Pasta is always the answer. Whether it’s warm and decadent in the winter or cold and refreshing in the summer, noodles with butter, cheese, and a smattering of veggies hits the spot. Now, we are dreaming of backyard BBQs and pool parties with Ree Drummond’s Sunshine Pasta Salad recipe! The Pioneer Woman just shared her colorful pasta salad, and we can’t wait to make this yummy side dish.
“I’m going to make Sunshine Pasta Salad, which is glorious and beautiful, and oh-so-flavorful,” Drummond says in a video of the recipe shared on Food Network’s Instagram. She cooks penne pasta, then lets it cool before adding a homemade lemon mustard dressing.
Start with mayo and sour cream, then add Dijon mustard, lemon zest, and other ingredients, whip it together, and pour about two-thirds of the dressing into the pasta.
All the colors of the sunset are added to the salad next, including red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, and other colorful ingredients. You can add other color ingredients if you want. Like Drummond says, she loves “how many possibilities” there are with pasta salad. (Pasta-bilities?!)
When you’re done mixing it all together, serve it on a big-rimmed platter with a lemon slice garnish and let people scoop up their own portion on their plate.
“This screams summer,” Drummond said about the finished dish. “If I saw this at a cookout, I would skip the burgers and steaks and go straight for a big plate of this.”
“This was the best pasta salad I have had in a very long time,” one happy home chef commented. “I paired it with the lemon chicken and it was perfect. I plan to add the lemon chicken to it and eat it for leftovers!” Yum!
Another person said they “make this all the time.” One person said when they brought this to a BBQ “it magically disappeared” because “everyone loved it.”
We can’t wait to try it ourselves!
Get Drummond’s full Sunshine Pasta Salad recipe online HERE.
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