Hi! I posted a reel of this recipe on my instagram and had to write it up into an official recipe as it’s SO delicious. Most people associate pasta salads with warm weather but I truly believe they are a year round staple and this one will be a crowd pleaser for sure.
Using cottage cheese in pasta sauces and salad dressings is a genius trick I have learned from american food blogger Kathleen Ashmore. She has great salads and is the queen of cottage cheese! It’s a healthy and nutritious base which you whizz up into a creamy flavourful dressing, a perfect match for my favourite weapon, ditalini pasta.
Ingredients
FOR THE PASTA
- Ditalini – I always call it ditalini pasta but the full name of this shape is ditalini rigate! The rigate refers to the tiny stripes. Feel free to use any short pasta shape you wish, it doesn’t have to be ditalini pasta.
- Red onion – Finely sliced and put it on top of the ditalini when cooking in the last minute so it softens.
- Fresh parsley – I was a little heavy handed because my parsley plant is going nuts but it’s such a fresh addition.
- Sundried tomatoes – I can’t get enough of these in pasta salads. I chop them up really small, so much flavour!
- Pitted olives – Whatever you prefer, black or green olives work.
- Jalapenos – I used about four slices, again, a touch of heat is always nice. Use less if you don’t love spice or more if you do!
FOR THE SAUCE
All the sauce ingredients and poppin in a blender and whizzing it up.
- Cottage cheese – such a healthy nutritious base with an amazing creamy texture after blended.
- Greek yogurt – I love blending other things through greek yogurt as a dressing base. Traditionally pasta salads have a mayonnaise base but this is much lighter.
- EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL – I used the Light & Delicate oil from Olivo, it’s SO good.
- Garlic powder – Fresh garlic can be a bit tricky in dressings like this as it sits for so long. I find using powder much more consistent.
- Salt and pepper – consistency with the seasoning is key to greek yogurt bases.
- Lemon – A squeeze of lemon juice adds the tang you need, use a good balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar in place if you don’t have lemon juice.
Expert Tips
- Undercook the pasta! I often undercook pasta when I’m going to be adding it to salad. Loads of pasta salads sit in the fridge before serving and continue to soften in the fridge so it ends up being overcooked. Undercook by 1 minute.
- Salt your pasta water – for a salad like this, where plain pasta is the star, seasoning the water is the key. It’s going to absorb some seasoning that way and amp up the flavor.
- Blend the sauce well – you can’t overblend/whisk the yogurt and cottage cheese base, it will have no flavor on its own and purely is just a vehicle for all the seasonings. Undermixing it will result in it not being as creamy.
What to serve with this ditalini pasta salad?
It will go perfectly as a side dish on a Summer night in or outside with my easy pancetta pasta bake.
For dessert you have to try my warm sticky date pudding, it really is my signature dish and cooking it for friends and family will be so impressive.
For a drink and to go with the summery theme my husband is a big fan of frozen soda, it’s a passion project!
You are probably putting your pasta salad in the fridge before serving so that gives time to make your main pasta dish for the evening.
If you want another salad option, consider my Elote Pasta Salad Recipe. Both can be prepared together and offer different, yet complementary, flavors for a summer meal.
Recipe
Healthy Creamy Ditalini Pasta Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 180 grams greek yoghurt
- 100 grams cottage cheese
- 75 ml extra virgin olive oil (I used the Extra virgin Olivo)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 – 2 teaspoons garlic powder (I used 2)
- ½ lemon juiced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of well salted water.
- Bring the water to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook until juuuuust under al dente. Probably about 5-6 mins depending on the brand. From the top of the packet instructions time, undercook by 1 minute.
- Add the sliced red onion to the boiling pasta in the last minute of cooking.
- Drain and rinse with cold water so the pasta stops cooking.
- Set aside and let all the water drain off.
- Whisk all the sauce ingredients together until smooth. It's hard to over blend the sauce so make it really well mixed, smooth and creamy with no yoghurt lumps in it. A stick blender or regular blender works well.
- Taste the sauce and adjust to your personal seasoning preference.
- Add the pasta to a bowl with the black and green olives, sun dried tomatoes and peppers.
- Pour in the sauce and mix really well.
- It can be served straight away but I think pasta salads are better after half an hour or so in the fridge as the subtly flavoured sauce needs some time for the pasta to absorb.
