Seven Layer Pasta Salad

I love a regular, classic salad. Yes, I do.

But sometimes I like to choose fun. And for me, that means adding pasta into the mix. Pasta salad is the best kind of salad. We all know this.

I also love the very American seven-layer salads. They look like traditional Americana dishes to me. Something I never grew up with. My mom didn’t make American foods like this, which obviously made me even more curious.

For this post, I teamed up with French’s. Their Classic Yellow Mustard is a summer (and beyond) staple that adds a pop of flavor into all kinds of summer dishes. I usually make dressings with Dijon mustard but this is proof that yellow mustard also has its place in dressings. This one is a creamy herbed dressing that can be used instead of ranch.

I like my pasta salads to have texture, texture and more texture. The radishes and sugar snap peas add lovely texture. It makes it super refreshing and on the lighter side, which might be surprising considering the fact that it’s a straight-up pasta salad.

My favorite part of this salad are all the layers. They make me happy to look at it. I add the dressing to the bottom of the bowl so it doesn’t get all soggy. This can even be made the day ahead and kept in the fridge in this layered form and then quickly tossed together before serving.

It’s cool like that. Serve this salad at your next summer gathering or on the 4th of July.

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Print Recipe

Seven Layer Pasta Salad

Author: Adrianna Adarme

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Serving Size: 10

Ingredients

Dressing: 

• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons minced parsley
• 2 green onions
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon French’s Classic Yellow Mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Seven-Layer Pasta Salad:

• Salt
• 1 pound pasta of choice
• 2 pint of cherry tomatoes halved 
• 1 bunch of radishes sliced and cut into julienned 
• 2 cups chopped sugar snap peas
• 2 handfuls arugula
• 4 large eggs boiled, cut into quarters

Instructions

To Make the Dressing: 

• To a medium bowl, add the buttermilk, mayonnaise, parsley, green onions, salt, mustard, pepper and garlic powder. Whisk until smooth. Give it a taste and adjust the salt to taste. 

To Make the Seven-Layered Pasta Salad:

• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Pour in the pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. I usually wouldn’t rinse pasta but we’re making pasta salad and we don’t want the pasta to overcook. Drizzle the pasta with about 2 teaspoons of olive oil and give it a good mix. You can do this all in the colander; we’re doing this so the pasta doesn’t stick. 
• To a glass bowl—we gotta see the layers!—add the dressing. Top it with the pasta. Don’t be shy to arrange it into one even layer. Repeat with the cherry tomatoes, radishes, snap peas and arugula. Top with boiled egg quarters. This is a great make-ahead salad. 
• Right when you’re ready to serve the salad, toss it all together and divide amongst bowls. 

Nutrition

Serving: 10g

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(This post is sponsored by French’s. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep A Cozy Kitchen cozy.)