One of the best pasta salads I’ve ever had is this one. It’s a favorite of my family and in-laws, and I can never have enough. If you’d like, you can modify or replace any of the salad’s ingredients. The day before is the best time to prepare this salad.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (12 ounce) package rotini/corkscrew pasta
- 1 (16 ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
- 1 (15.25 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
- 1 ½ cups finely chopped celery
- 1 cucumber – peeled, seeded and chopped
- ½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- ⅔ cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons margarine
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon prepared brown mustard
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine cooked pasta, mixed vegetables, kidney beans, celery, cucumber, green pepper and onion.
- To make the dressing combine in a saucepan over medium heat: vinegar, margarine, sugar, flour, salt and brown mustard; bring to boil. Continue to cook for 5 minutes stirring frequently. Cool completely.
- Pour cooled dressing over bowl of vegetables. Toss to distribute dressing evenly. Cover tightly and store in refrigerator.
Reviews
i swapped the kidney beans for garbanzo. Was delicious.
Wow one of the pervious reviews was so right, “this is a hidden gem”! Thank you so much for sharing this! I made 2 large pans of it for our event tonite. My family love it and we don’t normally have pasta salad. I used olive oil instead of the butter as one reviewer said. Added black cracked pepper at the end.
I LOVED this! I used canned mixed veggies, since I had them, and Apple Cider Vinegar. It’s the sauce that makes this recipe different than many other pasta salads. Next time I’ll add cubed cheese and black olives. Will make again for sure.
This salad was a real hit! I have made it twice and after 2 adjustments it is perfect for me. I used 1/3 C sugar and olive oil in place of the butter. That kept fork from getting coated with butter. The great thing is you can use other vegetables and different beans. Will use often!
Made this today for the first time, I used garbanzo beans, frozen pea’s (thawed), fresh carrots, cauliflower, broccoli (what I had on hand) I also doubled the dressing and used Stevia in place of sugar, and a Bavarian Beer Mustard (closest thing I had to brown mustard),I didn’t double the Stevia, but used 1 cup. Everyone loved it, but still a bit sweet, I will use a scant cup the next time. This is going to be a summer favorite!
I followed Mama Peppers’ advice and made extra dressing, I doubled the batch because I intended to serve it the next day. At first I used only half the sugar for a double batch then realized it really needed it. The longer you cook the less tangy it becomes as the vinegar cooks off somewhat. Dressing was yummy. The veggies I used were frozen peas and carrots and one can of corn. I excluded the bell pepper, onion and celery. I used ziti pasta. Great recipe for a potluck style pasta, make it your own way! Thumbs up.
Wow, this little gem of a recipe only has 2 reviews (’02 & ’09) and was “faceless” for at least 11 years. I’m glad I discovered it, as my family loved it. I subbed black beans for the kidney beans as we are not huge fans of them, but love black beans. Reading the ’09 review, they mentioned need extra dressing. I prepared 1 ½ batches of dressing BUT ONLY used 2/3 cup of sugar that 1 batch called for. It has a very slight tang, but we prefer that over sweet. This would be very easy to modify using veggies that your family enjoys. I made this for lunches this week (3 packers) and wanted something besides a mayo based dressing. I know I will be making this one again!
Liked this recipe a lot, found that for leftovers I needed to make more dressing.I think you could add any ingredients you like in a pasta salad.
This is a terrific recipe. I made it for a road trip to Phelps, Kentucky to visit my Aunt Norm and Uncle Opie. It traveled in a cooler from Niceville, Florida and we ate it for lunch at a rest stop on the way as well as sharing it with family when we got there. My Aunt says it would be a good dish to serve at the church my Uncle Opie pastors.