup dry
- 2 cups Broccoli, Chopped small, 180g
- ½ medium Zucchini, Spiralized or Thinly Sliced, 88g
- ½ Red Bell Pepper, Chopped, 57g
- ¼ cup Frozen Green Peas, Thawed, 36g
- ⅓ small Onion, Thinly Sliced, 35g
Dressing:
- 3 Tbsp Greek Yogurt, about 42g
- 1½ Tbsp Nut Butter, Cashew Butter or Tahini
- 2 tsp Water
- 1½ tsp Lemon Juice
- ¾ tsp Minced Garlic
- ¾ tsp Chopped Jalapeño Peppers, 5g, ⅓ 3” long pepper
- ¾ tsp Italian Seasoning
- Sprinkle of Salt
Instructions
- Bring 2 cups water to a boil in pot, add pasta, and cook for about 10 minutes (according to package instructions). Drain and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Place broccoli in a large bowl, cover with a damp paper towel and microwave on high for 2 minutes until tender. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Add pasta, zucchini, bell peppers, peas and onions to the broccoli.
- In a small bowl combine ingredients for the dressing: yogurt, nut butter, water, lemon juice, garlic, jalapeño and Italian seasoning. Season with salt to taste
- Add dressing to pasta salad and toss to combine.
- Cover and refrigerate about 45 minutes – 1 hour before serving.
Notes
- Make up to 2 days in advance, but add dressing the day of serving. Store in the refrigerator.
- Servings: 6 cups | Serving size: 2 cups
- Calories: 229kcal
- Fat: 5.4g | Saturated fat: 0.6g
- Carbohydrates: 36.5g | Fiber: 6.8g | Sugar: 5.7g
- Protein: 10.1g
