Spring Pasta Salad with Snap Peas, Feta, and Tomatoes {Recipe}

Coming up with creative, seasonal, Nutritioulicious recipes most days of the week can be challenging. For inspiration, I often look at published recipes from cookbooks or some of my favorite online sources (like Everyday Food and Cooking Light). It’s a rare occasion that I follow a recipe to a T – there always seems to be something in the recipe that doesn’t quite tickle my taste buds! This often is the case with pasta salads. I love pasta, but unless it’s a filled ravioli, a really cheesy casserole, or has a hearty tomato-based sauce I find pasta airy, bland, and not so satisfying. As a kid, I remember my fellow campmates eating bowls of noodles with butter or {wince} ketchup – I shudder just thinking about it.

So when I saw this Everyday Food recipe for Pasta Salad with Feta and Snow Peas, I was hesitant to make it – the “sauce” consisted of olive oil, white wine vinegar, and balsamic vinegar, which didn’t sound flavorful enough for me. But with all the hot days we’ve been having, it seemed like a dish that wouldn’t require too much time spent in the kitchen and I really loved the light, spring ingredients – snow peas, peppers, and cilantro. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love the recipe as it was, but to achieve the full sensory experience from eating, I needed to make a few modifications (fyi: I had mint in the house, so used it instead of cilantro, but the latter would be just as good!). The end result was a nutritious and delicious pasta salad that had more flavor than I would have ever thought. 

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This light, seasonally-inspired pasta dish is full of flavor, nutritious, and delicious!

Course Entree, Main, Side Dish

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 8 -12

Author Jessica Levinson

Ingredients

• 1 yellow bell pepper ribs and seeds removed, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 1 pound whole-wheat fusilli or other short pasta
• 4 ounces sugar snap peas strings removed, sliced diagonally into 1/2-inch-wide strips
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
• 1 1/2 cups 6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spread peppers, tomatoes, and scallions on baking sheet and toss with 1 to 2 teaspoons olive oil. Roast for 10-13 minutes, tossing every so often to make sure the scallions aren't burning. Remove from oven and set aside.
2. In the meantime, in a large pot of boiling water (unsalted), cook pasta until al dente, approximately 10 minutes. Add snap peas and cook for 1 minute, until bright green and tender. Drain pasta and snap peas.
3. Coat bottom of pot with 1 teaspoon olive oil and return cooked pasta and snap peas to the pot. Add the roasted vegetables, mint, feta, remaining oil, vinegars, salt (about 1 teaspoon) and pepper, to taste. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Recipe Notes

Number of servings depends on serving size if serving as entree or side dish.

Looking for another spring pasta dish? Try my Fusilli with Fava Beans, Roasted Asparagus, Ricotta, and Mint.  

What kind of pasta dishes do you like?

Are you a noodles and butter or olive oil fan or do you prefer a sauce?