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