Spring has sprung in West Tennessee! All this nice weather has us outside and grilling more often too. I love a good prepped “cold salad” ready to pull out for an easy side dish. Something like potato salad, coleslaw, or pasta salad comes to mind. Plus Cinco de Mayo is this week, for this reason, I decided I would make a Mexican Pasta Salad.
What ingredients are going into this Mexican Pasta Salad?
Pasta, spicy roasted corn, tomatoes, onion, sweet peppers, cheese make up the body of the salad.
I use gluten-free pasta shells because it is easier to get my husband to eat them. But any whole grain pasta will work. You need 2 cups total so just follow the directions for that much.
I roast frozen or canned corn in a frying pan for this recipe most of the time.
But if I happen to have or plan some leftover grilled corn on the cob I will use it too.
I like to use grape/cherry tomatoes for this salad because of the ease of preparation. Cutting them in half is all I ever do. You could use regular-sized tomatoes cut into chunks but you would need to let them drain on paper towels. If you don’t they will make too much “juice” in your salad.
Try to cut your peppers and onions about the same size as your pasta and tomatoes.
Adding the dressing and the cheese
The dressing is a Spicy Chipotle Buttermilk Ranch but could be adjusted to only Ranch Dressing. Or you could just leave the chipotle pepper/sauce out of the recipe and use a little chipotle chili powder and cumin instead for a milder flavor. You can add heat to your own serving if you need to.
If you don’t keep buttermilk most of the time (like I do) don’t worry you can make a substitute for it. For my cornbread recipe, I make 1 cup of buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of 2% milk and stir till it gets thick. To make 1/4 cup of buttermilk you can use 1/4 cup of 2% milk and 3/4 teaspoons lemon juice.
If I am making this ahead of time I will mix it up all the way through the dressing. But I will keep my cheese separate until it is time to serve the salad. I will stir it in at the very last minute. Although I do like the leftovers of this recipe, the cheese part on day 2 isn’t my favorite part. I cut my cheese into tiny pieces, about the same size a the onions and peppers.
If I were prepping this for a few days worth of lunches I would leave the cheese out till I was ready to eat it. Just cut 1 Blue container worth and use that for 3 salads as I ate them, 1/3 of a Blue on each one.
Can you change the recipe for fewer Yellow containers?
Yes, but you are going to want to keep the total amount of ingredients the same. If you wanted to use less pasta and corn then make sure to increase the veggies by as much. This will keep the right amount of dressing per serving size. The total amount of ingredients needs to be about 5 1/2 – 6 cups. Just do the container math for the amounts you use. If you need help figuring out your container counts a blogger friend of mine put together this post HERE.
Mexican Pasta Salad {21 Day Fix}
Ingredients
Method
- Mix all ingredients in a pint jar and shake well. Set aside until time to dress the pasta salad.
- Add everything but the cheese into a large bowl.
- Add Creamy Chipotle Ranch Dressing stir well.
- Add stir in cheese right before serving.
- **see dressing instructions about garnishing with olives
What can you serve with this Mexican Pasta Salad?
ANYTHING, I especially like to mix a clean protein to my 3/4 cup serving of pasta salad. I can fill my Red container with my protein which is 3/4 cup and mix them together for a big 1 dish meal. I like to use chicken usually and the chicken from my Honey Lime Chicken Bowls is just perfect for it. Recipe HERE.
Or I might use the salad as a side dish for my Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chicken. Recipe HERE.
Whatever you chose to eat with it I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!!
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