The weather is starting to cool off and autumn is slowly taking hold but I am going to fight the cooler weather by talking about summer type recipes today! For years I have enjoyed a yummy helping of the classic creamy pasta salad with my summer salads. Adding a spoonful or two of pasta salad just seems to liven up a plain leafy lettuce salad and gives it a bit more substance I think. So I decided that, even though summer was nearly over, I was going to try out a creamy pasta salad recipe for myself. I am so glad that I did!
I always felt a bit guilty eating the store bought creamy pasta salad because it is probably not the healthiest salad around and it is certainly not low in calories! It was usually reserved for special occasions or family BBQs not for everyday meals! But I have used low fat mayonnaise and lite sour cream in this creamy pasta salad recipe – so I can enjoy one of my favourite salads more often without the guilt. It might be lower in fat but it is certainly not lower in taste!
I found the original recipe at Best Recipes and I have made it several times over the last few weeks. I have adjusted it slightly, mainly because the original recipe seemed to make a tonne of pasta salad. Even though I don’t make as much as the original recipe states I find that it still comfortably serves 6 to 8 people because this pasta salad is designed to be a side dish. You can easily double the recipe if you need to make enough for a large gathering.
The original recipe called for the addition of celery but I have left it out just because I didn’t have any on hand the first time I made it. I don’t think that you miss the celery but by all means add some if you wish. Also I like the amount of vegetables in this pasta salad recipe but you could add more or less if you prefer. I have used spiral pasta but you could use any pasta that you like – the store bought one tends to use macaroni. I also wanted to make my pasta salad nice and colourful so I used both red and green capsicum but you could just use all green or all red if you want to.
Now that I have this creamy pasta salad recipe I know that I will never buy it again from the supermarket – this is going to be a well-used recipe in my house! I hope you enjoy it too!
- 125g of dry pasta
- ½ a medium carrot grated
- ¼ of a red capsicum finely diced
- ¼ of a green capsicum finely diced
- ¼ of a red onion finely diced
- ½ cup of reduced fat mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons of lite sour cream
- Cook pasta according to the directions on the packet.
- Drain the pasta and then rinse it with cold water and drain again.
- Place the pasta into a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
- Can be served immediately but it is best when covered and allowed to chill in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.
Leave a Reply