Ready in just 25 minutes, this high protein spring pasta salad is perfect for weekly meal prep or an easy weeknight meal. Each serving of this vegetarian pasta salad is packed with fresh spring produce, herbs, and feta and contains about 32g of protein without any chickpeas.
A High Protein Pasta Salad for Spring That’s Perfect for Meal Prep
Do me a favor and add this high protein pasta salad to your meal prep list immediately! Not only is it packed with protein, it comes together in less than 30 minutes, is packed with fresh spring flavors, and is perfect for easy meals because you literally eat it straight outta the fridge. This spring pasta salad also travels really well making it perfect for picnics, cookouts, and other gatherings.
I’ve been very vocal in the past about my distaste for chickpeas so you’ll be pleased to know they are nowhere near this vegetarian high protein pasta salad! And before you’re like what about the high protein pasta?! I ended up using one made with lupini beans instead of chickpeas. It had such great flavor and texture. Curious about which one I used? Tap here to skip to the protein breakdown section.
Key High Protein Ingredients
This pasta salad took longer to conceptualize than most of my recipes because I wanted it to be high in protein AND taste good while incorporating fresh spring veggies! Every ingredient is very intentional and serves a purpose, whether it’s lending protein, texture, or fresh spring flavor.
The combination of lupini bean protein pasta, peas, edamame, asparagus, pistachios, and feta pack in a huge protein punch while still tasting amazing and not relying on canned chickpeas. Since the protein count relies on these ingredients, I don’t recommend subbing any of them out! For all potential substitutions, head down to notes in the recipe card.
Following the fresh spring vibes, I borrowed the lemon tahini dressing from this spring quinoa salad and modified it slightly. It tastes SO GOOD here and really brightens everything up. While the dressing does have protein from the yogurt, I’m not relying on it in the final total since the amount you add will be up to you.
How to Make a High Protein Pasta Salad That’s Not Mushy
The most important thing to remember when making pasta salad (or cooking any pasta for that matter!) is NOT TO OVERCOOK IT. Plain and simple. I will often set a timer for 1-2 minutes less than the box recommends so I can start tasting and testing for doneness. When it comes to pasta salad, you want it to still have a bite because all of the ingredients and dressing will soften it as it sits in the fridge.
While the water for the pasta comes to a boil, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients (except for the water). The thickness of your yogurt will dictate how much water to add. You want it drizzleable! Once the water boils, add a handful of salt (like 2 tablespoons) then stir in the pasta. During the last 2 minutes of cooking time you’ll add the edamame, peas, and asparagus. Strain everything together then rinse under cold water to stop the cooking and cool everything down.
From here on out, it’s smooth sailing. Add everything to your largest mixing bowl along with about half of the dressing. Toss well then taste and add more dressing or salt as needed. The feta is pretty salty so I usually don’t need to add much extra salt but I highly encourage you to taste it and judge for yourself!
Protein Breakdown Per Serving
I don’t use any kind of nutrition plugin here on the blog. It’s just not my style, and definitely something that has helped me get rid of some disordered eating in the past. So, I did things the old fashioned way and used the nutrition labels to calculate the protein for you!
Based on the combination and quantitites of protein pasta (I used Brami, not sponsored), peas, edamame, asparagus, feta, and pistachios used in the recipe, the entire batch contains about 160g of protein. This yielded about 5 main dish sized servings for me which breaks down to 32g of protein per serving. I’d say that’s pretty darn good for a vegetarian pasta salad that doesn’t have any chickpeas in it!
Keep in mind that if you change up the quantities of the ingredients above, or make any subs, it will change the protein amount!
More High Protein Vegetarian Recipes To Enjoy
Since high protein has been the number one type of recipe requested over the last year, I’ve been trying to increase the number I share! Here are some of my favorites:
- Creamy Butter Beans with Sun-dried Tomatoes & Swiss Chard – Blended silken tofu takes the place of cream here which adds more protein and a very luscious texture. This weeknight friendly meal comes together in 25 minutes with one pot (and one blender) and has 22g of protein in each of the 3 servings. Increase it to 25 to 27g by pairing the beans with a piece of whole grain bread.
- Shredded BBQ Tofu Bowls – The combination of super firm tofu and quinoa packs in a plant-based protein punch in these delicious bowls. Ready in about 30 minutes, this meal comes in at 25g of protein in each of the 4 servings.
- Crispy Tempeh Vermicelli Bowls – Ready in just 20-25 minutes, this weeknight friendly recipe gets a huge hit of protein thanks to the tempeh. And, instant rice noodles/vermicelli bring it together super quick! Both servings have about 25g of protein.
High Protein Spring Pasta Salad
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Ready in just 25 minutes, this high protein spring pasta salad is perfect for weekly meal prep or an easy weeknight meal. Each serving of this vegetarian pasta salad is packed with fresh spring produce, herbs, and feta and contains about 32g of protein without any chickpeas.
Ingredients
for the lemon tahini dressing:
- 1/2 cup plain unsweetened yogurt
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1 large lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- sea salt, to taste
- cold water, as needed to thin
for the pasta salad:
- 12 ounces high protein pasta, such as lupini bean or chickpea
- 1 1/2 cups shelled edamame, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen
- 12 ounces asparagus, woody ends trimmed off and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 small bunch radishes, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup dill, chopped
- 1/2 cup chives, chopped
- 2/3 cup pistachios, chopped
- 6 ounces feta, crumbled
- sea salt, to taste
Instructions
Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to the package instructions for al dente. If there is not a recommendation for al-dente, set a timer for 1-2 minutes less than the recommended cooking time. During the last two minutes of cooking time, add the edamame, peas, and chopped asparagus. Before straining, taste a piece of pasta to ensure it is cooked but stills retains a bit of bite. Strain everything together and rinse under cold water for about 30-60 seconds before setting aside to drain.
While the pasta is cooking and draining, make the dressing. Whisk together the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice and zest, maple syrup, garlic powder, and salt to taste. It will be thick, especially if you used Greek yogurt. Slowly whisk in cold water about a tablespoon at a time until the dressing reaches a drizzleable consistency.
In your largest mixing bowl, combine everything from the strainer (pasta, edamame, peas, asparagus) with the sliced radishes, dill, chives, pistachios, and feta. Drizzle about half of the dressing over the top then toss well. Taste and add more dressing or salt as needed before serving.
Store leftover pasta salad and dressing separately. Since the pasta will absorb the dressing as it sits in the fridge, you may want to toss leftovers with a little extra dressing before eating. The leftover dressing will thicken in the fridge so whisk in more water as needed to thin. Pasta salad can be eaten cold or at room temperature.
Notes
- A large lemon typically has around 3-4 tablespoons of juice. If you can only find smaller lemons, go ahead and buy 2 for the recipe.
- I prefer the buttery, mild flavor of raw pistachios here but feel free to use roasted ones instead.
- I found that this recipe yielded 5 main dish/meal-sized servings for me. If you’re enjoying it as a side, you’ll get more like 8-10 servings.
- If you decide to make this recipe vegan and omit the feta, you’ll lose about 30g of protein. You can use a vegan feta or a homemade marinated vegan feta made with tofu to ensure you’re still getting higher protein. To make the dresing vegan, use a plain unsweetened vegan yogurt.
- If you need a gluten free high protein pasta, look for the ones from Banza or Goodles (not sponsored).
- If your shelled edamame is fresh instead of frozen, you do not need to add it to the pasta water as it is ready to eat.
- If you are using freshly shelled peas intead of frozen, I still recommending adding them to the pasta water to cook for 2 minutes to remove the raw bite.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
- Category: Dinner, Lunch
We LOVED this recipe! I use protein pasta often and I love that I can easily add more protein to my veggie dishes! Thank you!
So happy to hear that you loved it! I’m newish to using protein pasta and am definitely looking forward to playing around with it more.
I found this recipe and had never tried chickpea pasta before, we usually buy the high protein one, but with regular flour. It was so good, I loved the texture of it, and with all the fresh veggies, it was perfect!
So glad you enjoyed the pasta salad!
This sounds so fresh and filling! Love that it packs in so much protein without chickpeas. Perfect for meal prep.
I love making it for my weekly meal prep! Enjoy!
This one was so good and I’ll have it on repeat this summer for sure! I love that it’s high protein, high fiber, and such good flavor!!
Awesome! So glad you liked it and thank you so much for coming back to leave a review 🙂
I absolutely adore the radishes with the texture of the beans. It’s a pleasant contrast that makes you want to keep eating it!
I definitely packed a lot of textures in here. So glad you liked it!
I’m with you on the chick peas! This pasta as so tasty, and I love the macros – high protein and vegetarian.
So happy you enjoyed this one! And good to know it’s not just me that dislikes chickpeas, haha!
Wow, over 30g of protein in each serving and it tastes amazing! I will be making this every week!
Yay! So happy to hear that 🙂
Love this refreshing pasta salad, best for meal prep! Its very difficult to find high protein recipes that are vegetarian too, thanks for sharing!
I feel the same! I really wanted to pack in as much protein here as possible. Hope you enjoy it!