Vegan Caesar Pasta Salad! This briny, comforting pasta salad is sure to steal the show at your next gathering.

This quick and easy Vegan Caesar Pasta Salad is a taste bud tingling good time and great to make for potlucks and parties. It’s packed with tender pasta, sweet red bell peppers, zesty green onions all coated in a healthy, oil-free Caesar dressing.  Serve it as a healthy appetizer, side dish, or light meal; you won’t believe how tasty it is.

Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi there, Ameera here!

This salad is so easy to make and completely delicious.  If you love briny Caesar dressing flavors, then you will totally fall in love with this yummy pasta salad.  I could have eaten the whole bowl all by myself.

You gotta give this one a try!

Tips for Success:

• Flavor Profile: This Caesar pasta salad is for Caesar dressing lovers.  The macaroni salad is creamy, briny, tangy, and utterly delicious.
• Caper Brine: Caper brine is simply the liquid from the jar of capers.
• Hummus: We used our hummus recipe – The Best Hummus.  Please feel free to use your favorite hummus recipe or store-bought hummus.
• Thickness of the Caesar Dressing: Start on the low end of water (1 Tablespoon).  The amount of liquids needed is largely dependent upon the hummus used.  Some hummus are thicker than others and you may need more water or brine to thin it out.  Keep in mind that the dressing will also thicken up in the fridge.
• Tanginess/Briny: As you know Caesar dressing is typically zesty and briny.  This pasta salad has delicious tang to it.  If you are not a fan of tanginess, then you can increase the maple syrup to off-set the tanginess.  Keep in mind that once you dress the pasta salad, the tanginess significantly decreases as the dressing has to cover all the pasta and salad ingredients.  Don’t make the decision about tanginess before dressing the salad. You can easily add some additional maple syrup on top and stir it into the pasta salad.
• Amount of Macaroni: If you like a really creamy macaroni salad, then use about 5 cups of cooked elbow macaroni.  Use 6 cups of cooked macaroni for moderate dressing pasta coverage ratio. What we like to do is cook the full amount of pasta (12 oz.), but when we start to pull together the macaroni salad, we put only half of the cooked amount in the bowl with the other ingredients and build from there, adding small amounts of cooked pasta at a time, stirring until we reach the desired level of creaminess.  If we have left over cooked pasta (that doesn’t go in the Caesar pasta salad), we save that for later in the week to add to our regular lettuce salads.
• Vegan Parmesan Cheese: We added 2 Tablespoons of our Vegan Parmesan Cheese at the end, then mixed it in.  It adds great dimension and flavor. It is an optional ingredient.
• Celery Seed: Celery seed adds great flavor to this salad.  If you are a fan of celery seed, add it.  If you are not a fan or not sure, then do not add it.
• Refrigerated Pasta Salad: As you know since we WFPBers do not use oil, pasta salads tend to seize up once refrigerated.  In order to get that creaminess back, simply drizzle about 1 teaspoon of water over top of the pasta salad and stir.  Continue to add 1 teaspoon of water and stirring until the pasta salad is restored to creaminess.  If you want to retain the tang, use vinegar or caper brine.

Leftovers and Freezing:

Leftovers will generally keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.  Store in a covered container.

This dish cannot be frozen.

Pantry Products Used:

• Dijon Mustard: We used Koops Dijon Mustard.  Feel free to use your favorite Dijon mustard.
• Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.   

Kitchen Products Used:

• Stock pot to cook the macaroni

If you try this delicious pasta salad, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.

Vegan Caesar Pasta Salad

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 10 Minutes
• Cook Time: 8-10 Minutes
• Total Time: 18 Minutes
• Yield: 8 Cups 1x
• Category: Salad
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

This quick and easy Vegan Caesar Pasta Salad is a taste bud tingling good time and great to make for potlucks and parties.

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Ingredients

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Base Salad Ingredients:

• 10 to 12 oz. elbow macaroni *
• ½ to ¾ cup sliced green onions
• 1 cup finely chopped red bell peppers

Caesar Dressing Ingredients:

• 1 cup hummus *
• ¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon minced capers
• 2 Tablespoons caper brine (+/-) *
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard *
• 2 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
• 1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup (+/-)
• 2 Tablespoon water (+/-) *
• 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper (+/-)

Optional Salad Add-ins Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoon Vegan Parmesan Cheese *
• ¼ teaspoon celery seeds *
• Sliced black olives

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Instructions

1. Cook the elbow macaroni according to package directions, when the pasta is done, drain and rinse in cold water until the pasta is cold. Shake well to remove any excess water and allow to drain.  Set aside.
2. Make the dressing by placing all the Caesar Dressing Ingredients into a bowl, whisk well until smooth and emulsified.
3. Place all the Base Salad Ingredients into a large bowl, mix to evenly distribute the ingredients. Then pour the Caesar Dressing over the pasta and veggies.  Stir well.  If adding any Optional Add-in, add at this time, stir to incorporate. Serve and enjoy!

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Notes

*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used. 

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.   

*Servings:  8  (makes 7 ½ to 8 cups)

*Nutrition Information: Using a hummus that has a smaller amount of tahini or no tahini at all will reduce the fat content.

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