Cold Pasta Salad is a delicious and versatile dish that is perfect for summer. It can be enjoyed as a main course or as a side dish. We added grilled chicken to our salad, which had been marinated in a light Asian toasted salad dressing by Kraft. To make the dressing more interesting, we added roasted garlic, fresh ginger, and cayenne peppers. After marinating the chicken for four hours, we grilled it for about 30 minutes until it was cooked to perfection. The chicken was served with roasted zucchini and chili cheese grits, and we were pleased to find that the leftovers paired nicely with our sesame peanut pasta salad.
Making the Sesame Peanut Pasta Salad
Preparing this cold pasta salad is a breeze, with the only slightly challenging part being the pasta cooking. It's a fantastic side dish that's perfect for a grill party and can be conveniently made a day in advance. The salad retains its delicious taste even after two days, and you can customize it by adding any veggies of your choice.
We used cucumber, carrot, and green peas in this recipe, you could experiment with edamame, green beans, squash, or spinach. Really, just add any of your favorite veggies to this Sesame Peanut Pasta Salad.
Other ways to use the Dressing for this salad
We enjoyed the Sesame Peanut Zoodle Salad so much, we doubled the dressing recipe with a large Zucchini from our garden and can't wait to make it again.
If you enjoy this recipe, you may also like our Pad Thai recipe. We love Thai food and usually go out for Pad Thai when we're hungry, but we decided to try making it at home. It was so delicious that I may never order it again, but who am I kidding? If I'm at a Thai restaurant, there will always be Pad Thai on the table. We're going to try making Pad Thai with Zoodles, so stay tuned for the recipe and results.
This pasta salad is delicious and easy to make. We also enjoy other salads like Shrimp pesto pasta salad, Mexican street corn salad, Garden to table summer salad, Grilled chicken caesar Salad, Sesame salmon spinach salad, Mexican street corn pasta salad, Tortellini and cucumber salad, and Classic broccoli salad. We hope you love them as much as we do!!!
Sesame Peanut Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Pasta and veggies
- 6 Ounces Linguini
- ½ Tablespoon Sesame Oil
- 1 Large Carrot Appx 1 Cup Shredded
- 1 Cup Frozen Peas
- 1 Medium Cucumber
Optional ingredients
- 6 Ounces Chicken Breast
Sauce
- 2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- ¼ Cup Peanut Butter We used crunchy peanut butter
- 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
- ½ Tablespoon Rice Vinegar Or white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Pepper Flakes Optional
- 2 Scallons
Instructions
Linguini
- Cook Linguini according to the box. (Make it al dente). Reserve ¼ Cup of the pasta waterTIP: When the Pasta is done. Drain it and rinse under cold water to stop the pasta from cookingToss ½ Tablespoon Sesame Oil onto the Pasta.
Veggies
- Cut Cucumber into bite-size pieces
- Grate Carrots (these can be purchased grated also)
- Parboil the Peas for one minute. Drain Peas and run them under cold water for a minute to stop them from cooking
- If including Chicken Cut it into bite-size pieces
Sauce
- Mix together Soy Sauce, Sugar, Peanut Butter, Sesame Oil, Rice Vinegar, and OPTIONAL Pepper flakes (cayenne Pepper)
- Add 2 Tablespoons of Pasta water into the Sauce mixture (or hot water if you forgot to save the pasta water). The consistency should be smooth and about the thickness of a salad dressing. Add additional water if you want the sauce thinner.
Making Salad
- Toss together the veggies and linguini (and chicken if included in the salad)
- Mix in half the Sauce. Taste, and add additional sauce until it has the consistency and taste you love. We used all the sauce.
- Place in serving dish and top with Scallons . . . ENJOY!!!!
Please let us know what you think