Caprese Pasta Salad

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The classic Pasta Salad is a favorite dish for millions of folks around the world. It is a hearty, yet light dish that can serve perfectly well as either a side dish, or the main course. It’s also a super-versatile dish, just as welcome at the dinner table during the sweltering hot Summer months as it is during the cold months, and of course the Holiday Season! This Caprese Pasta Salad offers the best of both worlds. A delicious Caprese Salad flavored with Tomatoes, Mozzarella, and Basil, combined with the heartiness of a Pasta Salad

The combination of these two famous dishes makes for an enjoyable meal

Pairing a Caprese Salad with a Pasta Salad is a match made in heaven. They complement each other so well, making for a truly complete dish. On one hand, the Caprese Salad is a beautiful dish consisting of sliced Tomatoes, good quality Mozzarella Cheese, and Basil which is drizzled with Olive Oil, Salt, and Balsamic Glaze. The flavors are massive, yet it is a super-light dish. It’s great as a side, but doesn’t really offer the heartiness that warrants it as a main course

On the other hand, a classic Pasta Salad is one of the more versatile dishes in the culinary world. It is Pasta that is cooked and served cold, then paired with lots of different vegetables and finished with a slightly creamy sauce

It is a very versatile dish, with loads of different veggies working well in the dish. Pasta Salads are great, but sometimes they come off a little ‘one-note’ when it comes to flavor. It’s often quite creamy, which can lead to a heavy flavor. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be a little one dimensional at times

Not with this Caprese Pasta Salad! The complimentary flavors work a treat, and the Pasta just drinks up that beautiful Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar Seasoning that is so famous with Caprese Salads

What type of Pasta is best for a Pasta Salad?

There are so many great Pasta choices to choose from when making a Pasta Salad. Just steer clear of the long stranded types like Spaghetti, Fettuccini etc. and you really can’t go wrong. For this Caprese Pasta Salad we used Elbow Pasta, which worked great! It has a nice robustness to it. It is easy to eat using a fork, and the hole in the middle allows for capturing of that beautiful dressing and flavors

However, there’s no need to be that fussy. Use whatever you’ve got lying around in the pantry, even a combination of different Pastas if you want! Some other great choices we recommend for this dish are Macaroni, Cavatappi, Spirals, Shell, Orecchiette, or Ribbon Pasta. You really can’t go wrong with whatever you choose!

Just check for doneness for the Pasta as you are cooking it, as different Pasta shapes will cook at varying times. You can tell when the Pasta is perfectly cooked when it is tender enough to bite through, but still offers a slight amount of resistance. This is what is known as ‘al-dente’, which is what you want to aim for

It’s all about the perfect bite of food

What makes this Caprese Pasta Salad such a joy to eat is not only the flavors, but how easy it is to eat. Sometimes Salads can be a bit of a challenge to eat. Especially those lettuce-based Salads where it’s a struggle to get a consistently large forkful of food in each bite

The key to a perfect forkful of food is to ensure that each ingredient prepared in the Salad is cut to a similar size. An easy way to manage this is with your choice of ingredients. We use Bocconcini Cheese and Cherry Tomatoes, which are roughly the same size, and a similar size to the Pasta

Simply slice the Cheese and Tomatoes in half, and they’ll be a uniform size, and similar to the size of the Pasta. This ensures that you’ll get an even forkful of food every time, with a beautiful balance of flavors

Yes, you can use different types of Tomatoes and Cheese if you like. The resulting flavors will still be great, but if you are able to get the Bocconcini and Cherry Tomatoes we highly recommend it

Finish the Salad with a good quality Balsamic Glaze

I think Balsamic is up there with Wine when it comes to the varying levels of quality in its production. I am nowhere near an expert in the field of describing the quality of Balsamic Glaze, but I do know that finding one that you like will go a long way in transforming your home cooking. The good quality stuff can cost a lot, but you don’t need to use a lot of it in cooking, so we think it’s well worth the investment

In traditional style, our Caprese Pasta Salad is finished with a drizzle of good quality Balsamic Glaze. Unlike Balsamic Vinegar, Balsamic Glaze is highly concentrated and has a huge, rich flavor to it. You don’t need a lot of it in this dish, about 1 tsp. is more than enough to transform the flavors

Simply drizzle it sparingly over the dish once you’ve plated it and then it’ll be ready to serve. I like to add the Basil first and then finish with the Balsamic Glaze, but it doesn’t really matter what order you do it. It’s going to taste the same regardless, and both plating techniques look beautiful!

Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 200g of Pasta (Macaroni / Elbow / Spiral / Cavatappi Pasta)
• 250g / 9 oz. Cherry Tomatoes
• 200g / 7 oz. Bocconcini Cheese
• 12 large Basil Leaves, roughly torn
• 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 1 tsp. Balsamic Glaze
• ½ tsp. Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Fill a large Saucepan with Salted Water and bring to a Boil. Drop in the Pasta and cook it for 8 – 10 minutes until ‘al-dente’ (tender, but with a slight chew to it). Strain and set aside to cool
2. Add the Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, and Salt to a large Salad Bowl and whisk well
3. Cut the Tomatoes and Bocconcini Cheese in halves then add to the Salad Bowl, along with the (now cooled) Pasta. Mix well and taste for seasoning
4. Serve either on a large plate or individual plates. Top with Basil Leaves, a drizzle of Balsamic Vinegar, and some finishing Salt
   
   

Recipe Notes

• You can use larger Mozzarella and Tomatoes if you prefer
• Try to avoid long-strand Pasta like Spaghetti or Fettuccini for this dish
  
  

That’s our delicious and simple recipe for an amazing bowl of Caprese Pasta Salad. The perfect dish for any occasion, serving just as well as a main course as it does a side dish

For more wonderful Salad recipes, check out our dedicated page here. Try some of these healthy and delicious Salads:

• Chopped Salmon Salad with Candied Peanuts
• Tomato and Lentil Salad with Basil and Goats Cheese
• Easy Summer Salads
• Creamy Kale Salad
  
  

Happy Cooking!