You’re going to love this Mexican pasta salad dressed with Mexican-inspired Green Goddess dressing. It’s so refreshing and herbaceous, and as a bonus, there’s a vegan option as well!
You could even accent the vegan version with some easy vegan pasta chips spiced with Mexican spices. Yum! Another Vegan option is Veggie Oat Taco Mince found here.
You can find all my vegan and vegetarian recipes all in one place. Please feel free to browse!
The Herbs Have It!
When I found out that this month’s Progressive Eats theme was Herbs, I immediately thought of Green Goddess dressing.
And then I thought some more and came up with a dish I’m calling Mexican Pasta Salad with Green Goddess dressing.
Once I came up with the name, I had to figure out how to make it, and figure it out I did.
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It is most delicious–herbaceous, tangy, crunchy, creamy, a little spicy, and easily veganized as well.
It all sounds pretty great, right? We have an enormous rosemary bush growing outside in our garden, so I’m all over the lemon rosemary combinations, and as a cilantro fan, I say hooray for chimichurri sauce and cilantro vinaigrette!
Mexican Pasta Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
Once I’d landed on what sounded like a good idea to me, I went forth onto the Internet to see
a)how to make traditional Green Goddess dressing, and
b)to see if folks had made a Mexican version. Of course they had.
c)The third item I wanted to check on was if anyone had a vegan version of Green Goddess dressing. And yes, that’s out there, too.
I also remember making the supremely delicious Avocado Tomatillo Taco Truck Sauce from my friend Sandra Gutierrez’s wonderful book Latin American Street Food, so I decided to add some tomatillo into the mix as a nod to Sandra.
You may also enjoy my chipotle ranch pasta salad. Smoky and spicy, it’s a winner too!
Customize It to Make it Your Own
You could absolutely use the resulting dressing on a green salad, but wow is it great with the pasta.
Customize your add ins as you like, and if you’re not vegan, add cheese and/or meat to make this a main course pasta salad, but do make this.
I am here to tell you that this pasta salad needs to happen at your house at your earliest possible convenience.
I think you are really going to love it.
Store your dressing and/or finished pasta salad in the fridge, well-covered, for up to a week. I expect you’ll finish it all way before a week is up, though!
If you vegan, you can switch this up by adding different cooked beans or peas and other of your favorite chopped vegetables. You could even use a chick’n or other vegan meat product to up the protein content. If you are vegetarian, by all means add some cheese like cubed pepper jack or mild cotija cheese. Consider adding cubed or shredded cooked chicken or pulled pork, or seasoned ground beef.
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Mexican Pasta Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- 5 medium tomatillos peeled of their husks, chopped, and quartered
- ¼ cup lime juice from about 2 large limes
- ½ medium white onion roughly chopped
- 1 large handful cilantro about a packed cup
- 1 handful flat leaf parsley about 1/2 cup
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce* (omit for vegan)
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ripe Haas avocado cut in chunks
For the Salad
- 1 pound pasta your favorite short shape
- 1 ½ cups cooked and rinsed black beans fresh or canned
- 1 ½ cups sweet corn fresh or canned
- ¾ cup diced red onion
- ¾ cup chopped roasted red peppers fresh or canned
- ½ cup chopped green chiles roasted fresh or canned
- 1 cup vegan mayonnaise
- hot sauce to taste (preferably a green sauce), optional
Instructions
To Make the Dressing
- Place all ingredients except the avocado, salt and pepper in the jar of your high speed blender (or regular blender).
- Puree until smooth
- Add the avocado and puree until smooth.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
To Make the Salad
- Cook the pasta in salted water until just shy of done.
- While the pasta is cooking, put the black beans, corn, red onion, red pepper, and green chiles in a large bowl.
- Mix in the vegan mayonnaise.
- When the pasta is done, drain and rinse in cold water until it is warm and not hot.
- Put the pasta in on top of the rest of the salad ingredients and pour the Green Goddess dressing over all.
- Stir together, taste and season with salt, pepper, and some hot sauce if you like. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours to let the flavors blend, and enjoy.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, y’all! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and hopefully also learned a thing or two.
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Like the other commenters, when I see Green Goddess, I’m immediately transported back to my adolescence. I didn’t pour the Green Goddess of my youth on Mexican-style pasta nor did it have fish sauce as an ingredient. Still, I’m smiling at the thought of it as I read your updated recipe. Love this version.
The name really does take you back, doesn’t it?! And this version is so bright and delicious! Would be equally as good in potato salad or even as a dressing for chicken salad. I’m a big fan, and I’ll be making this again for sure! What a great theme, Laura. Thanks again for hosting! xo
You’ve breathed new life into an old favorite Jenni! Again, superlative creativity with your recipes. I love this idea so much and will be making it soon – maybe tomorrow, LOL!
Some gluten free pasta, and you are good to go! Or make potato salad–either way, I think it will be great! Long live Green Goddess! =)
What a fabulous pasta salad! And the Green Goddess is a blast from the past—but even better!!!
Right?! I always think of Green Goddess as being a 70s kind of thing, but wow–with the cilantro, it perks right up and comes into the 21st century, Liz! 🙂