This page contain affiliate links. Please refer to my Disclosures Page for more details.
STOP! Before you hit ‘Jump to Recipe’ check ‘Skip to the Good Bit‘ below. I may answer a query you have about this recipe.
In this write up for my Easy Gluten Free Pasta Salad, I’ll share tips on how to cook gluten free pasta, which gluten free pastas are better for a cold pasta salad, where you can buy gluten free pasta and more. As with all my recipes, I don’t waffle on about my childhood or what I did last summer (unelss it’s relevant), the pre-recipe bit is always intended to educate, and help you, starting with the basics; how to cook pasta?
How do you cook gluten free pasta?
Ten years ago I’d be writing very different guidelines on how to cook gluten free pasta but we’ve come a long way. Before there were some pastas that you’d have to drain halfway through the cooking process and top up with fresh boiled water from the kettle. Anyone else remember those days? The pasta was so starchy you’d end up with a golden soup.
These days manufacturers seem to have cracked the gluten free pasta code and this is no longer necessary.
My Top Tips for cooking pasta
- always use your biggest saucepan – give the pasta room
- boil the kettle and add this to the pan, bring back to boil THEN add your pasta
- never stir with a wooden spoon, always a metal spoon or ideally a pasta spoon
- no need to season until cooked
- no need to add oil until cooked
- follow cooking times on packaging but rule of thumb is 10 minutes al dente and 12 minutes is soft for average sized pasta and spaghetti.
- use a large colander to rinse (hot tap if eating hot, cold tap if using for pasta salad)
- season and oil (olive oil to be authentic) in colander, give it a shake to coat and set aside until ready to serve.
That really is it, no rocket science here just basic cooking skills and knowhow.
What pasta is best for a pasta salad?
When making a pasta salad you need to think two things; will it be easy to eat with just a fork? Will it hold any sauce? Actually, three things – will it look pretty?
Look at the pasta salads you have in the meal-deal sections of supermarkets, they often use penne and fusilli pasta. Why? Because they paid someone to do the research and this was the best pasta for the job ticking all the afore mentioned points.
That is why, when making my own gluten free pasta salads I use penne and fusilli pasta shapes.
Subscribe today!
Sign up to my Newsletter & receive THREE FREE Downloads!
Including my Gluten, Dairy & Egg Free eBook
What are the main ingredients of a pasta salad?
Generally speaking, the main ingredients of a traditional summertime pasta salad are;
- pasta (obviously – please say that like Professor Snape, I do!)
- colourful vegetable and salad fruits
- oil
- something to bind such as mayonnaise
- seasoning
That really is it, you could stop there but I like to add a bit more flavour, making the salad a touch more creamy and always follow the rule of three – three colours i.e. red tomatoes, yellow pepper, green cucumber. Think of a traffic light, pasta salads are much more pleasing to the eye if you follow this rule. Plus you’re getting more of your 5-a-day.
NOTE: In my pasta salad I use roasted cherry tomatoes, this is because I cannot eat raw tomato. If you want to do the same simply pop the tomato’s in the oven on a baking tray, spray/coat with a little oil and grill while the pasta cooks. The leave to cool before adding to the salad.
What different types of gluten free pasta are there?
Yellow Corn/Maize Pasta – quite a common pasta in the gluten free aisles in supermarkets. This pasta is almost day-glow yellow, nutritionally lacking but its cheap and does the job.
Buckwheat Pasta – despite its confusing name, buckwheat is gluten free. Buckwheat pasta is higher in nutritional fibre. High fibre pasta tend to take a little longer to cook, a bit like brown rice.
Pea Pasta – great for a change if you love the colour. This pasta is high in fibre and protein but a word to the wise, check if you’re making this for someone else as PEA is fast becoming an allergen and it won’t be long before it is added to the 14 Allergens if you ask me.
Red Lentil Pasta – much like the pea pasta, this is great for colour, high in fibre and protein but LENTILS are another high allergen factor yet to be recognised as one of the 14 (official) allergens
Brown Rice Pasta – like the buckwheat, brown rice pasta has a distinctive brown colour but this does fade once cooked. It also takes longer to cook. Nutritionally it’s not as high in fibre or protein as buckwheat pasta or pea and lentil pastas
Where can I buy Gluten Free Pasta?
- The Italian Shop, Bedford – delivery across UK
- The Gluten Free Grocer – deliver to mainland UK
- Amazon – delivery worldwide
If your keen to support small businesses in the UK I have my Guide for Gluten Free small businesses that deliver across the UK with over 175 small businesses that cater for the gluten free community.
What other recipes are similar to this gluten free pasta salad?
Easy Gluten Free Pasta Salad Recipe
If you make it and like the recipe I would be eternally grateful if you popped back and commented leaving a star rating as this will tell search engines that this recipe is worth checking out and others will get to find it in searches.
Easy Gluten Free Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the cooked pasta
- 150 g gluten free pasta penne or fusilli are ideal
- 1 litre(s) boiled water
For the salad
- 1 yellow pepper bell pepper
- 2 inch cucumber remove seeds
- 10 cherry tomatoes you can used jarred sundried tomatoes if you wish
- 100 g dairy free cream cheese
- 1 garlic (powder, puree or clove)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- salt & pepper to taste to taste – don't hold back
- fresh chives to garnish
Instructions
To make the pasta
- Boil the kettle and pour 1ltr of boiled water into a large saucepan, bring back to the boil.
- Add the weighed pasta and stir with a metal spoon to separate the pasta. Now leave it to rapid simmer on a medium high heat for 10-12 minutes depending on how soft you like your pasta.
- NOTE: while the pasta cooks you can be chopping the pepper, cucumber and tomatoes into little jewel sized pieces and crush the garlic clove.
- Once cooked, drain the pasta in a colander place the colander over the empty saucepan off the heat and drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper, now leave to cool while you continue to prepare the salad and dressing.
To make the creamy dressing
- In a medium bowl, blend the cream cheese, crushed garlic, olive oil and lemon juice.
- Once your pasta is room temperature, tip back into the saucepan and add the creamy garlic dressing, fold with a silicone spatula.
- Finally, add your colourful chopped salad and fold through to combine.
- If eating immediately, transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped chives.
Notes
My Top Tips for cooking pasta
- always use your biggest saucepan – give the pasta room
- boil the kettle and add this to the pan, bring back to boil THEN add your pasta
- never stir with a wooden spoon, always a metal spoon or ideally a pasta spoon
- no need to season until cooked
- no need to add oil until cooked
- follow cooking times on packaging but rule of thumb is 10 minutes al dente and 12 minutes is soft for average sized pasta and spaghetti.
- use a large colander to rinse (hot tap if eating hot, cold tap if using for pasta salad)
- season and oil (olive oil to be authentic) in colander, give it a shake to coat and set aside until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Click to find out more about the Free From Food Awards
Click to see gluten free products available on Amazon
Subscribe to my email list so that you get NEW recipes straight in your mailbox plus THREE Free gifts and access to some amazing gluten free DISCOUNTS!
*disclaimer: I use affiliate codes on my website, the vast majority are to Amazon. If you click on any of the links or images in the post and make a purchase my family will benefit from a small % of that purchase at no extra cost to you.
For full transparency, in 2020 I made my first £25, and in 2022 I reached my next £25 (Amazon don’t transfer the money until you reach £25). Recently I got paid a whopping £27.10 for 2023.
So to date I have made £78.58 since I first started the scheme in 2017. It won’t pay the bills, that’s for sure but it does help to pay for ingredients or little treats to cheer me up!
Such a perfect summer snack!
I made this recipe for my friend – it’s delicious 😋 love it 😍 Thank U for caring & sharing your recipe
Oh June, this is a lovely comment to come back and read, thank you for taking the time it is so very appreciated xxx