Seven Layer Pasta Salad

5 from 2 votes

This Seven Layer Pasta Salad is a summer classic. It has seven layers of tender pasta, fresh vegetables and hard boiled eggs tossed in a creamy and tangy buttermilk mustard dressing. Make it in 30 minutes for easy lunches throughout the week or serve it for your next summer picnic or BBQ alongside Aguas Frescas and a Classic Cherry Pie.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Author: Adrianna Adarme

Cost: $9

Equipment

1 medium bowl
1 Whisk
1 Large pot to boil the pasta
1 Large glass serving bowl

Ingredients

Dressing:

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced parsley
2 green onions
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Seven-Layer Pasta Salad:

Kosher 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.

Notes

Tips and Tricks

Avoid soggy pasta salad. The BEST part about this recipe is that you can prep it up to one day before, wrap it in plastic and stick it in the fridge. The individual layers keep everything fresh and nothing will get soggy. Toss it together before serving.
Avoid the pasta from sticking. After it’s done cooking, rinse it with water and toss it with a teaspoon of olive oil. This will help it from sticking.
Add the dressing to the bottom of the bowl. This way it doesn’t make everything soggy. We can toss it in its dressing just before serving.

Nutrition