This creamy pasta salad recipe skips the mayonnaise for a lush sauce made with almond milk and avocado to make an easy grilled vegetable pasta salad you’ll happily eat guilt-free.
This recipe is brought to you by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze
One thing’s for sure: It’s rare I meet a pasta salad I don’t like. I may not have loved them all, but I do seem to have a high tolerance of acceptability for even the most marginalized salad bar pasta salad-types.
But that’s the main reason I choose to make my own pasta salads at home. They’re fresher, they taste better, and I can add a twist of healthy and still reap all the flavor and even the creamy factor I crave with this one in the fridge that’s ready to eat any time of the day.
How to Make a Creamy Pasta Salad That’s Healthier Too
Pasta and macaroni salads made with traditional creamy dressings are fine for my occasional potluck splurges. But when I’m looking for a creamy pasta salad for my weekly meal prep or share with friends who are more health-conscious about the foods they eat, this creamy sauced mash-up of almond milk and avocado totally does all the right stuff.
Just like I do for the rest of my menu planning, adding more colors of the rainbow to my pasta salad is a simple way to make it more nourishing too. Plus, it just makes it so dang pretty too!
The Best Vegetables for Roasting
For this veggie pasta salad, I chose veggies that hold their shape even after being roasted and tossed about with pasta. They’re loaded with phytonutrients and vitamins that adds a peace of mind to my plate too.
To roast your vegetables, cut them into similarly-sized pieces so they roast evenly. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil, some kosher salt and black pepper and roast in a 425°F oven until tender, about 10-15 minutes. I always use a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil to make clean-up a breeze.
My recipe calls for 4 cups of raw vegetables for roasting, with halved cherry tomatoes making up 1 of the 4 cups of veggies. Use any combination of your favorite vegetables, but I find these roast up especially well:
- Zucchini
- Yellow squash
- Bell peppers of any color (I especially like the sweeter red bell peppers)
- Red or yellow onion—I think red is often prettier :)
- Cherry tomatoes
- Eggplant
- Mushrooms
- Broccoli
- Sweet potatoes
- Butternut squash
How to Make a Healthier, Creamy Pasta Salad Sauce
To make this pasta salad dressing creamy in a healthier way, I used an ingredient mash up of avocados, pesto, and Almond Breeze almondmilk Original. Using avocado whizzed in the blender with the almond milk (that has only 2.5 grams of fat and 60 calories per cup of almondmilk) lightens up this creamy dressing minus mayo or sour cream, saving fat and calories in every spoonful.
Using almond milk in the sauce is also an easy solution since it’s both shelf stable and refrigerator ready so it’s easy to have on hand.
The sauce is flavored with one of my favorite short cut flavor-builders—my homemade pesto. It gives all the herby flavor straight from the jar. I typically have it prepared in the fridge all summer long. Don’t forget a squeeze of lemon to add a bit of brightness.
Toss it all with Kalamata olives for pucker, pistachios or pine nuts for crunch, and more fresh basil leaves and a bit of Parmesan to keep the flavors going and this creamy pasta salad is ready for sharing.
More Pasta Salad Recipes You Will Want to Make Too
- BLT Pasta Salad with Avocado
- Easy Italian Spaghetti Pasta Salad (it’s a potluck favorite!)
- Classic Shrimp and Macaroni Salad (this one always gets raves)
- Macaroni Salad with Smoked Mozzarella and Proscuitto
- Creamy Tuscan Pasta Salad
- How to Make Classic Macaroni Salad
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a rating on this recipe below and leave a comment.
Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta Salad with Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
- 3 cups of sliced vegetables for roasting such as:
- 1 small green zucchini halved and sliced
- 1 small yellow squash halved and sliced
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
- ½ red onion sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 16- ounce package short pasta such as rotelle or penne
- 1 avocado
- 1 cup Almond Breeze almondmilk Original
- 6 ounces of pesto
- ½ lemon juiced
- ½ cup halved Kalamata olives
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts pistachios or sliced almonds
- Basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425° F and prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Toss the sliced veggies with olive oil and 1 teaspoon of both kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast for 10-15 minutes or until the veggies soften and caramelize. Set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions, drain, rinse, and cool.
- Add the avocado to the blender jar and pulse a few times. Add the almond milk, pesto, lemon juice, and the remaining 1 teaspoon each of kosher salt and pepper. Blend on high until light and frothy. Add more almond milk if needed to create a lush sauce.
- Add the cooked pasta to a large mixing bowl with the cooked veggies and kalamata olives. Drizzle with the avocado sauce and toss to coat. Taste and adjust the seasoning, garnish with the Parmesan cheese, nuts and more basil leaves if desired. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Will keep for 1-2 days.
