Vegan Cajun Pasta Salad! Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or just love flavorful salads, this dish promises to deliver a delightful explosion of taste in every forkful.
Looking for a vibrant, plant-based dish that’s bursting with bold Cajun flavors? Look no further than this irresistible Vegan Cajun Pasta Salad! Featuring perfectly tender pasta tossed with crisp green onions, crunchy green and red bell peppers, all coated in a tangy, creamy Cajun dressing, this salad is a true crowd-pleaser. Its smoky, spicy notes and fresh veggie crunch make it an ideal choice for picnics, potlucks, or a quick and satisfying weeknight dinner.
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
Seriously, this pasta salad is a game-changer! The combination of spicy Cajun seasoning, creamy dressing, and fresh, colorful veggies makes it super addictive. Trust me, once you try this recipe, it’ll become a go-to for quick lunches, potlucks, or whenever you want a hearty, flavorful meal.
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: This Vegan Cajun Pasta Salad is full of Cajun flavors. Tender pasta, green onions, green and red bell peppers are coated in a deliciously tangy, creamy Cajun dressing. Perfect for picnics, potlucks, and every day!
- Amount of Pasta Salad: This recipe makes a smaller batch of pasta salad (6 cups) compared to most pasta salad recipes (8 + cups).
- Cajun Dressing: Make sure to scrape down the high-speed blender to get all that Cajun dressing goodness for the pasta salad.
- Regular Chili Powder: Feel free to use your favorite chili powder, just be sure to select a mild one and not one that has a lot of heat to it.
- Cashew Substitutions: You can try the typical substitutions like silken tofu, white beans, or other nuts or seeds with the understanding that the flavor and texture will be impacted accordingly. We have not tested any substitutions.
- Dried Crushed Thyme Leaves: If you can’t find dried crushed thyme leaves, you can use ground thyme but use half the amount.
- Pure Maple Syrup: The sweetness of this dish is totally within your control. Start on the low-end and increase as you feel necessary.
- Spices/Herbs/Seasonings: We suggest tasting the dressing three times before ramping up any spices or herbs. The Cajun spices tend to build on the palate, tasting three times will help prevent over or under seasoning the dressing.
- Pasta: We used a farfalle pasta. Feel free to use your favorite short-cut pasta like elbows, small shells, etc.
- Amount of Pasta: We used 4 cups of cooked pasta which is just shy of 8 oz. dry. We suggest, starting with 3 cups of cooked pasta, reviewing the dressing to pasta ratio, then adding in the last cup a little at a time to achieve the perfect dressing to pasta ratio.
- Oil-Free Pasta Salads: Oil-free Pasta Salads tend to really drink up the dressing simply because oil-based pasta salads use oil to coat the pasta creating a barrier where the oil helps prevent the dressing from being overly absorbed by the dressing. With oil-free pasta salads, the dressing is absorbed into the cooked pasta while in the refrigerator. If presenting for guests, picnics, or potlucks, we suggest not dressing the pasta salad until right before serving.
- The Day Before or Earlier in the Day:
- Cook, rinse, and drain the pasta, refrigerate.
- Make the dressing refrigerate.
- Chop, slice, dice each of the Base Ingredients and store individually in the refrigerator.
- Right before Serving:
- Place the cooked and refrigerated pasta in a colander and rinse with cold water. Use your fingers to gently separate the pasta. Continue rinsing until all the pasta loosened (it tends to stick together). Then drain well to remove any excess water.
- Place all the Base Ingredients into a large bowl, mix well.
- Stir the dressing, if too thick add a tablespoon of water (or vinegar) and stir well. Evaluate the thickness, add a little more, if needed.
- Pour the dressing over the Base Ingredients, mix thoroughly, then serve in a serving bowl.
- The Day Before or Earlier in the Day:
- Gluten Free Pastas in Pasta Salads: If using a gluten free pasta, rinse thoroughly and drain well. Serve immediately. Gluten free pasta tends to seize up in the refrigerator and can become stiff and almost crunchy. We suggest serving immediately after making if using a gluten free pasta for the best results.
- Refrigerated Pasta Salad: Remove from the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to wake up and to allow the dressing to relax.
- Table Salt: If using table salt, you should use less table salt than the amount listed in the ingredients as sea salt crystals are larger than table salt crystals. Since table salt crystals are very fine, less table salt is required to season a dish. We would suggest starting with about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of sea salt listed. You can always add more salt but cannot take it away. We recommend using sea salt as it is less refined than table salt.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered air-tight container.
As with most pasta salads, this pasta salad does not freeze well.
Pantry Products:
- Hot Sauce: We used Frank’s RedHot Original Hot Sauce.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Equipment:
- Large pot (for boiling pasta)
- High-Speed blender
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.
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Vegan Cajun Pasta Salad
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Total Time: 20 Minutes
- Yield: 6 Cups 1x
- Category: Salad
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Looking for a vibrant, plant-based dish that’s bursting with bold Cajun flavors? Look no further than this irresistible Vegan Cajun Pasta Salad!
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:
- ½ red bell pepper, small dice
- ½ green bell pepper, small dice
- 4 to 5 green onions, sliced (+/-)
Cajun Dressing Ingredients:
- ½ cup [raw] cashews *
- ½ cup water
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup (+/-) *
- ½ teaspoon hot sauce (+/-) *
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (+/-) *
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika (+/-) *
- ¾ teaspoon regular chili powder (+/-) *
- ½ teaspoon dried ground mustard powder (+/-)
- Pinch to 1 teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
Other Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried crushed thyme leaves *
- 4 cups cooked mini farfalle pasta (shy 8 oz. dry)
Instructions
- Place the cashews in a small bowl, pour boiling water over top and soak for 15 to 20 minutes, then drain (discard water) and set aside.
- Cook the pasta according to package directions, rinse well with cool tap water until cold, shake off excess water, set aside to drain.
- Place all the Cajun Dressing Ingredients (including the soaked and drained cashews) into a high-speed blender until smooth and emulsified, set aside. Then pulse in the oregano and dried crushed thyme leaves, just enough to gently mix in; do not blitz the dried herbs.
- Place all the Salad Ingredients and cooked pasta into a large bowl, mix well to combine, then pour the Cajun Dressing over top, mix well. Serve and enjoy! Refrigerate leftovers.
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: 4 to 6 (makes 6 cups)
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