Mexican Pasta Salad {Fiesta Pasta Salad Recipe}

Easy 20 minute Mexican Pasta Salad – a light, and delicious pasta salad recipe makes the perfect side dish or stand alone dinner.

Easy Mexican Pasta Salad

I tend to have a lot of cravings for Mexican food, but living in the suburbs of St. Louis, good Mexican is hard to come by without a 20 to 30 minute drive. Due to that unfortunate fact, I’m always playing with food to find new ways to get my fix.

I turned my favorite salad dressing into a Mexican Pasta Salad recipe that is light, refreshing and has just enough kick.

The Best Summer Pasta Salad Recipe

Last year I shared a light and easy pasta salad recipe which proved very popular both in our home and with readers. Growing up, I had never cared for pasta salad because I had mostly had mayonnaise based pasta salads which felt a bit heavy.

With this salad being a vinegarette dressing based, it makes for a great summer dish. It’s light enough to be a delcious side dish, yet flavorful enough to stand alone as the main dish.

What’s not to love about a pasta salad recipe this versitile?

What Should I Put on a Pasta Salad?

Most of my vinaigrette recipes make a great pasta salad, including the ever popular cilantro lime vinaigrette I’m using today to mix up this mexican pasta salad.

As far a toppings go, its all about your preference, you can put almost anything you want, and leave out anything you don’t like. It’s what I love about pasta salad recipes, they are so easy to tweak to make them perfect for what you like.

What to Pair With A Mexican Pasta Salad?

You can’t really go wrong with pairing this pasta salad. It might be a mexican pasta salad recipe, but that doesnt mean you have to serve it with just mexican food.

Serve it as a side with these bacon burgers, or chicken wraps.

If you want to keep the mexican theme, serve it with these chicken tacos, and some flavored margaritas for the perfect mexican fiesta!

How to make Mexican Pasta Salad:

5 from 1 vote

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Fiesta Mexican Pasta Salad

Easy, fresh and flavorful Mexican Pasta Salad recipe that's the perfect summer side dish!

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine American, Mexican

Keyword easy recipe, easy side, pasta salad, side, side dish

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 11 minutes

Total Time 21 minutes

Servings 8

Author Julie Blanner

Ingredients

• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1/4 c lime juice
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 jalapeno de-stemmed {remove seeds for less kick}
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 8 cracks salt
• 3/4 tsp spicy mustard
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1 pound dry pasta
• 1/4 c queso fresco
• 1 tomato diced

Instructions

1. Boil a pot of water over high heat.
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine cilantro, lime juice, garlic, jalapeño, red wine vinegar, salt, spicy mustard and olive oil.
3. Boil noodles 10-11 minutes and drain.
4. In a large bowl, combine noodles and dressing. Top with diced tomato, queso fresco and optional jalapeño.
5. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

It's your preference, you can put almost anything you want in this easy pasta salad, and leave out anything you don’t care for.

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