Turkey Basil Pasta Salad
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 for lunch, casual dinners, and summer holiday get-togethers!
Servings: 8
Calories: 347cal
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
Storage: Pasta salad will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. Note that it may appear to dry out a bit as time passes. That's because the pasta noodles will continue to absorb the balsamic vinaigrette and if yours is a bit dry, it's easy to add a squirt more of the vinaigrette, as desired to taste. I do not recommend freezing it.
Nutrition
Serving: 1portion | Calories: 347cal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.004g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 1220mg | Potassium: 310mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 658IU | Vitamin C: 21mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg
