Quick Healthy Pesto Pasta Salad
This quick healthy pesto pasta salad is fresh and flavorful with a little protein boost from cottage cheese hidden in the sauce!
What You’ll Need
Equipment
Ingredients
- Pasta: Any shape you like.
- Cucumber
- Celery
- Frozen sweet peas
- Parmesan cheese
- Romaine lettuce
- Spinach
- Cottage cheese: I blend this into the sauce to lower fats and add protein. You’ll never tell it’s in there.
- Pesto: I use store-bought for convenience.
- Lemon juice
- Salt + pepper
How To Make It
- Blanch the spinach: Get some water boiling in a large pot – make sure it’s enough for the pasta to cook in afterwards. While you wait for the water to boil, fill a medium size bowl with ice water. Once water is boiling, dump the spinach in and cook for 30 seconds. Quickly remove the greens with a hand held strainer or slotted spoon and add directly into the ice water to stop cooking.
- Cook the pasta: In the same pot of water (should still be boiling), add pasta and cook according to box directions. When pasta is almost done, reserve 1/4 cup pasta water and set aside. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- Make the sauce: Remove spinach from the ice water, gently squeezing out excess water. Add to a blender or food processor, along with cottage cheese, pesto, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and about 2 tbsp of the pasta water (adding more if needed to help blend).
- Chop veggies: Wash and dry the celery, lettuce and peel cucumber. Chop it all up.
- Mix it up: Add the cooled pasta, cucumber, celery, peas, parmesan and sauce. Stir together, then add the chopped lettuce and stir again until combined. Enjoy with toasted pine nuts and fresh basil if desired and enjoy!
Tips
- English cucumbers are my favorite since they have less seeds and aren’t as likely to get watery.
- Fresh grated parmesan will give you the best texture and a rich nutty flavor.
Enjoy With
To Store
This salad is best fresh but you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days.
You’ll Also Love
Lastly, be sure to leave a rating and review down below if you try this quick healthy pesto pasta salad! I always love hearing from you and don’t forget to tag me on IG so I can see what you’re cooking up. ♡ Enjoy!
Quick Healthy Pesto Pasta Salad
This quick healthy pesto pasta salad is fresh and flavorful with a little protein boost from cottage cheese hidden in the sauce!
Ingredients
- 8 oz pasta any shape
- 1 medium english cucumber (201 g) peeled, chopped
- 2 stalks celery (80 g) chopped
- 1 cup frozen sweet peas (170 g)
- 2 oz parmesan cheese (56 g) fresh grated, ~3/4 cup
- 6 cups romaine lettuce (282 g) chopped
Pesto sauce
- 2 cups spinach (60 g)
- 1 cup 2% low fat cottage cheese (226 g)
- 1/2 cup pesto (120 g)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (30 g)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp reserved pasta water
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil on the stove. Add ice and water to a medium size bowl to make an ice bath.
- Add spinach to boiling water and cook for 30 seconds. Immediately transfer to the ice water to stop cooking.
- In the same pot of boiling water, add pasta and cook according to box instructions. Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water, then drain and rinse with cold water.
- To a blender, add blanched spinach (gently squeeze out excess water), cottage cheese, pesto, lemon juice, salt, pepper and pasta water. Blend until smooth.
- In a large mixing bowl, add cooled pasta, chopped cucumber, celery, peas, parmesan, sauce, and stir. Add the chopped lettuce and stir again until combined. Enjoy with toasted pine nuts and fresh basil if desired and enjoy!
Notes
- Toasted pine nuts: Easiest way to toast pine nuts is add them to a frying pan on medium low and cook for 3-5 minutes. Stir often and don’t leave them alone because they can quickly burn.
Nutrition
Serving: 284g | Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 38.7g | Protein: 15.5g | Fat: 10.1g | Fiber: 5.7g
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Deliciousness 😋
The best!! 🤩