Pasta Salad w/ Spinach, Tomato, & Avocado
This St. Patrick's Day Spinach Pasta Salad consists of naturally green Spinach Greek Yogurt Sauce, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocados. The sauce is made up of spinach, Greek yogurt, dill pickles, shallots, garlic, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. All combined together for a fun holiday dish that pairs well with a side of Guinness on an almost Spring day.
Equipment
- Large Pot
- Stovetop
- Food Processor (optional)
Ingredients
Greek Yogurt Sauce
- 1/2 lbs. spinach puréed
- 1 c. dill pickles minced
- 1/4 shallot minced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 serranos minced
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 c. Greek yogurt
- dash salt
- dash pepper
Pasta Salad
- 1/2 lbs. pasta (I used fusilli)
- 1 lbs. mini potatoes diced
- 1 cucumber diced
- 10 oz. cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 c. Greek yogurt sauce
- 1 avocado diced
Instructions
Greek Yogurt Sauce
- This can be made several hours or days beforehand. You also will only need about half of it if you want to cut the recipe down. I recommend chilling the sauce for at least an hour to let the flavors meld together. Although this is entirely optional! You can absolutely make everything at once and it will still turn out.The entire dish is also a good recipe to make a day or two ahead of time. Just don't add the tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado until you're ready to serve. Everything else can be pre-made, though!
- Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and pulse until puréed completely.Alternatively, you can mince all of the ingredients by hand. This is really a matter of personal preference. I sometimes prefer a chunkier sauce and did end up cutting up some of the produce here by hand. Although some people prefer a smoother consistency and it certainly saves time to toss everything into the food processor! If it weren't a lazy St. Patrick's Day afternoon? I likely would have gone the entirely puréed route.
- Chill in the refrigerator.
Cook Pasta
- Add about 4 inches of water to a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Cook pasta according to the manufacturer's instructions. This typically entails boiling for about 8-12 minutes, or until al dente.
- Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator.
Cook Potatoes
- Return the pot to a boil.You can drain the pasta water and start again or strain out the pasta and re-use the same water. It's all going into the same dish!
- Dice the potatoes into 1/4 inch pieces.
- Boil for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. You should be able to stick a fork in them and have it break in two pieces. They're not quite cooked if the fork comes out cleanly. And they're overdone if it breaks apart completely, instead of just in half.
- Remove from heat, drain, and chill in the refrigerator.
Pasta Salad
- Once all of the ingredients have chilled, combine everything together in a large bowl and serve.It can help to mix all of the other ingredients well and then gently add in the avocado. This will prevent the soft avocado from disintegrating into the salad!
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- For a gluten-free Potato Salad recipe, omit the pasta and double the amount of potatoes. I almost did make a potato salad today, instead of pasta salad. Although I didn't quite have enough potatoes to make that work! And both are absolutely delicious.
- Feta is also a great cheese to add to this kind of salad. I would mix it in on top with the avocado. You can add cheese earlier in the process and it will taste the same. Although I like to be able to see the feta and it does tend to get lost in the mix!
- I also have a more in-depth article on how to make Green Tartar Sauce w/ Greek Yogurt & Spinach. This takes about 15 minutes to toss together and is a great alternative for Mayonnaise-free tartar sauce or even just a spinach dip for any occasion.