Salmon Pasta salad is an easy, heart-healthy meal

We eat a tremendous amount of pasta because it’s one of the only things my children will consistently eat, and I find that I can hide protein and vegetables in pasta-based dishes fairly easily. This salmon-and-rotini salad was a hit with my children. I am lucky that my kindergartener likes seafood so much!

No, I don’t do “whole wheat” pasta or lentil pasta or chickpea pasta or whatever’s supposedly healthier than white-flour-starchy-carb pasta. I don’t eat these things because I don’t like them. Feel free to use any pasta of your choice!

(** Farm-raised salmon and wild-caught salmon will have different calorie counts and fat content)

Print Recipe

Salmon Pasta Salad

Total Time20

Servings: 4

Calories: 447kcal

Ingredients

12 ounces wild caught pink salmon
8 ounces rotini pasta
¼ cup chopped red onion
1 cucumber
2 roma tomatoes
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce

Dressing

¼ cup olive oil
3 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

First, mix all of the dressing ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside half for the salad, and use the other half to marinate the salmon a little bit.
You can cook the salmon however you want, but since it's summer, I decided to grill it. Fire up the grill, put the salmon on a piece of aluminum foil and use a pastry brush to brush half the dressing/marinade on the salmon. Wrap the foil up into a packet and cook the salmon on the grill for 10-15 minutes, or until a thermometer registers an internal temperature of 145 °F
Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions and be sure to omit the salt.
Cut up the cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, and red onion.
Once the pasta and salmon have finished cooking, toss the fish, vegetables and noodles together with the reserved half of the dressing.