This pesto pasta salad features homemade kale pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese, and cherry tomatoes. It’s not only easy to make, but it’s bursting with flavor, feeds a crowd, and keeps for days in the refrigerator. It’s a great make ahead recipe—the flavor is best on day 2 or 3!
Today’s pasta salad takes advantage of spring and summer’s bounty with fresh basil and lots of cherry tomatoes. (By the way, if you love these flavors—you will FLIP for this creamy pesto shrimp recipe.) We love adding a little crunch with pine nuts, but chopped walnuts would be equally as fabulous especially since walnuts are in the pesto itself. We can’t praise this recipe enough—it’s our summer anthem in the form of food.
Why You’ll Love This Pesto Pasta Salad
- Easy to make
- We use homemade kale pesto
- Lots of texture in every bite
- Bright and colorful
- Fresh and flavorful
- Feeds a crowd
- Convenient make-ahead recipe, just like creamy chicken pasta salad
Kale Pesto
For today’s pesto pasta salad, we’re using homemade kale pesto. It’s just like homemade pesto, but instead of basil we use kale. This kale pesto is extremely versatile—it’s fantastic on grilled meats and fish, warm pasta, in sandwiches, as a dip, and especially on cold pasta salads. You can even use it in place of regular pesto on pesto pizza or in this pesto pull-apart bread.
It’s also bursting with flavor thanks to bright lemon juice and garlic. We’ll also add parmesan cheese, walnuts, a little basil, olive oil, and salt. It tastes much better than store-bought—there is nothing like fresh pesto and you know what? It’s so much easier to make than you think. Just a few pulses in your food processor or blender does the trick.
Basil goes into the pasta salad itself, so if you want to simply use regular basil pesto instead of kale pesto, go for it.
If you enjoy using kale here, you’ll also enjoy its addition to my creamy butternut squash mac and cheese and maple-roasted squash kale salad.
Other Ingredients You Need For Pesto Pasta Salad
In addition to homemade kale pesto, you need 5 more ingredients:
- Pasta: We like to use elbow pasta so the pesto can really seep into the noodles.
- Basil: Fresh basil leaves add lots of flavor.
- Cherry Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes add color and texture.
- Mozzarella: We like to use cubed mozzarella cheese, but shredded cheese or mozzarella balls would also work.
- Pine Nuts: Pine nuts add a delicious crunch! You could also use chopped walnuts since walnuts are in the pesto itself.
What To Serve with Pesto Pasta Salad
- Corn on the cob
- Corn fritters
- Honey chipotle salmon
- Grilled chicken
- Black bean burgers
For even more inspiration here are 15+ summer dinner ideas!
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Kale Pesto Mozzarella Pasta Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings
- Category: Pasta Salad
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This kale pesto mozzarella pasta salad is not only easy to make, but it’s bursting with flavor, feeds a crowd, and keeps for days in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Kale Pesto
- 2 cups chopped kale
- 1 cup fresh basil, plus more for garnish
- 1/2 cup (65g) chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup (120ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 2/3 cup (50g) freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- juice of 1 lemon (2 Tbsp)
- 1/4 teaspoon – 1/2 teaspoon salt
Pasta Salad
- 1 pound dry pasta (elbow, bow tie, rotini, etc)
- handful fresh basil
- 2 cups (300g) halved cherry tomatoes
- 6 ounces mozzarella, cubed (or shredded or mozzarella balls)
- 3/4 cup (105g) pine nuts (or chopped walnuts)
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and cool for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the pesto. Combine kale, basil and walnuts in a food processor. Pulse until greens and nuts are finely chopped. Scrape down the sides, then add olive oil, parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, and salt. Start with 1/4 teaspoon and add more to taste. Run the processor until everything is blended together. Set aside.
- Stir the remaining pasta salad ingredients in with the pasta. Toss with pesto. Add more basil and pine nuts if you wish (I like lots of basil).
- Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Tastes best on day 2 or 3, so it’s perfect to make ahead of time!
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor or Chopper | Glass Mixing Bowl
We used Barilla Veggie Rotini. That extra touch of veggies and the freshness of from scratch kale pesto helped made this feel like a not-terribly-unhealthy pasta salad. It was indulgent without being too heavy. Definitely a keeper!
I can’t use pine nuts because the person is allergic to tree nuts. Any other suggestions?
For the pesto, can I used ground almonds instead of walnuts?
That should work, Ann!
Love the kale pesto! I just made this and ate a bunch of spoonfuls. Now I’m letting it sit in the fridge but I suspect I’ll be eating it all day. Not sure it will make it to day three.
I added twice as much mozzarella. Don’t tell anyone…
Easy lunch to keep in the refrigerator all week while we’re in self- during this troubling time. It’s delicious as written. Thank you for providing your readers with the best recipes, SAlly. Dessert AND dinner recipes the whole fam loves.
Fantastic! I just had WLS and made and adjusted a few ingredients.
This was delicious!!! Added a few more tomatoes and used 8oz of fresh mozzarella, and it was perfect. I forgot to get good Parmesan and risked using the kraft grated kind we had in the fridge already and was STILL blown away by the flavor of the pesto. Great recipe – will definitely make again! (Next time, will probably get good Parmesan even though it was fine with the cheap stuff, and probably toss in some roasted broccoli at the end to increase the veggie content; but again, perfect as written.) Thanks for posting this recipe!
I’ve made this twice now and it is, hands-down, my favorite pasta salad recipe! I actually don’t care for traditional pasta salad, so this is my new go-to for parties.
Hi ive just made the pesto and it looks amazing but tastes extremely bitter, it mightve been the garlic i thought three cloves were excessive .. What should i do?
This is a really old comment but I thought I’d reply anyways in case anyone else had the same problem. I’ve made it twice now, and the first time mine was a little bitter and spicy (but still good!), and dried out pretty quickly. Second time I made this I fixed these by using baby kale (to cut down on the bitterness), 1 large clove of garlic (the first time I used 3 as well, but they were big cloves and I think that was the problem), a little extra lemon and a teeny extra salt. Vwalla!
Could I use pine nuts instead of walnuts for the pesto? How much would I need to use?
same amount– enjoy!
This looks amazing! Do you think I’d be able to swap out the kale for spinach? Thanks!
Definitely! Same amount.
This looks amazing!! Regarding the pesto sauce, about how much would you say this recipe makes? And how long would you say the sauce would keep on its own in the fridge? Thanks Sally!
I’d say about a cup– and I’ve had someone the fridge for a week. Still great!
What kind of kale did you use for the pesto? I’m partial toward dinosaur kale but maybe curly would blend better?
I used curly– but honestly, dinosaur would be fine
Do you think there’s anything one can sub for the pine nuts in the actual salad? I’m not a fan. Would more walnuts, like from the pesto, work? Looks delicious either way. Can’t wait to try this one 🙂
walnuts!