Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is a clever take on a well-loved soup. Because it's served at room temperature, it makes a great side dish at a picnic or barbecue. It's colorful and extremely flavorful, with pesto, beans, and vegetables.

Like the classic combination of melon and prosciutto? Then you'll love this main-course pasta salad.

We like vegetarian mains in summer; for a heartier dish, add shredded rotisserie chicken or sliced grilled steak.

This is one of the prettiest dishes I have ever made. It’s perfect for a ladies’ lunch, as it’s not too heavy and is extremely elegant looking. Make it ahead of time and serve slightly chilled. You could also substitute chopped cooked shrimp for the crab if you prefer.

Next time you feel like pasta and a salad for lunch, why not combine the two? I love the way the heat of the pasta warms the greens. I often make this when I’m cooking for one; just adjust all the ingredient quantities accordingly, and start with 6 ounces (about 1 cup) of dried pasta.

This dish is very elegant, and the combination of crab and creamy béchamel sauce is unusual and delicious. It’s a showstopper.

When we’re hosting game night and have lots of my husband’s friends coming over, I make this salad. It’s hearty and colorful, and because it holds very well at room temperature, I can make it ahead of time so I can take part in game night, too!

Salade Niçoise meets all-American pasta salad in this all-in-one dish that’s perfect for a picnic or dinner on a hot summer night. The trick is to use the Italian canned tuna; the flavor of water-packed albacore tuna is just not comparable.

Among the many virtues of this salad is that it can be made ahead very successfully and it also looks so attractive.

The perfect light, clean side salad to serve alongside a hearty pasta, this is my version of succotash. The different shades of yellow and green beans make it really pretty, too.

This version of pasta salad ditches the mayonnaise-based dressing for a lighter and brighter vinaigrette of flaxseed oil, lemon juice, and vinegar. It also incorporates ample fresh herbs, a variety of vegetables, and kamut pasta—a protein-rich whole-wheat pasta that contains healthy amounts of the antioxidants vitamin E and selenium. Other types of whole-wheat pasta can be used instead. The salad makes a great side for a potluck, but it works as a main course, too.

Crisp, colorful vegetables are the highlights of this salad. Try it for a summertime picnic for a group or for the next family reunion.

The ingredients of salade Niçoise—green beans, white beans, ripe tomatoes, and cured olives—join forces with pasta to make a delectable cold dish. Baked tofu stands in for tuna, another standard Niçoise ingredient.

Years ago, as vegetarians, my husband and I traveled through the American heartland, and I remember sampling a traditional salad whose main ingredients are green peas and Cheddar cheese. I expanded this basic formula (as well as the foggy memory) into a recipe that includes pasta, making it more substantial.

Bursting with Southwestern flavors, this salad is as delicious as it is easy.

Like most families, we struggle to get enough vegetables into our diets. This pasta salad, served cool, is full of great greens and reds, and it is so tasty! The sunflower kernels give it a nice crunch.

Garth has to claim this recipe because he modified my basic pasta salad to suit his tastes and changed it completely! He likes to eat it warm because he loves the way the cheese melts into the other ingredients, so he doesn’t wait for the pasta to cool down at all. He also says the secret to making the tomatoes taste so good is salting them separately. Who knew he was Gartha Stewart?