Lemon-Basil Pasta Salad is a refreshing and light alternative to a classic pasta salad. Perfect for bringing to potlucks! This recipe is for lemon lovers or those looking for a delicious summer salad. It’s loaded with bold lemon flavor, and only requires a handful of ingredients.
My inspiration for this salad is from Trader Joe’s. I don’t work for them, but I enjoy wandering around the store looking for new items. They always have changing stock and it’s amazing. My favorite items happen to be the frozen heat-and-eat food and the new seasonings. I picked up a new one recently! One of the items I noticed was a lemon-basil pasta salad. It’s been there for a while now, but I saw it and thought to myself, “Hey, I can make this at home for my blog! It’s simple enough.” Low and behold, I made it, but with a few twists.
You can always omit the zucchini. I had some extra zucchini leftover and decided to use it.
How to make Lemon-Basil Pasta Salad with Peas
You can make this vegan by omitting the parmesan cheese. Other than that, this is considered completely vegetarian!
- Bowtie Pasta: Otherwise known as farfalle, this is the pasta used in most pasta salads that aren’t mayo-based. Feel free to use fusilli, gemelli, or campanelle. Those noodles are great for picking up oil-based dressings
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Lemon Zest & Juice From a Fresh Lemon: You need fresh lemon juice for this. Since you’ll be using the zest of a lemon, might as well use the juice, right? Don’t use the squeeze bottle of lemon juice. It’s not as vibrant in flavor as a fresh lemon.
- Salt and Pepper.
- Peas: Frozen is fine; just be sure to defrost and drain the excess water before adding to the salad.
- Zucchini: This is optional. I just used it because I had an extra zucchini in my fridge.
- Shallot
- Basil: You will need a lot of basil, considering it’s called lemon basil pasta salad.
- Dijon Mustard
- Parmesan Cheese
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, basil, salt, and pepper until combined. In a large bowl, add the peas, zucchini, shallot, lemon zest, and dijon. Transfer the pasta to the large bowl, sprinkle the parmesan cheese, and toss it together with the dressing until the bowties are fully coated and everything is well combined. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight to get the best flavor out of it.
Tips & FAQs
- Make it Vegan/Dairy-Free/Gluten-Free: Omit the parmesan cheese, or use a vegan cheese. You can also omit the dijon mustard. I only mention this because it is vegan, however, some Dijon mustards are often filtered with casein, which is a milk protein, albumin, which is from egg whites, or isinglass, which is taken from fish bladders. It’s best to look out for that. If there’s vegan dijon mustard, use that! Use gluten-free pasta to make it gluten-free.
- Make the bowties al dente. Nothing more. You don’t want to overcook the noodles. Cooking them al dente prevents the salad from becoming mushy. It also makes it easier to toss the noodles in the dressing without them breaking apart.
- I was told to never rinse the pasta. Why do I need to do that? Well, you see, you never rinse your pasta in most cases. However, for this pasta salad, you want to rinse the pasta to get rid of the starch that makes the pasta sticky. Do you know how your pasta clumps together after you let it cool? You don’t want it to do that for this. This is so the pasta salad doesn’t get all clumpy and makes it difficult to eat.
- Can this be made ahead of time? Absolutely. The flavors only get better if you make this salad the night before and let it refrigerate overnight. Cover the salad with plastic wrap or a lid if your bowl comes with one (like mine!) otherwise, it’ll dry out.
- Storage: You can store this covered for up to 3 days.
Want the recipe? Click print below! Let me know how it came out for you by tagging me on Instagram (@missravenskitchen) and using #missravenskitchen! Follow my Facebook page for updates as well! Let me know if I need to tweak anything.
Lemon-Basil Pasta Salad with Peas
Ingredients
- 1 lb farfalle pasta, or any other noodle.
- 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced or grated
- Juice & Zest of 1 lemon
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted and drained from excess water
- 1 cup zucchini, diced, optional
- 1/4 cup shallot, finely diced
- 1 cup fresh basil, julienned, plus extra to garnish
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Cook to al dente (this is important!). Drain and rinse with cold water, stirring with a spoon or your hands. Let it drain and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, basil, salt, and pepper until combined completely.
- In a large bowl, add the peas, zucchini, if using, shallot, lemon zest, and Dijon mustard. Add the pasta to the bowl along with the dressing, then toss to thoroughly combine, ensuring the noodles are completely coated. Sprinkle in the parmesan cheese and toss to incorporate.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving to allow the flavors to come together. Serve with extra basil and cheese.
Notes
Make it Vegan/Dairy-Free: Omit the parmesan cheese, or use a vegan cheese. You can also omit the dijon mustard. I only mention this because Dijon mustard is vegan, however, some Dijon mustards are often filtered with casein, which is a milk protein, albumin, which is from egg whites, or isinglass, which is taken from fish bladders.
Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free pasta to make it gluten-free.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
436.32Fat (grams)
14.46Sat. Fat (grams)
2.75Carbs (grams)
62.64Fiber (grams)
4.39Net carbs
58.25Sugar (grams)
4.41Protein (grams)
13.68Sodium (milligrams)
147.14Cholesterol (grams)
3.78This does not include the zucchini, since it is optional. Nutrition will vary if you decide to use it.
Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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