Summertime Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Corn and Jalapeรฑo Pesto
Healthy pasta salad featuring bold summer flavors, including tomatoes, corn and black beans tossed in fresh pesto! It's a great vegetarian side dish.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
Here we are, smack dab in the middle of June, and I’m looking out at gray skies. Why?! I don’t know about you, but dreary weather slows me down and sunshine motivates me to skip right along. At least I have a bowl full of summertime goodness in the fridge to tide me over for a while.
This salad concept came to me when I found an ear of corn in my vegetable drawer, a remnant of my cowboy caviar recipe. I whipped up a bold pesto made with fresh cilantro and parsley, toasted pepitas and a jalapeño, which adds extra freshness and a bit of kick.
Then I tossed in some sliced tomatoes, raw corn and black beans. Pasta salad for days! You can easily change up the flavors, and I’ve typed up some suggestions below.
If you’re sensitive to spice or find the idea of jalapeño in pesto to be downright strange (I think it’s lovely), you can skip it altogether. For less spice, be sure to remove all the membranes and seeds from the jalapeño. You might also taste the jalapeño beforehand to make sure you haven’t gotten an overpoweringly spicy pepper on your hands.
Feel free to change up the herbs in the pesto, too. I’m crazy for cilantro but basil would be great, too (or just double the parsley for parsley pesto). If you find the pesto to be too strongly flavored for you, try letting it rest for 30 minutes or mixing in some Parmesan to temper the flavor a notch.
I love the salty, creamy feta in this recipe, but for a dairy free/vegan version, replace it with avocado. You might need to add a bit more salt, to taste. Sun-dried tomatoes are a great add-in, if you have some. I like the dehydrated kind from Trader Joe’s, which are somehow still pliable enough to eat right out of the bag.
Summertime Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Corn and Jalapeรฑo Pesto
This healthy pasta salad features bold summer flavors, including tomatoes, corn and black beans tossed in spicy, fresh pesto! It’s a great vegetarian side dish for potlucks and barbecues. See paragraph above for variations and substitution suggestions! Recipe yields about 8 cups salad, which is enough for 4 main or 8 side servings.
Ingredients
Pasta salad
- ½ pound whole grain bow-tie pasta or rotini or penne
- 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked black beans
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes (10 ounces), sliced into thin rounds
- 1 ear fresh corn, shucked (about ½ cup fresh corn kernels)
- ½ to ¾ cup crumbled feta or diced avocado
Jalapeรฑo herb pesto
- 1 cup lightly packed fresh parsley
- 1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro or basil
- 1 to 2 medium jalapeรฑos, roughly chopped (remove seeds and membranes for less heat), optional
- 1 medium lemon, juiced
- 1 medium garlic clove, roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds) or slivered almonds
- ½ cup olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta until al dente, according to package directions. Before draining, reserve about a cup of cooking water. Drain and return to pot. Set aside.
- Toast the pepitas in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they are making little popping noises and turning lightly golden on the edges. Set aside to cool a bit.
- To make the pesto, combine the herbs, jalapeรฑo, lemon, garlic and salt in a food processor. Pour in the pepitas. Pulse a few times and then run the machine while drizzling in the olive oil until the mixture is well blended, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
- Pour enough pesto into the pasta to lightly coat it once tossed (you might not quite need all of it). Add a small splash of pasta cooking water and toss well. Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl and add the drained black beans, sliced cherry tomatoes, fresh corn and feta or avocado. Stir until combined. This salad tastes best after it’s had a chance to marinate for about 30 minutes, but you can serve it right away if need be.
Notes
Make it vegan/dairy free: Omit the cheese and use diced avocado instead.
Make it gluten free: Use gluten-free pasta.
Make it nut free: Be sure to use pepitas, which are seeds, rather than almonds or another nut in the pesto.
Storage suggestions: This recipe keeps well for several days in the refrigerator, covered. Leftovers are great served warm or chilled. If you want to change it up/stretch it out, add some fresh, leafy greens and a drizzle of lemony dressing.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionistโs advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Delicious! Made this last night, and it’s so, so good! Great for a lunch-to-go.
I brought this to a work potluck and everyone loved it! Thank you for a great recipe!
What a great option for a potluck! Thank you for your review.
This is the BEST! Made it for the whole family and we used the avocado version as I do not like feta cheese. Also, half of my family does not like Cilantro, so we used 2 cups of parsley. We had an all salad meal, with 3 bean salad and a butternut squash/zucchini salad. While they were all good, this one stole the show and was everyone’s favorite! Can’t wait to try it with Cilantro. This is definitely going to become a favorite. With the spice – I may even try it with mango to give it a sweet and spicy flavor.
Thanks for sharing your variation, Theresa! I appreciate the review.
I made this last night, and it was a huge hit. My husband usually doesnโt like pesto but he loved this one. I will definitely make this one again.
Great to hear, Robyn!
Any idea if the pesto would freeze well? Iโm thinking of making this on a camping trip but doing the pesto ahead of time and freezing it.
Hi Kayti! Did freezing the pesto separately work? I want to make it for a beach trip, but prep the pesto in advance for easy cooking on vaca!
Took this dish to a potluck picnic today. I needed something that I could make ahead and serve cold. I subbed walnuts for pepitas and lime for lemon. Got lots of Likes as usual when I make your recipes. Thanks!
That sounds like a delicious way to substitute! Thank you, Mary. I appreciate your review.
Do you recommend freezing the pesto? I made a batch to help my husband with dinner prep one evening and he missed it in the fridge and made a new batch. Also, the recipe is delicious!
You can freeze pesto! I recommend freezing in ice cube trays! Let me know how it works for you!
OMG this was sooo good! I found an almond/pepitas mix at the supermarket and that worked great. I liked the pasta dish so much I ate the whole batch in 12 hrs. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Joe! Thanks for your review.
What vegetarian parmesan is your favorite? Ever since i found out about rennet I’ve been struggling to find one…
Hi Molly! I usually have good luck with the 365 brand at Whole Foods.
“You might not quite need all of (the pesto)”??? Lordy, I was scraping the processor bowl like it was liquid gold! It’s sitting overnight to meld, but really looking forward to lunches this week. Thanks for another winner in this house.
Ha! I’m glad you loved it, Mike.
Yummy!!! I have never made pesto before, so this was a real treat! Will be eating this salad all week!
Thank you for sharing, Lea!
This is one of our favorite C&K recipes! Easy to make and lasts forever. If you like it spicy, leave some of the jalapeno seeds in for the pesto. We would highly recommend this one!
I’m happy to hear it! Thanks for sharing, Deanna.
This is SO good it has become my favorite summer pasta recipe. I like to add jalapeno pieces to the pasta itself too! Amazing, satisfying side or full meal.
The best pasta salad I’ve ever had! Made without cheese or avocado and it tasted amazing.
Made this for my sisterโs birthday on the 4th of July and it was a hit! The toasted pepitas add an earthiness to the dish and the spice of the jalapeรฑo is just right; I didnโt deseed it either and the heat was not too much to handle. Will definitely be making again for future family functions :) Thank you cookie & Kate!
This recipe is great! It was such a hit with my family next to our fish tacos. I just made another batch with double the tomatoes/corn/beans and no pasta (for my carb conscious side) and it is so delicious this way too. Thank you!
This jalapeรฑo pesto is amazing!
I have just made this for lunch. I couldnโt decide between the avocado or feta so I used avocado then sprinkled some feta on top. Another delicious recipe
Do leftovers freeze well?
Hi Natalie! I haven’t tried to freeze this one and not sure this would freeze the best with the pasta and ingredients combination.
This is soooo good! I didnโt have a lemon so I used red wine vinegar. I didnโt have parsley so I used extra cilantro. I didnโt even have corn so I used a can of hominy. Thatโs the great thing about pasta salad…use what you have! The best part is this pesto! Yummy yummy! Great recipe! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Melissa! Thank you for your review.
This is so yummy. I didn’t have corn, but it was still great! Even my toddlers loved it (super win!). I used avocado instead of cheese as well. Love it!
My whole family loved this salad. I put 2 (supposedly) hot peppers, but the salad did not taste hot at all. I live in France and usually there is no information on the variety of peppers on the package – they resemble jalapeรฑos but…??
The salad does not look pretty, to my opinion, but I really donโt mind since itโs so good!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Nathalie!
Would frozen corn work for this? Or suggestions for substitutes for the corn?
Hi, you could try thawing it first. Let me know what you think!
Love this recipe and the twist on pesto! Made it with Banza pasta for a gluten free version and it’s delicious
That’s great, Judy! Thank you for your review.
Do you cook the ear of corn first?
Hi, no need to cook! I hope you love it.
Made this tonight and it is delicious! I put one jalapeรฑo in the pesto and one jalapeรฑo chopped up in the salad. Iโm also not a fan of tomatoes, so I did red bell pepper instead. Lovely!
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Amy! I appreciate your review.
I’ve made a lot of your recipes, but this is without a doubt my favorite thing I’ve ever made. It was so good!
Hooray! Thank you for sharing, Kimmy.
Can I use pine nuts instead of pepitas? I forgot to buy pepitas at the store
Hi, you can try it. Let me know how it turns out!
Amazing! I added to the base: Vidalia onion, olives, celery and used a salad bean mix rather than black beans. It’s July so basil, cilantro and parsley were in the garden. I liked the pepitas in the pesto very much; great texture. What a cool and tasty dish. Thanks.
You’re welcome, Helen! Thank you for your review.
Love all of your recipes and this one was exceptional!
Thank you, Nancy! I’m glad you loved it.
Made this tonight with fresh summer herbs, corn and tomatoes! Fantastic!!!
Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome, Keely! I appreciate your review.
I have made this several times and it is delicious. Can I freeze the pesto?
Hi Toni! Sure, as other pesto tends to freeze well. Let me know what you think when you try it!
INCREDIBLE!!! I love all your recipes Kate!
Wonderful to hear, Angela! I appreciate your review.
I know this is an older recipe, but this popped up when I was googling for some easy lunch ideas. SO fantastic. Used cilantro for the pesto, and protein pasta. Great flavor!
That’s great to hear, Kristy!
This is a delicious change from a traditional pasta salad. The star is the jalapeno pesto. The salad itself is very adaptable. I added pickled red onions, zucchini, radish, green onions and capers. Since pesto typically has parmesan cheese in it, I added about 1/2 cup to the salad and used the crumbled feta as a garnish. I also cooked the corn first. The leftover pesto froze well.
We loved this! Very hearty but also healthy. We added some onions and peppers and we can’t wait to eat the leftovers.
This was SO GOOD! I made it with basil and doubled the recipe so weโd have plenty – YUM! My husband told me itโs one of his favs now too. Perfect hot summertime dinner.
Great to hear, Kristin! I appreciate your review.
This was SO GOOD! Great summer meal!
Great to hear, Kristin!
Such a great salad and any leftovers are a bonus, which is great for a salad dish. I used almonds rather than pepitas and I know it would have been next level with the corn on the cob charred but I used canned sweet corn and it was still a big hit. Easy for lots with difficult diet issues too.