Roasted Zucchini Pasta Salad

Roasted Zucchini Pasta Salad combines roasted zucchini, shell-shaped pasta, crunchy almonds, sweet raisins, and fresh herbs – all tossed with creamy nut butter dressing.

A Delicious Pasta Salad for Picnics and Potlucks

When you’re invited to a potluck picnic or outdoor barbecue, it’s important to bring a dish that can hold up to traveling in the car, as well as sitting out on a picnic table unrefrigerated. This Roasted Zucchini Pasta Salad is a great option!

Inspired by this recipe from The New York Times, we made a number of ingredient changes to suit our tastes – and the results were very delicious!

To make it, roasted zucchini and red onion slices are combined with shell-shaped pasta, pan-toasted slivered almonds, golden raisins, then tossed in a creamy, lemony sun butter dressing. A variety of chopped fresh herbs and some Parmesan cheese are stirred in the at the end. Every bite is a burst of different and delicious flavors and textures that go so well with each other.

This Roasted Zucchini Pasta Salad is served still-warm or at room temperature – so it’s ideal for taking on the road to the beach, picnics, or any neighborhood gathering.

• It’s a uniquely delicious combination of flavors and textures in every bite!
• You can easily vary the salad to include different pasta shapes, herbs, nuts, dried fruit, and roasted vegetables. The dressing is easily adapted to other nut butters too.
• This is another delicious recipe idea to use up garden zucchini.

• Zucchini – Choose small to medium zucchini for this recipe as they are more tender than the very large ones and you won’t need to remove the seeds (as long as they are still small).
• Red Onion – We chose red onion for this salad – mostly to add a pop of pink color to the salad. Just about any other onion variety will work just fine in this recipe.
• Pasta – Choose a medium-sized pasta that is shaped with crevices that grab the ingredients and dressing. Seashells are perfect for this recipe, however other shapes such as cavatappi or farfalle will work equally as well.
• Sunflower Seed Butter – You have a lot of wiggle room with this ingredient. We liked the mild flavor of sunflower butter (aka “sun butter”) but tahini (made with sesame seeds), cashew butter, or almond butter will work just as well. Just keep in mind that the final flavor profile will change slightly with a different butter. Peanut butter, however, may be a little overpowering in this salad.
• Fresh Lemon Juice
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Fresh Garlic
• Water
• Almonds – We toasted slivered almonds for this salad but feel free to replace them with sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, sunflower seeds, or pine nuts. Any of these variations can be toasted as well.
• Raisins – Golden raisins add a sweet pop to this salad. Feel free to replace with any dried fruit such as regular raisins, dried cranberries, currants, chopped dates, or chopped figs.
• Fresh Herbs – We included chopped fresh mint, fresh basil, and fresh parsley.
• Kosher or Sea Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese – Pecorino Romano is another cheese option.

1. Roast sliced zucchini with sliced onions and some olive oil. This step can be prepared in advance.
2. Mix the dressing by combining nut butter, the remaining olive oil, freshly minced garlic, freshly squeezed lemon juice and water. This step can also be prepared in advance.
3. Cook the pasta to just shy of al dente and drain.
4. Mix hot drained pasta with cooked zucchini and onion, raisins, toasted slivered almonds and dressing.
5. Stir in grated Parmesan, freshly chopped herbs, and additional salt and pepper as needed.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

• Can I make Roasted Zucchini and Pasta Salad ahead of time?  Yes – you can make various components of the salad ahead of time, then mix together after cooking the pasta. Or – prep the entire salad and chill, then take out of the refrigerator ahead of time to serve at room temperature or gently warm through before serving.
• How do I store leftovers?   Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
• How do I reheat this salad? We found that the microwave was best to warm the salad. Use a low heat setting and stir frequently to avoid overheating.
• Can I freeze this salad?  No, this will not freeze well.

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