By Kota Lee |
If you think pasta should only be eaten hot, ideally with tomato sauce and a slab of garlic bread, or only while two dogs eat one strand of spaghetti then romantically kiss, you should broaden your noodle horizons—and you should probably stop watching Lady and the Tramp. Other movies exist. Might I recommend 101 Dalmatians? Or Blue Velvet?
Pasta can be a salad! Douse it with mayo or vinaigrette, add some mix-ins like cheese and veggies, and toss that shiz in the fridge. Voila! Pasta salad. It’s a highly customizable dish, but if you want to put together the ultimate pasta salad—i.e. a pasta salad made with all the best-tasting ingredients—the good news is that we’ve done that legwork for you. Whether you like it creamy or oily, cheese or no cheese, these are the best ingredients for the best pasta salad.
- Trader Joe’s Organic Trofie Pasta
Pretty much any pasta that strikes your fancy can be used to make pasta salad (although, if you make pasta salad with spaghetti, we can’t guarantee you won’t be shunned by society). If you want to have a little fun, try Trader Joe’s trofie pasta from Trader Joe’s. As Sporked contributor Joe Rumrill explains, “Trofie noodles are thin, but dense, resulting in a pleasant chewy texture,” which is pretty ideal for pasta salad. These noodles are longer than the fusilli you’re probably used to, but that just means more surface area for absorbing flavor.
Related: What Is Trofie Pasta and What’s the Best Sauce for This Cool, Trendy Noodle?
Credit: Liv Averett / Trader Joe’s
- Jovial Brown Rice Fusilli
Pasta salad is for everyone—not just people who can tolerate gluten. If gluten doesn’t agree with you, go for Jovial’s Brown Rice Fusilli. Anecdotally, fusilli is the most ubiquitous pasta salad noodle, and this is a great GF version. In our ranking of the best gluten free pasta, Danny Palumbo said, “The problem with a lot of gluten free pasta is that it’s tough, almost granular. That’s not a problem with Jovial. It’s got a great chew and bounciness to it.” You can’t go wrong with this pasta for your salad, even if you can handle gluten.
Related: 9 Best Gluten Free Pastas for Every Type of Pasta Eater
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Kraft Light Mayo
For any salad (pasta, tuna, chicken, etc.), the dressing is important. There are basically two directions you can go: creamy or oily. If you like a creamy pasta salad, Kraft Light Mayo is the perfect pick. It has haft the fat and calories of regular mayo, but it doesn’t have any less flavor. As senior writer Jordan Myrick wrote in their ranking of the best mayonnaise, “It has the exact same texture as regular, full-fat mayo, and I don’t know how they do it. The flavor is rich and super tangy.”
Related: The Best Mayo to Spread on Everything
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- California Olive Ranch 100% California Extra Virgin Medium Rich & Vibrant
If you prefer an oil-based pasta salad over a mayo-based pasta salad, using quality, flavorful oil is key. You can’t go wrong with California Olive Ranch’s extra virgin olive oil. “You can use it for just about anything,” Danny wrote in his ranking of the best olive oil. “It has a pure olive taste that’s rich, mellow, and balanced.” It’s a perfect complement for fixins like sun-dried tomatoes and feta. Which brings us to …
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Mt Vikos Traditional Feta
Not all pasta salad has cheese…but isn’t everything just a little bit better when cheese is part of the conversation. Justine tried a lot of feta to find this perfect specimen. “Made with a mix of sheep and goat’s milk, it has a creaminess up front and it’s somehow moist without being kept in brine,” Sporked editor-in-chief Justine Sterling wrote, adding that there’s an “actual cheesy quality that so many other feta cheeses lack.” It’s exactly the type of cheese that takes a pasta salad to the next level.
Related: Best Feta Cheese from the Grocery Store That Could Almost Fool Your Yia-Yia
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Trader Joe’s Vegan Feta Cheese Alternative
People who don’t eat dairy don’t have to forego a cheesy, salty, briny pasta salad. Trader Joe’s Vegan Feta Cheese Alternative is surprisingly delicious and a pretty convincing dupe for feta made with animal milk. As Justine wrote, “If you crumbled this faux feta onto a salad and told me it was the real dairy deal, I would totally believe you.” Even if you do eat dairy, give this a try—you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Related: The 8 Best Tasting Vegan Cheeses
Credit: Liv Averett / Trader Joe’s
- Trader Joe’s Onion Salt
Onion salt sounds boring, but we assure you this TJ’s version is not. And it’s a real spice rack powerhouse—truly, this would be good on anything and will adds so much savory flavor to a pasta salad. “It’s quite salty, but it has a really excellent oniony, herbaceous flavor,” managing editor Gwynedd Stuart wrote in her ranking of the best Trader Joe’s seasonings. “This would be good on pretty much anything to add a burst of really concentrated onion flavor.” The little bits of herbs add some color to your pasta salad, too.
Related: 7 Trader Joe’s Seasonings That Should Be in Your Spice Rack
Credit: Liv Averett / Trader Joe’s
The Pasta
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
The GF Pasta
Rating:
8/10
Sporks
The Mayo
Rating:
9/10
Sporks
The Oil
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
The Cheese
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
The Vegan Cheese
Rating:
8.5/10
Sporks
The Seasoning
Rating:
10/10
Sporks
How to Make the Ultimate Vegan Tuna Salad Sandwich
By Kota Lee |
Everything You Need to Make the Ultimate TikTok Feta Pasta
By Jordan Myrick |
Sporked’s Guide to the Ultimate Pasta Night
By Jordan Myrick |
About the Author
Kota Lee
Kota Lee is a writer, musician, and circus performer. Despite their burning internal desire to live off of nothing but Soylent, their love of flavor combinations burns much brighter and continues to draw them toward the world of solid food.
