Classic Pasta Salad With Mozzarella, Avocado and Basil

By Melissa Clark

Published June 11, 2019

  • Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
25 minutes, plus cooling
Rating
4(1,773)
Comments
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With its colorful jumble of tomatoes, avocado, olives, mozzarella and cucumber, this has everything you’ve ever wanted in a pasta salad. But feel free to customize the ingredients to suit your own tastes (see Tip), and to add lemon and salt to the dressing to taste. As long as you don’t overcook the pasta, and add it while still hot to the dressing, you really can’t go wrong. Make this a few hours ahead so the flavors have a chance to meld, but be sure not to add the avocado until just before serving.

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings

FOR THE DRESSING

  • 3 tablespoons minced shallot or red onion

  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste

  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste

  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper

  • ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

FOR THE SALAD

  • Fine sea salt, as needed

  • 1 pound short pasta, such as campanelle, fusilli or farfalle

  • 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and diced

  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

  • ½ cup sliced cucumber

  • 1 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into bite-size cubes

  • ¼ cup shaved Parmesan

  • ¼ cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 to 10 servings)

39 grams carbs; 38 milligrams cholesterol; 425 calories; 11 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 22 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 399 milligrams sodium; 18 grams protein; 3 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    To prepare the dressing, in a large bowl, whisk together shallot, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in oil. Taste and add more salt and-or lemon juice if needed.

  2. Step 2

    Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until it is just al dente, usually a minute less than the package instructions. Drain well. While still warm, add the pasta to the bowl with the dressing and toss well. Let pasta cool, soaking up the dressing.

  3. Step 3

    In a medium bowl, gently toss together avocado, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

  4. Step 4

    Just before serving, add tomato, cucumber, mozzarella and Parmesan to the bowl with the pasta and toss well. Gently fold in avocado and basil.

  5. Step 5

    Drizzle with olive oil, cracked black pepper and salt to taste before serving.

Tip

  • Adapt this dish to your liking, adding capers, sliced olives, diced salami, crumbled bacon, marinated artichokes, pickled pepperoncini, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, drained canned or jarred tuna, or blanched string beans.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
1,773 user ratings
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Comments

wkmtca

people may give me the stink eye for this, but the best pasta salad dressing is... wishbone robusto italian. truly tasty.

Carol

The dressing will benefit greatly with the addition of parsley, and fresh lemon thyme, minced garlic, more balsamic, and lemon zest. I also add some of my favorite jarred marinara gravy to take the sharp edge off the acids in the dressing. Dijon can also be used. This is a poor take-off on a recipe that appeared in Bon Appetite a thousand years ago (seems like!).

Gretchen

Very bland dressing!

Mark Mitchell

The dressing for this pasta salad is scant in both taste and volume, especially for 1 lb. of pasta. Church up the dressing (a lot) or just prepare your favorite vinaigrette, almost two cups worth. Why? because the dressing and veggie ingredients are woefully insufficient for 1 lb. of pasta. It's all pasta. Cut back on the pasta (½) or beef up the veggies. As my warm pasta was already cooked and tossed in dressing I added more cucumber, tomatoes, sun-fried tomatoes and artichoke hearts.

kayvee

Yep, the dressing needed a kick, so I added fresh garlic, fresh thyme, a dollop of Dijon and half a jar of capers and their brine. Might just use the avocado as a garnish if I make it again, it gets a little too mushy in the leftovers.

alison

I agree that the dressing is bland and there’s enough of it. So, I doubled the dressing recipe and added about a tbsp of chopped sundried tomatoes and 2 cloves of garlic (one chopped and one put through a garlic press. I also added Kalamatan olives to the salad. These adjustments and fresh produce from the farmer’s market made the salad delicious!

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