Think: pasta salad, but instead of mayo, a delicious vinaigrette made with roasted garlic. This pasta salad is elevated, featuring roasted asparagus and red onion, tossed with a flavorful vinaigrette and fresh basil. Pasta salad with roasted garlic vinaigrette is the perfect solution for someone who doesn’t enjoy a traditional mayo-based pasta salad. This pasta salad is a great side dish to accompany a barbeque, but also is easy enough to make mid-week as a side dish, or for an easy lunch meal prep.
What is in this pasta salad?
This un-traditional pasta salad features roasted asparagus and red onion, which offer great flavor on their own. Combined with a flavorful vinaigrette built around roasted garlic cloves, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, this pasta salad is made with simple, fresh, and delicious ingredients.
The star of this dish is the roasted garlic, which is used to flavor the vinaigrette. It is what sets this pasta salad apart from others in flavor and composition. If you’ve never roasted garlic before, you are in for a treat!
When garlic is roasted, it loses some of that sharp, pungent garlic flavor we are all so used to. Instead, it becomes subtly sweet with amazing depth of flavor. It’s actually hard to explain the flavor, because it’s so unique.
When the roasted garlic is blended, it becomes a paste-like consistency, and it is the perfect base to build a vinaigrette on. The roasted garlic adds such great flavor, that not much else has to be added to the vinaigrette. The only other ingredients to be added are balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. It couldn’t be simpler!
What do I need to make this pasta salad with roasted garlic vinaigrette?
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe:
- asparagus
- red onion
- a bulb of garlic
- chicken broth
- water
- orecchiette pasta
- You can use any other similar shape, like shells. I like the shape of this pasta, and it holds onto the vinaigrette really well.
- balsamic vinegar
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- fresh basil
How to make pasta salad with roasted garlic vinaigrette
Roasting the vegetables and garlic
The first step to this pasta salad (the step that takes the longest) is roasting the vegetables. To start this process, preheat the oven to 400F. Prepare a large baking sheet. Trim the woody ends off the asparagus, and then chop the asparagus into 1″ pieces. Then, peel the outer layer off the onions and slice the onions into rounds, about 1/4″ thick.
Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on the sheet pan. Spray them with olive oil spray and season with 1/2 tsp of kosher salt and some fresh cracked pepper.
To prepare the garlic for roasting, trim 1/4″ off the top of the garlic to expose all of the cloves inside. Spray the exposed cloves with olive oil spray. Wrap the garlic bulb loosely in foil, and place the foil on the baking sheet with the other vegetables.
Roast the vegetables for 20 minutes, and then toss them around, breaking the onions apart so they roast evenly. Then, return the sheet pan to the oven for another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the asparagus and onion from the pan, and return the garlic wrapped in foil to the oven for another 10 minutes.
Make sure the vegetables are cooled before you handle them.
Add the roasted onion and asparagus to a large mixing bowl, and set the roasted garlic bulb aside to cool before assembling the vinaigrette.
Cooking the pasta
While the vegetables roast, get the pot ready to cook the pasta. Add the broth and water to the pot and bring it to a boil. Then, cook the pasta according to package directions, until al dente.
Drain the pasta and add it to the bowl with the roasted vegetables.
Making the roasted garlic vinaigrette
To make the roasted garlic vinaigrette, squeeze the roasted garlic out of the bulb into a food processor. Then, add the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Puree the ingredients to form a paste.
Add the paste to the bowl with the roasted vegetables and pasta. Toss to coat. Add the fresh basil. Taste for seasoning and add extra salt and pepper as desired.
The finished product will look like this. It makes 12 servings at 3/4 cup each.

Equipment
- large pot
- baking sheet
- food processor
Ingredients
- 1 lb orecchiette pasta, equivalent to 1 box; weighed raw, uncooked, dry
- 4 cups broth, beef, chicken, veggie
- 4 cups water
- 2 bunches asparagus, trimmed into 1" pieces
- 2 red onion, sliced into rounds
- 1 bulb garlic
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup basil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Trim the woody ends off the asparagus, and then chop the asparagus into 1" pieces.
- Peel the onions and slice them into 1/4" rounds.
- Spray the vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.
- Trim 1/4" off the top of the garlic bulb.
- Spray with olive oil, and then wrap the bulb loosely in foil.
- Place the bulb wrapped in foil on the baking sheet with the vegetables.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes, then toss the vegetables and roast for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the vegetables from the sheet pan, but continue cooking the wrapped garlic bulb for an additional 10 minutes.
- Remove the garlic from the oven to cool.
- Add the roasted vegetables to a large mixing bowl.
- At the same time as the vegetables roast, pour the stock and water into a large pot.
- Bring the liquid to a boil, and then cook the pasta according to package directions, or until al dente.
- Drain the pasta and add the pasta to the cooked vegetables in the mixing bowl.
- In a food processor, squeeze the roasted garlic from the bulb.
- Add the oil, vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper. Pulse to combine into a paste.
- Add the paste to the cooked pasta and vegetables. Chop the basil and add it to the bowl. Toss to combine.
- Taste for seasoning, and add additional salt or pepper, as desired.
Weight Watchers
Notes
- 5 WW points (green and blue plans)
- 2 WW points (purple plan, if you use whole wheat pasta)
Nutrition
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Grilled Vegetable Farro Salad and Chicken
Absolutely delicious! Love the roasted garlic flavor. Perfect for a side dish if you’re grilling.
I made this today! I didn’t have asparagus on hand, so I roasted zucchini and summer squash along with the onion and garlic. I am adding shrimp to it for dinner. The vinaigrette is amazing!
Can you explain how to adjust this recipe for 4 servings?? Please
Might be a little difficult. I’d just half the recipe for 6 servings or Half that again for 3 servings to make it easier.
Just made the Pasta Salad with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette this evening. I love Steph’s directions! It tastes so yummy just after mixing it all together, I can’t wait to try it tomorrow! I know it’s going to taste amazing!
I made this yesterday. So good!
Delicious pasta salad! I used vegetable broth so that my vegetarian son could enjoy it, also. We ate it hot with grilled burgers. We came back later, it was even better at room temperature. We ate the remainder cold with lunch today. All the wonderful flavors melded together overnight and it was so refreshing! It’s actually a very light pasta salad! I’m planning to make it the night before and serve it to friends with grilled salmon and chicken. Yummy!
Can you make this ahead of times? Say, tonight for tomorrow? Or best same day?
Why does picture show beef broth but recipe calls for chicken broth?🤷🏼♀️
Any broth will work depending on what you like. I usually make it with vegetable stock for the vegetarian in the family. I also have made it with golden balsamic which lightens it up even more. That’s the thing about Steph’s recipes, they’re so versatile and easy!
Delicious warm or cold! This is another of Stephanie’s recipes that I’ve made many times. It’s just so good. I usually serve it as a side dish in place of rice or potatoes, which also means there’s a chance that I can enjoy leftovers the next day. Yay! It’s great with salmon, chicken or shrimp for a filling yet light meal. I’ve mentioned before that I make it with vegetable broth or stock so that my vegetarian son can enjoy it also, and he does! Even though pasta salad is usually considered a Summer treat, I bet if it’s made with beef broth it would be great in the Fall or Winter. You could serve it with meatloaf for a “comfort meal”. Thanks, Stephanie for delicious, easy and versatile recipes!
Love this! Made it tonight and it’s definitely going to be a staple for me! Planning this for future picnics, parties and meal preps. Everyone enjoyed it.
5/5 loved. Make this !