This amazingly delicious high-protein pasta salad is delicious, healthy, and vegan! Paired with a creamy Italian dressing, this recipe only requires a handful of simple ingredients and is ready in 15 minutes. This low-calorie pasta salad is great as a light meal or side dish.

Unlike traditional ones, this vegan pasta salad is packed full of plant-based protein! Thanks to the chickpea pasta, kidney beans, and edamame, this recipe comes out to more than 20g of protein per serving.
This protein pasta salad is also a great dish to be taken to potlucks and picnics and will be enjoyed by both vegans and omnivores.
💚Why you will love this recipe
- Creamy, filling, and incredibly delicious
- Contains more than 20g of protein per serving, and is less than 400 calories
- Super easy to throw together and is ready in 15 minutes
- Transportable, making it the perfect lunchbox meal
🥗What you will need
For the salad
For Italian dressing
📓Notes / substitutions
- Chickpea pasta - Can be substituted with other high protein pasta like lentil or pulse pasta. Regular ones can also be used, but do bear in mind that the protein content will be significantly lower.
- Red kidney beans - Other beans like cooked chickpeas, navy beans or pinto beans can be used.
- Vegetables - Feel free to use any veggies you have on hand. Some that will work well in this protein pasta salad include bell peppers of any color, diced cucumber, shredded cabbage, frozen peas, and corn kernels.
- Cashews - Can be substituted with sunflower seeds to make this recipe nut-free.
- White wine vinegar - You could use red wine vinegar or lemon juice in place.
🔪How to make
Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. In the meantime, make Italian dressing by combining all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
In a large salad bowl, place all ingredients and pour in the dressing. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined. Give it a taste and add more seasonings, if needed.
Enjoy immediately, or let your low-calorie pasta salad chill in the fridge before serving.
✔Helpful tips
- Cook pasta until Al dente - You want your pasta to be cooked but not mushy! Bite into your pasta a minute or two before the suggested cook time. The pasta should be tender but still have some chew to it.
- Chilling it - If you have some time on hand, let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. This allows time for ingredients to marinade and soak up the delicious sauce.
- Give the salad a toss before serving - This helps redistribute the dressing, especially if your salad had been sitting in the fridge for hours or days.
- This recipe is usually served cold, but you can also serve it at room temperature!
- Store leftover high-protein pasta salad in an airtight container, and you can refrigerate it for 3-4 days.
🧀Other variations/add-ins
- Dressing - Can be substituted with an oil-based vegan Italian dressing, vegan mayo, or even teriyaki sauce for an Asian spin. For a quicker version, feel free to use your favorite store-bought dressing in place.
- Meat substitutes - Chop up some seitan, vegan Italian sausage, or even seitan bacon to further increase the protein content of this salad.
- Vegan cheese - Top it with some vegan feta or vegan parmesan to boost the umami flavors of this dish.
- Toppings - Love topping with some toasted pumpkin seeds, roasted black beans, or roasted lentils to give this salad some crunch. Or, you could also add in some croutons.
- Fruits - If you like that sweet and savory combo, toss in some raisins or other chopped dried fruits to this vegan protein pasta salad.
🍢How to serve
Although this low-calorie pasta salad works great as a lighter stand-alone dish, you can serve is with other heartier dishes -
- Burgers - You could serve it with a classic black bean burger or this extra meaty TVP burger.
- Sandwiches - Pair this salad with any sandwiches of your liking! You could do vegan BLT, vegan egg sandwich, or a classic hummus veggie wrap.
- Vegan meat substitutes - Be it seitan ribs, vegan roast beef, or a simple seitan chicken breast.
- Other side dishes - Alternatively, you could treat this protein pasta salad as a main dish and serve it with sides like baked beans, corn on the cob, roasted vegetables, or even a refreshing fresh tomato salsa.
❔Commonly asked questions
No, it is not necessary to rinse your cooked pasta for pasta salads. The starchy layer on the surface of cooked pasta helps sauces and dressings adhere better to the noodles, so there is no point in rinsing it off!
Although the pasta might look a little sticky after sitting for a while, it will loosen up immediately after the dressing is added.
As we will be using chickpea pasta instead of regular wheat-based pasta in this recipe, this pasta salad is naturally gluten-free and can be enjoyed by those who are intolerant to gluten.
A serving of this protein pasta salad contains about 22g of protein, while the regular version usually only contains about 10g.
🍽More salad recipes
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📖 Recipe
Protein Pasta Salad (low-calorie, vegan)
Equipment
Ingredients
For the salad
- 2 cups chickpea pasta **
- 2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
- 1 medium yellow bell pepper diced
- 1 15 oz can red kidney beans (or 1 ½ cups cooked)***
- 1 cup frozen shelled edamame
- 12 cherry / grape tomatoes halved
- salt and pepper to taste
For the dressing
- ½ cup raw cashews preferably presoaked overnight*
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar/lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoon maple syrup or another liquid sweetener
- 2 teaspoon Italian seasonings
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions.
- In the meantime, make Italian dressing by combining all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Bring another pan of water to a boil, and blanch edamame for 1-2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- In a large salad bowl, place in all ingredients and pour in dressing. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined. Give it a taste and add more seasonings, if needed.
- Enjoy immediately, or let it chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- Cook pasta until Al dente - You want your pasta to be cooked but not mushy! Bite into your pasta a minute or two before the suggested cook time. The pasta should be tender but still have some chew to it.
- Chilling it - If you have some time on hand, let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. This allows time for ingredients to marinade and soak up the delicious sauce.
- Give the salad a toss before serving - This helps redistribute the dressing, especially if your salad had been sitting in the fridge for hours or days.
- Store leftover high-protein pasta salad in an airtight container, and you can refrigerate it for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition info calculated is just a rough estimate and is provided as a courtesy. Bear in mind that value will vary based on variables like specific brand or type of product used. To obtain the most accurate representation, it is highly recommended that you calculate it on your own with the actual amount and type of ingredient used.
Joyce A Stevens
Question: The recipe doesn't state whether to rinse the red kidney beans. Should they be rinsed? Thank you.
Jim Mee Sha
Yes, you will need to rinse the beans.😁
Paige Bordier
Hi! Just wondering what store bought alternative dressing you might suggest? With the cashew milk, seems it’s not like a standard Italian dressing which I love but looking for a store bought creamy alternative that might be comprae 🙂
Meesha
Vegan ranch dressing or vegan caesar dressing will work in this recipe if you are looking for a creamy dressing.😉
Lisa
What’s the nutrition information measurements. 23g protein per…?
Meesha
It is 23g of protein per serving! This recipe makes 4 servings. 😊
Holly Rook
This is so delicious. The dressing is so tasty and the recipe makes enough to thoroughly coat the pasta salad which I love. I doubled the recipe and added olives and sun-dried tomatoes but otherwise made as is. This recipe is going to be my new go-to for pasta salad!
Meesha
I am super happy to hear that! Thanks for leaving this kind comment.😁
Maryam
Looks delicious. But I am curious, what is the actual serving size? You have provided the nutritional information but I don’t see the serving size for it.
Meesha
A serving is about 1/6 of the whole batch. 😊
Callie
I really like this recipe, thanks for sharing! Quick question - in the ingredients is it 2c of cooked or uncooked pasta?
Meesha
It is 2 cups of uncooked pasta.😁