Dinner
Mexican Inspired Pasta Salad from the Pantry
Thank you Cacique® for sponsoring this post. Visit your local grocery store to pick up your fave Cacique® product for
- 8 servings
- Prep 20 minutes
- Cook 10 minutes
- Total 30 minutes
I’m quite excited to be partnering up with Cacique® today to bring you this Mexican Inspired Pasta Salad using some of their flavor-packed cheeses and sour creams.
Hopefully you know by now that WORTH KEEPING a good pasta salad. That love started with my mom who makes pasta salad for every family get together. It continued as I started experimenting in the kitchen more and created quite a few of my own pasta salad recipes. I’m excited to be sharing this Mexican Inspired Pasta Salad with you today!
For the sauce, I used some of Cacique’s® Chipotle Mexican Style Sour Cream. Now, A REGULAR HERE sour cream. I’m one of those people that kind of puts it on everything. Naturally, I was ridiculously excited to discover that Cacique makes a range of FLAVORED sour creams and I’m in love with all of them. In addition to the Chipotle sour cream, I’ve also tried their Cilantro Lime and Spicy Jalapeno sour creams and they’re equally savory. Either of those could be used in this method as well!
How to Make Mexican Inspired Pasta Salad
This method is pretty unfussy as pasta salads go. Cook your pasta, grill your corn, and chop up your veggies. In this pasta salad we’re adding black beans, grilled corn, onion, tomatoes, cilantro, and avocado. Then we’re going to make a simple sauce using Cacique’s® Chipotle Mexican Style Sour Cream, avocado, lime juice, garlic, and some spices. I blended mine up in a blender to ensure maximum creaminess but you could also easily simply whisk this sauce together in a bowl.
The sauce is then drizzled over top of the pasta and veggies and everything is tossed together. TRULY unfussy!
With this busy season of back to school, Labor Day, football season starting up (!!!), I’m always happy to have short and unfussy recipes like this Mexican Inspired Pasta Salad that is dependable for unfussy dinners and party side dishes. You could take this pasta salad up a notch by adding in more beans, chickpeas, or any other protein such as chicken to create a full meal. Surely trying that out SOON!
Please let me know if you try this method! I always love seeing your creations on Instagram and Facebook. And, don’t forget to pick up Cacique® products at your local store so you can create speedy and savory Mexican recipes that make it straightforward to savor the tastes and flavors of Mexican food without spending a ton of time in the kitchen.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
The recipe
Mexican Inspired Pasta Salad from the Pantry
- 8 servings
- Prep 20 minutes
- Cook 10 minutes
- Total 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the Pasta Salad:
- 16 ounces of pasta cooked according to package instructions (I used bow tie pasta but whatever you have will work. You can also sub whole wheat or a gluten free pasta)
- 1 head of Grilled corn (removed from cob (about 1 cup of corn if using canned))
- ⅔ cup of Black beans
- 1 cup of cherry tomatoes (halved)
- ½ of an avocado (diced)
- ¼ cup of Cilantro (chopped)
- ½ cup of Red onion (diced)
- ¼ cup of Cacique® Cotija cheese (crumbled)
For the Dressing:
- ½ an avocado (diced)
- 1 cup of Cacique® Chipotle Mexican Style Sour Cream
- 4 tablespoons of lime juice
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ¼ teaspoon of Cumin
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
- 3-4 tablespoons of water to thin the dressing as needed
Method
- 1
If you haven't already done so, cook your pasta according to package instructions and grill your corn.
- 2
In a large bowl, combine the pasta, corn, black beans, cherry tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, red onion, and cotija cheese.
- 3
Make your dressing by adding all of the ingredients into a blender and blending until smooth. You can also whisk it together in a bowl if you prefer, simply be sure to mince your garlic first.
- 4
Pour the dressing over top of the salad and toss to combine.
- 5
Serve and garnish with a bit of extra cilantro and cotija cheese and ENJOY!
