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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.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 18 minutes
Course Lunch, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4
Calories 593 kcal

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.
Keyword Balsamic dressing, Bruschetta, Caprese, pasta, Pasta salad