Vivacious Pasta Salad Sides — Sensational Sides

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Tuscan Pasta Salad With Grilled Vegetables

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Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggeiro Prop Stylist: Marcus Hay

Photo by: Yunhee Kim

Yunhee Kim

At this point in the year, we can utter the word "summer" without feeling jipped. May is here, and things are only going to get hotter. That’s why we're compiling a list of pasta salad sides that are perfect for the warm weather. These recipes are anything but boring, and they also carry their fair shares of spring produce. Spoon a heap next to a grilled protein, pack some in Tupperware for outside eating, or enjoy it at home at your first barbecue of the season. No matter how you choose to enjoy it, we’re all about pasta salad on this May day.

With radicchio, fennel and baby bell peppers, Food Network Magazine’s Tuscan Pasta Salad With Grilled Vegetables (pictured above) is as bright as they come.

Food stylist: Stephana Bottom
Prop Stylist: Meghan Guthrie

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Food stylist: Stephana Bottom Prop Stylist: Meghan Guthrie ,Food stylist: Stephana BottomProp Stylist: Meghan Guthrie

Photo by: Kang Kim

Kang Kim

Standard pasta salads are often creamy, but not much else. Go further with Food Network Magazine’s Pasta Salad With Asparagus, Corn and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, which is spiked with lemon, garlic and Parmesan cheese.

American Macaroni Salad: Food Network Kitchens

American Macaroni Salad: Food Network Kitchens

Photo by: Tara Donne

Tara Donne

American Macaroni Salad, too, is creamy in all the right ways, and it's crunchy with diced celery and red onion.

Neely's Lemon Pasta Salad; The Neelys

Neely's Lemon Pasta Salad; The Neelys

Photo by: Tara Donne

Tara Donne

Lemon Pasta Salad nixes the creamy contingency for a lemony Dijon vinaigrette.

A full pound of ripe, garden-fresh tomatoes goes into Ina Garten’s Tomato-Feta Pasta Salad. Rather than risking a boring pasta salad, Ina turns to salty capers, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes and feta. Her biggest piece of advice? Assemble your salad when the noodles are still warm to ensure that all of the flavors are absorbed, leaving you with one flavorful side.


food stylist: Jamie Kimm
Prop stylist: Marina Malchin

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food stylist: Jamie Kimm Prop stylist: Marina Malchin,food stylist: Jamie KimmProp stylist: Marina Malchin

Roasted-Pepper Pasta Salad by Food Network Magazine is deepened with basil, lemon and garlic. Roasting red and yellow peppers in your kitchen’s broiler ensures that the veggies are sweet and bursting with flavor.

Anna Beckman
John Bjostad

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Anna Beckman John Bjostad

And here’s where things get really interesting: Duff’s Curried Pasta comes with an edge of Madras-style curry powder and mango chutney.

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Lastly, Food Network Magazine’s BLT Pasta Salad is the spitting image of the sandwich favorite, with lean bacon, Bibb lettuce and ripe tomatoes.

More salad recipes from friends and family:

Cooking With Elise: Garden Spring Rolls

The Sensitive Epicure: Green on Green Chopped Salad

Weelicious: Southwestern Salad

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