Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad With Shrimp

This roasted vegetable pasta salad with shrimp is perfect to make for an easy weeknight dinner, packed lunch, or to bring to your next BBQ. It’s easy, healthy, and delicious!

Cold pasta salads are such a great option during the summer months. You can pack them with you to work, have them ready to go for a quick weeknight dinner, or bring them to your next BBQ.

Pasta salads can pack in tons of veggies, delicious pasta (obvs), plus plenty of protein and healthy fats to make a balanced meal. This Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad With Shrimp checks all those boxes!

For this recipe, bowtie pasta is mixed with roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and corn, then finished with pan-fried shrimp, arugula, and a simple basil-white wine vinegar dressing.

Roasting the vegetables brings out SO much flavour and natural sweetness, adding a unique flavour to this pasta salad.

This recipe is also dairy-free and can be made gluten-free by using certified gluten-free pasta if needed.

How To Make Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is incredibly easy to make, and totally customizable! The way I approach any pasta salad is similar to how I approach most meals – I try to add a source of carbs, protein, healthy fat, fibre, and lots of veggies to make it balanced, filling, and nutritious.

The pasta will be the source of carbs in a pasta salad. I find using smaller pasta shapes works best – like farfalle/bowtie, penne, fusilli, cavatappi, or macaroni – as opposed to long pastas.

For protein, I’ve used shrimp in this recipe, but you can try adding cheeses (like boconccini, crumbled goat, or feta), fried or baked tofu, canned seafood, or other cooked meats.

Healthy fats often come from an olive oil based dressing, but adding chunks of avocado would also be delicious.

For veggies, both chopped raw veggies, cooked veggies, and leafy greens work great.

A good goal is to have all the ingredients be a similar size and to make sure you’ve got more “add-ins” than actual pasta. This ensures more flavour and also makes the dish easier to eat. As you can see – you can totally get creative with pasta salad recipes!

Pasta Salad Dressing

I find homemade vinaigrettes work best for pasta salads – something acidic and flavourful, but not too overpowering.

For this roasted vegetable pasta salad, I’ve made a simple dressing using:

• white wine vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• garlic
• dijon mustard
• honey
• dried basil

Finishing your pasta salad with some freshly chopped herbs is another way to add in tons of flavour!

How Long Does Pasta Salad Last?

While pasta salads will likely taste best the day of or the day after making it, they can keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-5 days.

That said, if you have cooked meat or seafood in your pasta salad (like this one), it’s recommended to eat it within 3 days!

Pasta salads can be enjoyed cold or at room temperature. Because of this, they’re also an awesome idea to pack for lunch!

Recipe Nutrition + Health Benefits

Curious about some of the nutrition and health benefits of this particular recipe? The whole food ingredients are packed with nutrients, such as:

Red Bell Peppers:

• One of the BEST sources of vitamin C, with one bell pepper providing 180% of your daily vitamin C needs!
• Vitamin C helps with collagen formation throughout your body, skin health, and reduction of cellular damage (it’s an antioxidant)
• A great source of other antioxidants, like carotenoids, as well

Cherry Tomatoes:

• An excellent source of vitamin C, potassium, folate, and vitamin K
• High in antioxidants, like lycopene and beta-carotene

Corn:

• Rich in micronutrients like folate, B6, niacin, and potassium, as well as antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin.
• A great source of complex carbs and fibre, helping with energy, digestion, and heart health!

Arugula.

• This leafy green is rich in fibre, antioxidants, and tons of micronutrients like calcium, potassium, folate, vitamin C, K, and A

Shrimp:

• One of my favourite quick protein sources! A standard 3-ounce or 85-gram serving of shrimp provides:
  • 18 grams of complete protein
  • micronutrients like selenium, B12, iron, phosphorus, niacin, zinc, magnesium, and iodine.
• Shrimp is also a source of anti-inflammatory omega-3s.
• While shrimp may be high in cholesterol, we now know that dietary cholesterol does not raise blood cholesterol levels in most individuals. In fact, many of the nutrients in shrimp are incredibly heart healthy!

More Healthy Pasta Salad Recipes

• Easy Caprese Pasta Salad
• Tuna Pasta Salad With Pesto
• Canned Mackerel Pasta Salad
• Winter Pasta Salad With Roasted Vegetables
• Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad

Did you give this Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad a try? Let me know by leaving a comment and recipe rating below!

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