This flavorful pasta salad is made with whole wheat pasta, baby spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and olives. It’s a perfect dish to bring to your next pot luck or summer party.
Summer is winding down and Labor Day, last hurrah of the summer is rapidly approaching. So let’s get grilling and celebrate the end of summer with #SundaySupper.
Salads are a staple at summer parties, and this salad is more like a pasta salad meets a spinach salad because when it comes to pasta salads, I like to feature the vegetables and let the pasta take a back seat. This salad was inspired by a dish that I had at a local restaurant, it was filled with pasta and had a very small amount of spinach. The veggie lover that I am thought it would taste much better if it was loaded up with spinach. So I gave it a try and it was much better.
Fusilli or shell pasta works well for playing up the spinach in this easy to make salad. All that has to be done to make this salad is cook the pasta, chop the olives and sundried tomatoes, wash the baby spinach, and mix up the dressing. It tastes great with a piece of grilled chicken, turkey burgers or black bean burgers.
PrintPasta Salad with Baby Spinach and Sun Dried Tomatoes
Pasta salad with spinach is a vegetarain salad that’s a good source of vitamin K, potassiou and fiber.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole wheat pasta – rotini (spirals) or penne work best
- 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes – julienne sliced
- 3 to 4 cups baby spinach
- 3/4 cup chopped kalamata olives
- DRESSING
- 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 large clove garlic minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse drain and place into a bowl
- add the sun dried tomatoes, only-ins replaceWithoutSep” id=”98″ data-gr-id=”98″>spinach and olives
- mix the dressing ingredients together and pour over salad
Nutrition
- Serving Size: approx 3/4 c
- Calories: 384
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 181.6
- Fat: 20g
- Saturated Fat: 2.9
- Unsaturated Fat: 14.5
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 43.3g
- Fiber: 4.6
- Protein: 8.5
Your pasta salad looks amazing and it’s so easy to make! I’m going to try your recipe this weekend – it’s perfect for summertime. 🙂
I hope you like it!
This sounds very appealing to me other than the olives. I will save this in my pinterest! Happy to find your great blog today via the link up. 🙂
Thank you Suzi! You can leave the olives out.
This looks delicious, Anne! And healthier than your typical pasta salad!!
What a fresh and inviting looking salad! Love how easy it is to put together too. I’m all about no fuss, but lots of flavor. This seems to have exactly that, lots of flavor and none of the fuss.
This sounds wonderful. I always like to have a vegetarian or vegan option when hosting a party.
This is a gorgeous salad! I cannot wait to make it!
I love this flavor combo.
The spinach, the large shells! I’m drooling over everything in this dish!