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This Savory Mini Farfalle Pasta Quinoa Salsa Salad can be served warm or chilled and is great for bringing to a Summer BBQ, Potluck, or any gathering. You can find all your ingredients like Swanson Chicken Broth, truRoots Quinoa and Pace Medium Organic Salsa easily at Sam’s Club. It uses only 1 pot for easy cleanup and a chicken broth reduction method to ensure that you get delicious, savory flavor in every bite!
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Savory Mini Farfalle Pasta Quinoa Salsa Salad
This Savory Mini Farfalle Pasta Quinoa Salsa Salad was the main dish for our little family of 3 Father’s Day celebration.
The salad was so satisfying and delicious that between my husband Eric and I we ate almost all of it and had a couple of servings leftover for lunch the next day.
I garnished it with cilantro flowers from my “humble” potted garden outside our kitchen.
I love garnishing with the cilantro flowers because they are like a more concentrated version of cilantro.
If you don’t have cilantro flowers (Lol, I don’t expect anyone to have those on hand unless you grow it!), parsley or regular cilantro would be lovely on top of this salad.
For those of you that follow my Instagram feed, you may have seen a tease picture of this Savory Mini Farfalle Pasta Quinoa Salsa Salad a few days ago.
I love the Mini Farfalle pasta (a.k.a. bow-tie shape) for a Summer BBQ/party salad.
The shape seems so festive and the mini size is great for that perfect bite 🙂
I included frozen peas with this salad but that can easily be substituted for frozen corn or something similar.
By all means, you can also use fresh peas or corn, if you have them.
I love using a mixed green blend of baby lettuce and/or kale and bonus points if the mixed greens have herbs in them because I love the extra flavor they give.
I always keep some kind of mixed greens on hand to incorporate into whatever I am making.
Swanson Chicken Broth ties this whole salad together with its unique blend of flavors.
The preparation for this salad begins with the pasta & frozen peas being cooked in the broth.
That same broth then cooks the truRoots Quinoa and it reduces until you have this lovely, tender quinoa which adds texture and excellent protein to the finished salad.
The hot cooked pasta and olive oil wilts the mixed greens while the quinoa is cooking.
All the ingredients interconnect in this way of cooking which makes for great flavor and easy cleanup!
I learned that truRoots is Certified USDA Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified (Yay!), Gluten-Free, Ancient Grains, Whole Grain, and most of their items are Sprouted.
Pace Organic Medium Salsa which, by the way, is Certified USDA Organic, garnishes this salad and it can also be mixed throughout if you are sure the people eating it does not mind a little kick of spice to their pasta salad.
The red kidney beans complement the salsa very well!
If you don’t have red kidney beans, I am sure whatever can of beans you have in your kitchen cabinet – for example, black beans, navy beans, or chickpeas – would go nicely.
I recently attended a block party hero event at Sam’s Club and tweeted about it.
The flavors of the Swanson Chicken Broth and all the ingredients are in every bite from the time the salad is ready.
It tastes so good when you serve it warm right after making it and excellent after being chilled the next day too!
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Eric and I loved this Savory Mini Farfalle Pasta Quinoa Salsa Salad and I know you will too!
What’s your favorite Summer salad recipe?
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Savory Mini Farfalle Pasta Quinoa Salsa Salad
This Savory Mini Farfalle Pasta Quinoa Salsa Salad can be served warm or chilled and is great for bringing to a Summer BBQ, Potluck, or any gathering. You can find all your ingredients like Swanson Chicken Broth, truRoots Quinoa, and Pace Medium Organic Salsa easily at Sam’s Club. It uses only 1 pot for easy cleanup and a chicken broth reduction method to ensure that you get delicious, savory flavor in every bite!
Ingredients
- 2 (32 ounce/2 lb./907grams) containers of Swanson Chicken Broth, more if needed *note, I would keep it the 2 containers because if you follow my option 1 for cooking the quinoa, this amount works out perfectly.
- 1 lb ., (454 grams) box of Mini Farfalle (bow tie) pasta or pasta of choice
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup truRoots organic quinoa
- Pace Organic Medium Salsa for garnishing
- 1 can, (15.5 ounce/439 grams) red kidney beans (or beans of your choice), rinsed
- mixed pre-washed baby salad greens
- cilantro flower, , cilantro or parsley for garnishing *optional
- salt and pepper to taste *optional
Instructions
- Pour 2 containers of Swanson Chicken Broth into a large pot (I use a dutch oven) and bring to a boil. If 2 containers seems a bit low, you can always add more Swanson Chicken Broth. *Note, I would keep it the 2 containers because if you follow my option 1 down below for cooking the quinoa, this amount works out perfectly. Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to instructions (depend on pasta of choice). For the Mini Farfalle, 7 minutes yielded 'al dente' pasta and adding another minute would make it more tender. Stir occasionally and turn down heat, if necessary.
- Add the frozen green peas at this point to cook those at the same time.
- When the pasta is done, use a narrowly slotted spoon to remove the pasta into a bowl and stir in a drizzle of olive oil to ensure the pasta does not stick together. Set aside. Save the "pasta water," a.k.a. Swanson Chicken Broth to cook the quinoa.
- Add the rinsed red kidney beans (or beans of your choice) and combine with the pasta-green pea-olive oil mixture.
- Add 2-3 handfuls of the mixed salad greens and stir into the pasta mixture. The heat of the pasta and the olive oil will massage or wilt the greens. You can also chop up the greens if you wish to have a more "chopped" salad look.
- For Cooking the Quinoa: Option 1: To get really cooked, puffy quinoa like I prefer, you can bring the chicken broth to a boil again with the 1/2 cup of quinoa. It will seem like there is a lot of broth to quinoa but a lot of the moisture will cook off (this is key to getting all that flavor!). Cook uncovered on a low simmer for 15 minutes or slightly longer to cook off extra moisture (I let it be slightly soupy). When the quinoa is done, spoon out the quinoa into the pasta mixture and combine. Option 2: You can always follow the instructions on the back of the truRoots package very closely and do exactly 1/2 cup to 1 cup water or broth in a pot and bring it to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes. "Note: You will know when the quinoa is cooked when each grain is translucent and white germ is clearly visible."
- Lastly, add in the Pace Organic Medium Salsa to the pasta mixture on top or combined, add any other garnishes, serve warm or chilled. Enjoy!
Notes
Did you make this recipe? Tag @lifeslittlesweets and hashtag it #lifeslittlesweets
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 95Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 258mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 3gSugar: 1gProtein: 5g
Please note that the Calculated Nutrition is an estimate at best.
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I would definitely make a double batch so we could have it the next day as well. #client
Thank you Carolyn! I am so glad you like it!