Honey Lemon Pasta Salad Recipe

I know that cold salad probably doesn’t seem super fall-ish as far as food goes, but I just love the convenience of pasta salads. Just 5 minutes and the meal is ready.. for a whole week! Perfect for a lazy cook like I am. On top of that, this particular salad hits on all the high notes – sweet, salty, savory, crunchy – it has (almost) everything.

If you are tired and you don’t want to cook, but you’re starving, honey lemon pasta salad is the answer. The recepi is extremely easy and the ingredients list is available in all supermarkets.

Honey-Lemon Pasta Salad Ingredients

• 12 oz. small pasta shapes
• 1/2 bell pepper, finely diced (any color)
• 1 roasted red pepper (fresh or from a jar), finely diced
• 1 cup mandarin orange segments, drained, rinsed, and chopped
• 2 tbsp. finely diced red onion
• 2 tbsp. minced cilantro
• 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
• Kosher salt
• black pepper (freshly ground)

For the dressing:

• 1/3 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• juice from 1/2 lemon, plus more as needed
• 2 tbsp. honey, plus more to taste
• pinch dried thyme
• Kosher salt
• black pepper (freshly ground)

In fact, you can replace mandarin by other juicy fruit, but I like this citrus flavor.

Instructions

Prep Time	Cook time	Servings
5 min	10 min + 2hrs cooling	4-6

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta to package directions.
2. Drain, rinse pasta with cool water and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, add bell pepper, roasted red pepper, mandarin oranges, red onion, and cilantro. Add pasta.
4. In a glass cup, whisk the olive oil, lemon zest and juice, honey, and thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over pasta and toss everything together to combine well.
5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, to let flavors meld. If necessary, drain some of the liquid. Top with the sunflower seeds just before serving.

Idea from The Fresh Market, recipe slightly adapted from Me and My Pink Mixer.