Fall pasta salad is an easy and flavorful side dish to serve at your next fall gathering. Seasonal ingredients like broccoli, pecans, and cranberries are tossed with pasta in a flavorful homemade vinaigrette and served cold.
Recipe summary
Flavor/texture: Tender rotini pasta is tossed with broccoli, carrots, pecans, and dried cranberries in a homemade maple vinaigrette dressing.
Vegan friendly: This recipe is vegan as written, making it perfect for a variety of guests.
Serves: 8 people
Similar to: Classic Pasta Salad, Fall Fruit Salad
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Rotini - Can be substituted with any medium sized pasta. Macaroni, shells, or bow tie/farfalle pasta are all great choices.
- Vegetables - Broccoli, red onion, and carrots add fresh flavor and crunch to this salad.
- Dried cranberries - Add texture and tart flavor that helps balance the pasta salad.
- Pecans - Can be substituted with walnuts or sliced almonds.
- Maple vinaigrette - Olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, Italian seasoning, and salt create a simple, lightly sweetened vinaigrette dressing.
How to make fall pasta salad
- Boil pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain.
- Add to a large bowl along with remaining salad ingredients and stir to combine.
- Mix dressing ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Pour dressing onto salad ingredients and toss to coat.
Tips and tricks
Choose the right pasta shape - Rotini (as pictured) is always a great choice. Any smaller, bite sized pasta works great in a pasta salad, like macaroni, orecchiette, and shells.
Salt your pasta water - This helps flavor your pasta as it boils and adds extra flavor to the pasta salad.
Dress your pasta at room temperature - This gives your pasta a chance to soak up some of that dressing while it sets. Cold pasta doesn't soak up dressing like warm or room temperature pasta does.
Frequently asked questions
Pasta salad is best served within a few hours of preparing because as pasta salad sits, the pasta soaks up the dressing and the dish starts to dry out. If you'd like to prepare pasta salad a day beforehand, I recommend keeping the salad ingredients and dressing ingredients separate. About an hour before serving, add the dressing and toss to coat.
Add a splash of olive oil and vinegar to your salad, then toss to coat.
The starches in pasta are naturally going to soak up liquid - it's what they do. One way to combat this is to ensure your pasta is cooked all the way through before adding it to your salad. Cook pasta to al dente, or even one minute longer, before draining and rinsing. Soaking up more liquid in the cooking process ensure it soaks up less liquid later in your salad.
Leftovers will keep in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
This can happen if your refrigerator is very cold - the oil solidifies. No worries! Simply transfer your pasta salad to the countertop and allow it to warm up for about 20 minutes. Once the oil liquefies again, give your pasta salad a quick toss before serving.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Fall Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Pasta salad
- 8 ounces rotini pasta, uncooked
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 2 carrots, grated
- 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
Vinaigrette dressing
- ½ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Pasta salad
- In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta according to package directions for al dente pasta. Drain and rinse with cold water until pasta is room temperature. Place pasta in a large bowl.
- Add pecans, cranberries, onion, carrot, and broccoli to pasta and toss to combine. Set aside.
Vinaigrette dressing
- In a separate bowl, add olive oil, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Whisk to combine.
- Pour over salad ingredients and toss until evenly coated. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. Pasta salad will keep for 2-3 days, refrigerated in a sealed container. Pasta WILL continue to soak up the dressing the longer it sits, so it may need a splash of olive oil and vinegar if it has been sitting for several hours.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Make ahead: Store your salad ingredients and dressing ingredients separately. An hour before serving, add your dressing and toss to coat.
- Pasta salad getting dry? Add a splash of olive oil and vinegar to your salad, then toss to coat. Pasta will continue soaking up dressing as it sets, and is best served within a few hours.
- Maple syrup substitute: Maple syrup can be substituted with honey (recipe is no longer vegan using honey).
- Nut variations: Pecans can be substituted with walnuts or sliced almonds.
- Vinegar substitute: Apple cider vinegar can be substituted with red wine vinegar.
We loved this salad!
I added some diced apple to it for texture (we kept the nuts on the side for allergy reasons) and it was delicious. Thanks for the great recipe!
I would like to try this recipe without olive oil, way too much oil. I ended up putting more noodles and vegetables in and other dressing ingredients to help. The flavor was amazing after I did this though.
Excellent!! Such a hit at the family Thanksgiving meal. Thank you!
I made this yesterday and even with the seasonings etc in, there was no flavour to this salad. I added some mayonnaise that helped a little bit.
Ten stars 😊
I’ve been craving pasta salad for some time but none looked that great until I saw this in my email. It went together quick and easy…I added a couple extras (thinly sliced celery and sliced mini peppers). Vinaigrette was excellent- used my mini-chopper to emulsify. Mistakenly used avocado oil and it was fine. I couldn’t wait 90 minutes, had to try it right away and WOW!! And it’s going to get better! Thank you!
This pasta salad was FANTASTIC!! Wonderful flavor. Taking this to a Halloween party. I’m sure it’ll be a hit! Thanks for this recipe 😋
This pasta salad is wonderful. The sauce is so full of flavors. It looks beautiful as well. I will definitely be keeping this recipe and making it often. Thank you so much