This late summer veggie pasta salad is made with late summer produce favorites (sweet corn, zucchini, and red peppers) and goat cheese! A simple side dish for late summer cookouts, or healthy make-ahead lunches for back-to-school.
You guys, I absolutely adore late summer produce! I love that the farmers markets are still all popping off with tomatoes, zucchini, cherries, beans, and peppers... but I can also start to get squash, the best sweet corn of the season, and maybe even some early apple varieties. And when back-to-school season is approaching, I'm always look for ways to hold onto summer yet have meals at the ready-and this pasta salad? It's exactly that.
With roasted zucchini, corn, and bell peppers, we're getting the absolutely most flavor we can out of the late summer produce while we have it. Add in some tangy goat cheese, bright lemon, and fresh basil, and this pasta salad is totally brought to life-so colorful, so flavorful. I know we'll be enjoy it with our late summer cookouts and even packing some into school lunches.
Key Ingredients
The key ingredients for this recipe include a whole bunch of late summer seasonal veggies and herbs, including sweet corn, zucchini, red bell peppers, and fresh basil. Sweet corn tends to be at its peak in August, so if you can get that locally, please do-nothing compares!
How to Make This Pasta Salad
- Roast veggies. You'll roast the red bell peppers, zucchini, and corn. While those are roasting, you get everything else ready.
- Cook pasta. Meanwhile, you'll boil the pasta according to package instructions and chop up some fresh basil.
- Make lemon dressing. Shake together some olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic in a mason jar.
- Combine! As a last step, you'll combine everything together in a large bowl and let it chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Expert Tips
- I like to wait to add the goat cheese until the veggies and pasta have cooled a bit. This avoid it getting too melty from all the steam.
- Bulk roasted peppers: While you're at it, you could also roast some red peppers to use in salads, on pita pizzas, or in other recipes throughout the week!
- Using up summer zucchini: If you have more zucchini to use up, you could whip up this wholesome zucchini oat bread for dessert!
More Late Summer Produce Recipes
📖 Recipe
Late Summer Veggie Pasta Salad
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
A late summer veggie pasta salad with late summer seasonal produce, creamy and tangy goat cheese, and a light and bright lemon vinaigrette. Perfect for holding on to summer while also prepping for back-to-school!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. rotini pasta
- 1 ear fresh sweet corn
- 1 large red pepper, sliced
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ cup fresh basil, sliced into ribbons
- ½ cup crumbled goat cheese
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- freshly cracked black pepper
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat + prep. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Make pasta. While oven is preheating, cook pasta according to package instructions. Once it's done, give it a quick rinse under cool water and place in a large bowl.
- Roast veggies. Place ear of corn, red pepper slices, and zucchini on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Roast at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until veggies are completely cooked through and red pepper is beginning to char. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Combine. Add roasted veggies to bowl of pasta, followed by fresh basil and goat cheese.
- Make dressing & finish. Add olive oil, lemon juice, and minced garlic to a mason jar. Shake vigorously until combined. Pour over pasta and toss to combine. Serve immediately or chill before serving.
Notes
- Storage instructions. Store leftover pasta in an airtight container for up to five days in the fridge. I don't recommend freezing this pasta salad. If you want to meal prep ingredients in advance, you could roast veggies the day before and make the pasta salad the next day.
- Pasta. I love using rotini here, but you can use any smaller pasta! Penne, bowties, or even orzo would be great.
- Goat cheese. I like to give the pasta and roasted veggies a little time to cool before adding goat cheese because otherwise the goat cheese can get melty. Not the end of the world, but also not exactly the texture we're going for!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Oven, stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 445
- Sugar: 4.2 g
- Sodium: 285.3 mg
- Fat: 21.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 51 g
- Protein: 14.2 g
- Cholesterol: 13.1 mg
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