It’s that time of year again. The time of year when all I want to eat are cold salads with crunchy vegetables. And since fresh broccoli is one of my favorite crunchy vegetables, I decided to build a pasta salad featuring broccoli and my new favorite homemade salad dressing. This Broccoli Pasta Salad features a tangy homemade tomato vinaigrette, nutty sunflower seeds, savory red onions, and pops of creamy-salty feta. This flavor-texture combo is just magic!
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Pasta Options
I used a rotini pasta for this salad because all the little twisty crevices are great at grabbing onto the salad dressing, making sure there’s tons of flavor in every bite. That being said, you could definitely do something like a penne, bowtie, or orecchiette instead. I think the nutty flavor of whole wheat pasta would actually go really well with the flavors in this salad, too.
Salad Dressing Options
I’ve included a homemade tomato vinaigrette with this recipe, but if you’re not a fan of tomato you could do a basic Italian dressing in its place, or something like a champagne vinaigrette. I’d stick to dressings that are light and tangy.
Is the Broccoli Raw??
The last time I posted a salad recipe with raw broccoli, there were quite a few people who were surprised that you could (or that you would want to) eat raw broccoli. Yes, the broccoli in this salad is raw. Raw broccoli is deliciously crunchy but does have a very different flavor from cooked broccoli. If you prefer cooked broccoli, I suggest using roasted broccoli to give an extra flavor boost to the salad.
Broccoli Pasta Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette
Servings 4 1.5 cups eachIngredients
Tomato Basil Vinaigrette
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste ($0.05)
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar ($0.20)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp sugar ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 6 Tbsp olive oil ($0.96)
Salad
- 1/2 lb. rotini pasta ($0.38)
- 1 lb. broccoli ($0.89)
- 1/2 cup diced red onion ($0.16)
- 1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds ($0.25)
- 4 oz. feta ($1.65)
Instructions
- Prepare the vinaigrette first. Whisk together the tomato paste, red wine vinegar, basil, garlic powder, sugar, salt, and pepper in a bowl until smooth. Begin to whisk in the olive oil, one tablespoon at a time, until fully incorporated. Set the vinaigrette aside.
- Cook the rotini pasta according to the package directions (boil for 7-10 minutes, or until tender). Drain the pasta in a colander. Rinse briefly with cool water to cool off the pasta. Drain well.
- While the pasta is cooking, cut the broccoli florets off the stems, then roughly chop the florets into small, bite-sized pieces. Finely dice the red onion.
- Once the pasta has drained, transfer it to a large bowl. Add the chopped broccoli, red onion, and sunflower seeds. Crumble the feta over top. Drizzle the dressing into the bowl and then gently toss the ingredients until they are evenly combined and everything is coated in dressing. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat.
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Equipment
- Chef’s Knife
- White Cutting Boards
Nutrition
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How to Make Broccoli Pasta Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette – Step by Step Photos
Begin the tomato vinaigrette first. Whisk together 1 Tbsp tomato paste, 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar, ½ tsp dried basil, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp sugar, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper until smooth.
Begin to whisk in olive oil, one tablespoon at a time, until you’ve incorporated 6 Tbsps. Set the dressing aside.
Next, cook ½ lb. rotini according to the package directions (boil 7-10 minutes, or until tender). Drain the pasta in a colander. Give it a brief rinse to cool it off, then let it drain well.
Chop about 1 lb. of fresh broccoli into small, bite-sized pieces. They don’t have to be pretty florets, just chop away until the pieces are fairly small. Also finely dice about ½ cup red onion.
Once cooled, transfer the pasta to a bowl and add the chopped broccoli, diced red onion, ¼ cup unsalted sunflower seeds, and about 4oz. feta.
Pour the tomato vinaigrette over top…
Then gently toss everything together until well combined and everything is coated in dressing. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate for later!
Love this recipe! The combination of crunchy broccoli, tangy tomato vinaigrette, and creamy feta sounds absolutely delicious. Perfect for a refreshing and nutritious summer dish. Thanks for sharing such an affordable and flavorful idea
Just made this for the first time. Doubled the sauce recipe like some others had recommended. It was a big hit with my family! Will definitely make again.
I’ve made this salad twice and it is delicious! I recommend doubling the dressing. Another Budget Bytes hit!
Delicious!! I would agree that it needs a skosh more dressing, but this is definitely a winner and we will be repeating it many times in our house!
This was great! And so easy to make! I subbed the broccoli for fresh spinach and I also used a basil paste instead of dried basil in the vinaigrette.
This is like my 5th time making this and I roasted the broccoli as you suggested. WOW! It brings it to the next level! So simple and so good!
This was good but I felt like it was missing something, not sure what. My pasta salad loving toddlers wouldn’t touch it, but my picky husband loved it. I made extra dressing since other reviews said it needed it (I’m glad I did), and cooked the broccoli for about 3 minutes with the pasta because my family doesn’t like raw broccoli. I might try roasting the broccoli next time for more flavor.
I made this yesterday and it was SO good! I roasted the broccoli (in the toaster oven, it’s too hot) so the kids would eat it, and used a combo of red and white vinegar to brighten it up. I served it with a Mediterranean Chicken Burger from Aldi (half per person, they’re big!). This is going to be one of my go to summer meals!
It was good but I want to play around with making slightly more vinaigrette and after trying that, possibly roasting the broccoli or blanching it… or maybe adding roasted garlic cloves or olives. Needed slightly more acidity/sauce; it was a bit dry. Could be that I was slightly scant on olive oil & a bit over a half pound of pasta and that played a role in it. I added pepitas to the sunflower seeds. If there was a half star I’d say for me it is 3.5 stars with the potential to go higher with a simple tweak or two!
Delicious! I made the pasta ahead of time so I tossed it with the olive oil instead of adding that to the vinaigrette to avoid getting pasta clumps, but everything still came together beautifully.
Thanks Beth. Can’t wait to try this fab recipe!! I Love Fresh Broccoli!! Think I’m going with your suggestion to use Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta and will use a Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette Dressing that I’m ridin shotgun with lately!! Yummy!!
I have made this salad with and without pasta, and it is delicious either way! I do prefer to blanch the broccoli for a couple minutes, make extra dressing, and add olives and other veggies I have handy. A tomato based vinaigrette was new to me and is something I will be putting into my dressing rotation for sure!
I’ve made this a couple times but have made a couple small tweaks. Extra vinaigrette, a little extra sugar, use a mixed of oils because I found the olive oil taste too strong. Also cooked the broccoli for 1 min in leftover pasta water.
This one wasn’t a winner at our house. I really wanted to like it. Both myself and my husband found the broccoli overwhelming. The flavour of the vinaigrette was nice, but we did find the salad to “dry”. Might try to make it again without broccoli and maybe some cherry tomatoes and olives and increase the dressing.
Hi I’m new to making own vinaigrette’s. Could I sub apple cider vinegar for red wine vinegar?
Thank you!
Yes, you can, but it will change the flavor slightly. :)
Made this tonight and it was delicious! Possibly one of my new fave recipes! Only thing I did differently was less olive oil and way less red onion. I will for sure be making this all summer long!
It’s funny that some people had never considered eating broccoli raw! It’s the only way my husband will eat it! Maybe he would like this. I usually skim over broccoli recipes, just to check if it’s something good enough to make for just me.
Best Salad Recipe
This is wonderful! I had to make a few modifications to work with what I had in my kitchen – balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, light on pasta, and I added a can of white beans – and it turned out great!
This is wonderful! I had to make a few modifications to work with what I had in my kitchen – balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, light on pasta, and I added a can of white beans – and it turned out great!
Very interesting; I love tomato basil soup so sure I’ll love that pasta
A quick tip for folks who don’t love raw broccoli (or who have trouble digesting it): When the pasta is a minute or two from done, add the chopped broccoli into the boiling pasta to blanch it lightly. Dump the pasta + broccoli into the colander and rinse it with cool water to stop the cooking. The broccoli remains tender-crisp, but loses the raw edge AND you don’t have to take the extra time and dishes of roasting it :)
Great hack! Thanks! I tried it and it worked like a charm!
I added broccoli, onion, black olives and mozzarella because that’s what I had. I also used fresh basil because I somehow managed to keep a plant alive over the winter. Very good pasta salad!
Re: Tomato paste
I adore the fact that this comes in jars now. Much easier to store In the refrigerator.
I haven’t seen that yet! That’s so exciting!
Made this tonight using the Banza pasta instead and threw the broccoli in the pasta water for 30 seconds. This was amazing!
Great recipe. Please peak at the print options, however. I like saving trees and conservation. I do not want to print 1 line on a page #2
Take screenshots of the recipe, email them to yourself and move it to your recipe folder. You can include your notes, if any, as well.
That way you don’t use any paper at all.
I will pair it with my cold poached salmon! Yum!
I really liked this recipe, except the red onion was too strong. I’d like to try it again with green onions for a milder flavor. I also would add chopped carrots for some color. In fact, I blanched the broccoli in order to enhance its color.
I love the idea of carrots for this! Another way to make the red onions a little less potent is to soak them for about five minutes in ice water. That takes that really sharp edge off the flavor. :)
Pardon my dumb dinner brain, I swear anytime I sit down to meal plan it’s like I’ve never made a single dinner in my life – despite cooking what feels like every day for the last thousand years. So I’m sorry if this is a dumb question but what would you pair this with to serve for dinner or would you consider this a full dinner?
It looks beautiful and I cannot wait to try it. I’m also thoroughly perplexed that some people didn’t know you could or would want to eat raw brocolli. It’s the main way I eat it. So strange.
Haha, your comment made me laugh! “despite cooking what feels like every day for the last thousand years” :D I usually do a “what to serve with…” section, but it looks like I forgot it this time. I need to go back and add that. I would probably pair this with something like Garlic Marinated Chicken, maybe my Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Dinner (in place of the simple side salad), or Mediterranean Turkey Burgers.
Is there something I could use instead of feta to make this recipe vegan?
Hmm, I like the little salty pops of flavor that the feta provides, so perhaps some sort of olive? That won’t provide the same creaminess as the feta, but that might be as close as you can get.
Violife vegan feta is SO GOOD. In my grocery store it’s in the produce section (that’s where they keep a lot of the vegan stuff). Definitely worth a shot if you’ve never tried it! I’ve subbed it in for feta cheese AND goat cheese; it crumbles, it melts, and it’s to die for on crackers :)
What would you sub for sunflower seeds?
Maybe pine nuts or walnuts?
Pine nuts
I didn’t think I would love it, to be honest. This is such a yummy recipe!! I love it, can’t wait to make it again!
Wow, it blows my mind that anyone didn’t know that you can eat broccoli raw… this looks amazing, I can’t wait to try it!
This looks really good, and I’ll try it this weekend. However, I need to find a lactose-free protein substitute for the feta cheese, as my daughter is lactose intolerant. Another poster mentioned chicken; what do you think about rotisserie chicken? Or maybe some baked tofu? Or chickpeas?….
I think chicken would be awesome in this!
I just made this recipe for DD’s dinner at work tonight. I used some deli chicken instead of the feta and chopped some unsalted almonds in place of the sunflower seeds. I also roasted a 12-ounce bag of broccoli florets. It’s fabulous! I did add some feta to my taste-test–yum!–but DD requested hers “on the side” in case it bothers her. Thank you for the recipe!
This is really delicious! I used shallot instead of red onion and toasted pine nuts instead of sunflower seeds (just what I had on hand) but everything else was as written. I’ll definitely be making it again. I might reserve part of the dressing next time so I can top each serving with some right when I eat it.
I was skeptical of raw broccoli but I’m glad I tried it! It works really well! :)
Cannot wait to try this. I was actually planning on prepping a broccoli pasta salad this weekend for next week’s lunch. It’s a recipe I have made for years and love but is not great nutritionally (mayonnaise-based dressing and quite a bit of crumbled bacon, it’s fine if you’re just having one serving but every day for a week is not good for the arteries…..). Going to make this instead, healthy and fresh!!
I imagine this salad would be good with the addition of some chicken, tuna or salmon???
I bet it would be great with all of those!
This looks incredible. If you don’t mind me asking, how long would this salad last for? I am planning to make this for a future meal prep.
The longevity of the salad can depend on a lot of things like the freshness of the ingredients and conditions within your refrigerator, but I would say about four days.
This recipe looks fabulous for Spring Beth! Thanks for a great idea that I will try this weekend! Feta, broccoli and tomato are a winning combination! And I bet it tastes better on the second day – fantastic for easy lunches!