Turkey Basil Pasta Salad 🌿🎉🍅 is an EASY pasta salad recipe that’s ready in 20 minutes and uses sliced turkey cold cuts to save time and add protein! Cucumber, tomato, and bell peppers add crunch while plenty of basil and a light yet flavorful balsamic vinaigrette make this the perfect summer meal! Great for lunch, casual dinners, and summer events and parties!
Easy Deli Turkey Basil Pasta Salad Recipe
- It’s that time of year when pasta salads just taste so good! With warmer weather comes less of a desire for me to turn on my oven or make anything too challenging and so easy pasta salad recipes come in so handy.
- For this pasta salad, I used a package of cold cuts and diced it up. Sliced oven-roasted turkey to be exact, but any type of cold cuts are fine from smoked turkey to sliced chicken or even ham or bologna. Adding protein is always good so that you stay full longer.
- There are plenty of diced veggies including cucumber, tomato, bell peppers, and more for lots of crunch to contrast the tender al dente cooked pasta. I added plenty of garden fresh basil to really take advantage of summer flavors.
- Pasta salads are extremely flexible and forgiving recipes so if you don’t have a certain vegetable on hand or you don’t care for it, say black olives, it’s easy to omit or replace with something you enjoy more – anything from say green beans or garbanzo beans!
- I tossed the pasta salad with a splash of lemon juice and some store bought balsamic vinaigrette. I used Trader Joe’s, but there are so many other brands out there from Organic 365 to Newman’s Own to Kraft. Use what you can find and is easy. The vinaigrette is light, doesn’t weight the salad and the veggies down like a mayonnaise based dressing would, and keeps it feeling flavorful yet fresh.
Ingredients in Pasta Salad with Turkey
- Pasta – I used fusilli but any small shaped pasta such as rotini pasta, bowtie, penne, ziti, wheels, small shells, etc. are all great options.
- Veggies: Cucumber, roma tomato, bell pepper (I used orange but any color is fine) heart of palm (not sure about this one? Read the FAQs for more info), black olives.
- Sliced turkey breast – or use sliced deli chicken or your favorite cold cuts, or leftover chicken. See the FAQs for more protein options
- Fresh basil: If you have fresh mint it would also be great.
- Lemon juice: Fresh is best. For extra lemony flavor, you can zest a bit of the lemon first.
- Balsamic vinaigrette: I used store bought from Trader Joe’s or try another brand of balsamic vinaigrette. Make sure though you don’t just add straight balsamic vinegar which would be too harsh and potent!
- Seasonings: Salt, pepper, and optional dried red pepper chile flakes.
- Optional: Crumbled feta, grated Parmesan, or another shredded cheese.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Turkey and Vegetable Pasta Salad
In only 20 minutes total time, this easy pasta salad is ready and is always a family favorite. Here’s an overview of how to make it.
- Boil the pasta and while it’s boiling, start chopping all the veggies.
- Add the chopped veggies to a very large bowl.
- Add everything else, add the cooked and drained pasta to the bowl, drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette, season with salt and pepper, optionally sprinkle chile flakes, and toss very well.
- Taste and determine what, if anything, it’s missing. It could be an additional tablespoon lemon juice, more balsamic vinaigrette, more basil, salt, pepper, chile flakes, etc. See my Seasoning Tip below!
- Serve immediately. Or, cover and chill for a few hours before serving.
what to serve with pasta salad
Storage
In the Refrigerator: This recipe will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. I do not recommend freezing this pasta salad.
Pasta salad can dry out a bit in the fridge due to the refrigerated air being drying, and because the pasta noodles will absorb the vinaigrette as time passes. Therefore, in subsequent days if your pasta salad is a bit dry, drizzle in a bit more balsamic vinaigrette, as needed. An easy fix!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, by all means. If you want to swap out the sliced turkey breast cold cuts for a lean meat like sliced deli chicken, or go with ham, bologna, mini pepperoni, or whatever protein you’d like to use, go for it. Also this is a great way to use up leftover chicken – such as grilled chicken, baked chicken, or shred some store bought rotisserie chicken and toss that in.
You can easily make this dish vegetarian by omitting the sliced turkey or other animal-based protein. You may want to toss in some cheese though (or skip the cheese too and it’s vegan – be sure to read labels though if this is a consideration for you).
Don’t like heart of palm (which is loaded with fiber and has a firm-enough-yet-not-crunchy texture) or black olives? Or maybe it’s the bell peppers? It’s easy to simply omit them. You can add more of another vegetable, or not. This pasta salad recipe is extremely flexible!
Yes you can. I actually love pasta salads the next day after they’re well chilled and the flavors marry and meld. So if you’re trying to get ahead on your cooking and prep work for an event or party, such as Memorial Day, graduation parties, 4th of July, Labor Day, and more, you can make this 24-36 hours ahead of time. Make sure to add additional balsamic vinaigrette before serving if it seems a bit drier than when you first made it. That’s normal – pasta “drinks” extra liquid or moisture as it sits over time. You can also add a drizzle of olive oil.
Turkey Basil Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta, (I used fusilli but any small shaped pasta such as bowtie, penne, ziti, wheels, small shells, etc. are fine)
- ½ of 1 large cucumber, peeled if desired and diced into small pieces
- 1 or 2 roma tomatoes, diced into small pieces
- 1 medium/large bell pepper, seeded and diced small (I used orange but any color is fine)
- one 14-ounce can heart of palm, drained and diced into small pieces (not sure about this one? Read the FAQs for more info)
- 7 ounces sliced turkey breast, diced (or use sliced deli chicken, your favorite cold cuts, or leftover chicken. See the FAQs for more protein options)
- 3.8- ounce can black olives, drained (omit if you don't like olives)
- 8 to 10 fresh basil leaves, or to taste, sliced in ribbons or chiffonade
- Lemon juice from half of 1 lemon, or to taste (about 3 to 4 tablespoons)
- ¾ to 1 cup balsamic vinaigrette
- 2 to 3 teaspoons salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- ½ to 1 teaspoon dried chile flakes, optional but recommended and to taste
- Crumbled feta, optional and to taste; grated Parmesan, or another shredded cheese
Instructions
- Boil water for the pasta and cook it according to package directions. When it's done, drain the pasta and rinse it with cold water. While it's cooking, get to work on chopping the veggies!
- To a very large bowl, add the cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, heart of palm, turkey, black olive, basil, lemon juice, and stir to combine.
- Add the cooked pasta to the bowl, drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette evenly (start with 3/4 cup), toss to combine, and continue adding more vinaigrette, as desired and to taste. Tip – Some brands of pasta will just absorb more vinaigrette than others, and/or you may like your pasta salad more juicy and well coated, so if you need more than 1 cup, add it.
- Add 2 teaspoons salt, pepper, optional but recommended chile flakes, optional cheese (tip – if you're concerned about the cheese melting, you may want to wait to add cheese until you chill the pasta salad for a bit), stir very well, taste, and if necessary, make any necessary seasoning tweaks. Seasoning Tips – If your pasta salad tastes at all flat, boring, or like it's missing something, it likely needs more salt so don't be afraid to add it. Remember, you're seasoning about 4 pounds of food so don't be scared to season it properly, which often times means more salt than many people think is necessary.
- Serve immediately or you can cover and chill the pasta salad for a few hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This turkey basil pasta salad recipe from Averie Cooks looks like a fresh, flavorful dish perfect for summer gatherings or meal prep! The combo of juicy turkey, vibrant basil, and tangy dressing sounds like a crowd-pleaser.
Love it
Awesome to hear! Thanks, Robert!