Enjoy an easy supper or side dish with this make-ahead Pesto Pasta Salad with Cranberries & Feta Cheese. It’s packed with flavor and makes a colorful addition to your buffet.
Pesto Pasta is great for a Lunchtime Meal Prep or for serving alongside Grilled Chicken or Grilled Pork Tenderloin as a hearty side dish.
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I like to think that pasta salads are God’s gift to the busy home cook. They are hearty, make-ahead, and so very versatile that you could probably make a different pasta salad every day of the month and not make the same thing twice.
Pasta salads are as welcome at a backyard BBQ as they are at a New Year’s potluck. Best yet, they’re super cheap to make because the pasta is one very frugal ingredient.
My sister about this Pesto Pasta Salad years ago and it is by far the best ever. Pesto, feta, and cranberries all having a party together in a bowl of pasta? Count me in!
Why Make This
It’s amazingly delicious. The sweet tart of the cranberries and the salty tang of the feta go oh-so-well with the garlicky, basil of the pesto. Party in a bowl to be sure!
It’s super easy to make. This pasta salad couldn’t be easier to assemble; you hardly have to chop a thing! Just boil, rinse, and mix. Repeat often.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make one of the best pesto pasta salads you’ve ever had:
rotini pasta – I love the taste and color of rainbow rotini. The spiral noodles do a great job holding the pesto sauce. You can use another short noodle if you like.
pesto – Commercial pesto is just fine in this. You can easily make an even more affordable nut-free version such as this Rustic Basil Sauce for this recipe.
dried cranberries – These add nice sweet, chewy bits to the pasta salad.
feta cheese crumbles – Salty and tender, feta is a great foil for the other elements in the salad.
sunflower seeds – These add a nice crunch.
Variations
Pesto Pasta is super versatile. Consider these variations:
- substitute another dried fruit or sun dried tomatoes, chopped fresh tomatoes, or red bell peppers for the dried cranberries
- chopped nuts or pepitas instead of sunflower seeds
- fresh bocconcini instead of the feta crumbles
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. Rinse it with cool water and drain.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the cooked rotini and pesto. Toss well to coat.
- Add the feta cheese, cranberries, and sunflower seeds. Toss gently. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
FAQs
Pesto is an Italian sauce made from fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese. You can make your own, but it’s pretty affordable to buy commercially made.
Pesto is pretty thick. You don’t pour it on like you do other pasta sauces. Instead, add a spoonful or two to your pasta and toss to coat, adding more to taste.
Pesto is packed with flavor so you don’t need to use a lot. Start with a heaping tablespoon or two per pound of pasta and increase it until you get your preferred amount. The garlic, basil, and parmesan flavors are pretty concentrated, so you don’t need a ton.
Pesto Pasta Salad is simply cooked and cooled pasta tossed with pesto sauce. You can embellish it with sweet or savory add-in’s.
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- pasta – $1.00
- pesto – $1.64
- feta cheese – $1.35
- dried cranberries – $0.50
- sunflower seeds – $0.32
While your prices may vary depending on where you shop, you can expect to pay somewhere around $4.81 or 60 cents a serving.
Save Even More
This Pesto Pasta Salad is pretty economical by virtue of its being a simple pasta dish. Here are some of the strategies I use to make this recipe even more affordable:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale! When I see a great price on pasta, I buy a lot of it. We almost always have a stockpile of noodles in the pantry. This is just one way I save on groceries without clipping a single coupon.
- Shop at your cheapest stores. This is how I lowered my grocery bill by a $100 a month. This may vary based on where you live and how close you are to great stores. For me, Costco and ALDI are the best game in town, even though I have to drive a town over to get to them. That’s where I buy pesto and feta cheese.
- A little dab will do ya. Pesto is packed with flavor so you don’t need to use a lot.
More Ways to Use Pesto
Pesto Pasta Salad with Cranberries & Feta
Equipment
- pasta bowl
Ingredients
- 12 oz rainbow rotini pasta
- 1/2 cup pesto plus more to taste
- 2 oz feta cheese crumbles (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. Rinse it with cool water and drain.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the cooked rotini and pesto. Toss well to coat.
- Add the feta cheese, cranberries, and sunflower seeds. Toss gently. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
Notes
- dried cranberries for another dried fruit or sun dried tomatoes if you like
- chopped fresh tomatoes and bell peppers for the fruit
- chopped nuts instead of sunflower seeds
- fresh bocconcini instead of the feta crumbles
Nutrition
This post was originally published on March 14, 2011. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Mandy
Any idea on how this would be using tortellini as the pasta? (the fresh costco one) My daughter loves pesto and tortellini but this may add a new twist. . .
Jessica Fisher
I would probably reduce the cheese since the tortellini already has cheese. Sounds super yummy! Great idea!
Kelly
I had thought I would make my own pesto but then pine nuts are $8 for a small bag so the Costco pesto seemed like a good deal to me. Nice to see you use it, too.
Jessica Fisher
You can use other nuts to make it homemade, or like us, in the case of food allergies, use pumpkin seeds. 🙂
Stacy
Are the cranberries the sweetened type? I have all of the ingredients, if so. That so rarely happens to me–I’m forever making substitutions when I see things like this and want to make them on the fly.
Jessica
@Stacy, yes, I use craisins or TJ’s dried cranberries.
Stacy
@Jessica, Great, thanks.
Chaya
This sounds like the perfect combination to make deliciousness.
Cecilia
I made this for dinner tonight and it was FANTASTIC. So delicious. This is going to be my new potluck dish from now on. Thanks for sharing.
Phoebe @ GettingFreedom
I’ll be right over for lunch!
Steph (The Cheapskate Cook)
I’m not usually a big pasta salad fan, but the blend of flavors here sounds fantastic! Thanks for the inspiration.
Alicia's Homemaking
Looks to die for! Just stumbled this, ’cause I want to remember the recipe!
Elaine Marshall
I made this before work today – so quick and so very flavorful. Thank you!!
nancy
i’ve got all the ingredients in my pantry. maybe i’ll have to give this a go.
Debbi Does Dinner Healthy
Oh the salad looks awesome! I love pesto!
Do you want to submit this to Presto Pasta Nights? Details are on my blog! Thanks!
Mo'Betta
mmmmm, pesto and feta are two of my favorite things 🙂 Can’t wait until I have basil growing in the garden!