Summer Garden Pasta Salad

Summer vegetables and pasta; what a great combo for this salad. Cool cucumbers, red radishes, and green onions lend so much flavor. Toss on some fire-roasted corn, the rigatoni, and a light dressing with a hint of fresh dill. Summer Garden Pasta Salad is perfect for those backyard BBQs and cool summer suppers.

This recipe feeds a small crowd, so keep it handy before going to a potluck. Using fresh ingredients is so important. There’s really nothing like fresh vegetables from a garden. 

And let me tell you about this pasta and why it’s so perfect for this recipe.

The rigatoni is a round tube-shaped pasta, slightly larger than penne and ziti.

This is important, because when you stir this salad, the peas and corn wind up hiding inside the pasta. It’s so cool.

Why that makes me so happy, I have no idea, but there it is. 

Let’s make a Summer Garden Pasta Salad

You’ll need a large bowl, I actually get out one of my bigger Tupperware containers. It makes a lot, plus you need room to stir everything together, so a big container is better.

Pasta

Make the pasta in some salted water according to the package directions. You’ll want the pasta al dente for the recipe.

As I mentioned before, the rigatoni is fun, because of it’s size and ability to “hide” the corn and peas. If you have a box of penne or other pasta you prefer to use, it’ll taste just as great.

Rinse the pasta in cold water and let it drain while you prep the veggies and make the dressing.

Dressing

Only 4 ingredients; mayonnaise, white wine vinegar, dill, and some salt. About the dill, I really love fresh vs. dried, but both will work.

Whisk everything together and set aside.

Moving on to the veggies.

Summer Garden Vegetables

First off, if you have a vegetable garden, I envy you, because I do not. 

In this recipe, most of the veggies are fresh; cucumber, radishes, and green onion. You can use fresh corn and peas also, but frozen was way easier. 

I like the frozen fire-roasted corn when I can find it. 

Slicing the cucumber and radishes very thin takes some time, but it’s worth it. Plus, it makes eating it easier, too. 

Ham

For the recipe I cut the ham into matchsticks. I know from experience that trying to poke a fork into a little cube of ham doesn’t always produce the results I want, so I make them a size that is fork friendly.

For more of my recipes that have ham, check out my Ham Recipes Pinterest board.

Bringing the Summer Garden Pasta Salad all together

Pour the drained pasta, the prepped veggies, and the ham into the large bowl and drizzle the dressing over it. Stir it up so everything is thoroughly mixed, then serve. 

Watch how the peas and corn “hide” inside the rigatoni as you stir it.

With the mayo in it, the salad needs to be refrigerated, but otherwise, it’s ready to eat. 

More salad and side dish recipes

Click on Salads for more salad recipes, and click on Side Dishes for recipes like rice, pasta, and veggies.

Summer Garden Pasta Salad

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