May 18, 2021

Bruschetta Pasta Salad with Sweet Balsamic Dressing

Bruschetta Pasta Salad with Sweet Balsamic Dressing is possibly one of the best mash-up recipes I’ve ever made. If you love caprese salad and classic bruschetta, you will love this combos in this salad!

I had so much fun making this pasta salad. As a matter of fact, I just love pasta salads.

Combining two of my favorite things in the world to eat—bruschetta and caprese salad. This is so yummy my daughter and I ate this straight out of the serving bowl. 🤭

Caprese salad is a simple combination of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and balsamic vinegar. Bruschetta is equally simple with a slice of toasted baguette, tomatoes, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar; almost identical ingredients so you can see why these two marry so well together.

Bruschetta Pasta Salad Is Easy To Make.

Bow tie pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella pearls and fresh basil, are coated in a tangy and sweet balsamic dressing. I take crushed seasoned croutons and sprinkle a generous amount right over the top. I think this is my favorite part! It gives it a subtle crunch, and because they are pre-seasoned, it adds another layer of flavor.

This is a perfect salad for sharing at potlucks or gatherings, or even taking on a picnic. It doesn’t have any mayo so it stays fresh at room temperature for quite some time. It’s also a great side dish with grilled fish, shrimp, or chicken.

Let’s eat!🤍

Bruschetta Pasta Salad with Sweet Balsamic Dressing

Bruschetta pasta salad is possibly one of the best mash-up recipes I've ever had. If you love caprese salad and you love classic bruschetta, you will flip for this combo.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Lunch, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 8

Total Time: 18

Servings:

Calories: 593kcal

Ingredients

Pasta Salad

3/4 lb mini bow tie pasta, cooked according to package directions
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved I used the multi colored tomatoes
8 ounce container of fresh mozzarella pearls, drained and cut in half, or about 1 cup of cubed fresh mozzarella
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
organics seasoned croutons, or any kind you like, ground fine in food processor I used about 1/2 of the 4.5 ounce bag

Balsamic Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup aged balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
pinch of black pepper
pinch of kosher salt

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta in colander and rinse well with cold water.
Meanwhile, add all of the dressing ingredients to a wide mouth mason jar with fitted lid and shake well. Dressing will be thick.

Assemble salad

Add pasta to a medium serving bowl. Add tomatoes, cheese and basil. Pour in some of the dressing. You may not need to use it all. Toss to coat the ingredients well. If serving immediately, sprinkle on some of the bread crumbs, otherwise refrigerate salad and wait to use the bread crumbs until ready to serve.

Notes

Pasta- Use any kind of small shaped pasta or what you have on hand. The smaller the better.

penne
fusilli
orecchiette

Croutons- Any kind of crouton works for this recipe. If you don’t have a food processor, place croutons in a sealed plastic bag and use a meat mallet or rolling pin to smash and break up pieces. Also, croutons are a great option when a recipe calls for seasoned bread crumbs. I find these to have more flavor than traditional store-bought bread crumbs.

Vinegar- Balsamic has the best flavor but red wine vinegar and cider vinegar can be substituted.

Pasta salad could easily serve 5 people assuming you have other dishes to serve along side it.

Nutritional facts include all of the dressing but often times I don’t use it all.

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be understood as an estimate rather than a guarantee. The Menu Maid makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.