This warm pasta salad is loaded with summer corn and zucchini and fresh basil. It goes great with any protein or enjoy it as a main dish.
Warm Pasta Salad
I absolutely can not turn down a good pasta salad on a hot summer day. This warm pasta salad is made with summer corn, zucchini and basil and can be served alongside anything you’re grilling. It’s such a great use of in season produce, and so easy to make!! Try it with my BBQ Chicken or my Salmon Skewers. Some of my other favorite pasta salad recipes you may like are Shrimp Tortellini Pasta Salad and Greek Pasta Salad.
Hi! My name is Olga and I’m the creator of Mango & Tomato, where I’ve been sharing my original recipes, restaurant reviews and food photography for the last four years. Through blogging I get to tell my readers about my childhood food memories, how travel influences the food I make today and my favorite places to eat out. Most importantly, though, I get to meet the other people who are passionate about food. Mostly, these “meetings” happen through social media, but in rare cases I’m lucky to meet them in real life. Gina, is one of those people: we met during a trip to the POM Wonderful orchards and have stayed in touch ever since. I’m psyched to be able to share a recipe with you all on Gina’s blog!
How To Make Warm Pasta Salad
- Cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions and set aside.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet.
- Saute zucchini for five minutes on each side.
- You might have to do this in several batches to ensure that zucchini is cooked in one layer.
- Remove zucchini from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the remaining teaspoon of oil, corn and red onion and saute for five minutes.
- Combine slightly cooled pasta with the remaining ingredients.
- Serve this dish hot or at room temperature.
Serving Suggestions
If you want to make a protein to go with this, try some of these ideas:
Storage
This warm pasta salad keeps well in the refrigerator and makes excellent leftovers.
More Pasta Salad Recipes You’ll Love:
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Orzo Pasta Salad with Grilled Veggies
- Warm Pasta Salad with Corn and Zucchini
- Lobster Roll Pasta Salad
- Italian Shrimp Tortellini Pasta Salad
Warm Pasta Salad with Corn and Zucchini
Ingredients
- 4 tsp olive oil
- 4 cups sliced zucchini, 1/3″ thick
- 2 cups fresh corn kernels, from about 3 ears of corn
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup black Italian styled olives, halved
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 oz uncooked pasta, {I used medium sized shells}
- crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 8 basil leaves, chopped
Instructions
- Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions.
- Set aside.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet.
- Saute zucchini for five minutes on each side.
- You might have to do this in several batches to ensure that zucchini is cooked in one layer.
- Remove zucchini from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the remaining teaspoon of oil, corn and red onion and saute for five minutes.
- Combine slightly cooled pasta with the remaining ingredients.
- Serve this dish hot or at room temperature.
- It keeps well in the refrigerator and makes excellent leftovers.
I LOVED this!
Served with your flounder picatta.
The T of white wine vinegar was the perfect touch with the zucchini, corn and purple onion.
Great!!
First time making this, used half pasta but two zucchini and two corn on cob –really nice pasta, the white wine vinegar at the end does really give it some zip. Had mine as is and others added parm. Will be nice to have left over. Liked someones idea to add white beans it it, I think that would be good.
I made this again and I love it! Thanks so much for sharing!
I made this last night. It was really good…hard to stay away from it after I reached my WW point limit. Thanks so much for sharing.
How many cups is 8 oz dry pasta?
It varies depending on the shape, usually it's a half package if the package is 16 oz
Delicious! We had this as a side for dinner tonight and the entire family loved it.
I've made tons of your recipes and this is one of my favorites. My husband ate 3 servings! How do you think it would taste if I added a can of white beans next time?
Hi Gina,My 10 years old granddaughter made this for dinner. We loved it. Thank you for all your wonderful foods you've brought into our lives.
amazing!!
I made this last night – added a bit of olive oil as well and some parm cheese at the table. Delicious! Also, the onions were so good, I will double or triple them next time!
I am gonna make this tonight with my last farmer's market haul. I was thinking of adding some garbanzo beans to it as well.
I was so excited to find this recipe because I had everything in the house…Or so I thought! Turns out I had NO pasta (craziness, I know). I ended up using quinoa in its place and it was absolutely fabulous! I love the nutty taste of quinoa, and I'm crazy about the texture of it too. 🙂
Couldn't have been more pleased! Thank you so much!
YUMMY! This recipe is awesome!
We had this for dinner and we loved it. I used balsamic vinegar and added a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. It was light and perfect for summer. Thanks so much!
Made this last night and we loved it. I added some Romano cheese to it and it was awesome! Great recipe, thanks for posting!
Carolyn and Robyn, so glad to hear it worked for you. Yes, cheese is a delicious addition and I thought of it but knew it would not pass Gina's requirements 😉 I also added a bit of mayo to mine!
Perfect timing – I had some squash that needed to go, and this was absolutely delicious! Thank you Olga for sharing!
I have some zucchini that needs to be cooked now or never, so I am so glad I stumbled upon this! I can't wait to make this tonight. I've eaten way too much junk food at work today, and I'm looking forward to this as a light dinner tonight.
Thanks for the recipe!
This looks awesome, I can't wait to try it. Especially since I have some zucchini that needs to be used up. Also, I tried your blueberry poppyseed muffins last week and they were fantastic!!! I'm going to try making them again and omit the blueberries just because my son isn't the biggest blueberry fan. The browned butter makes such a difference, you can really taste it.
If i were to do gluten free pasta what would the points plus be for that?
I'd have to calculate to be sure.
thanks for the great summer recipe!
Hi there
I have been experiencing problems with your print with image button, it freezes my PC since a week or soo, other members of my family also. Can you see if it's a problem on your blog. Kindly yours
P.S. Most important of all Love you and your family and Thank you for providing us with all your fresh Ideas in sumer recipees
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This is lovely, Olga! I am going to salad potluck this week and I think I may have to make this. Gorgeous!
I cooked this recipe tonight, because I already had zucchini and big bag of bulk farfalle tricolore. Every bite is magnificent! Thanks Gina & Olga.
So glad you enjoyed it!!
woo hoo! I'm always nervous when people make my recipes. Glad it worked out for you! 🙂
Really like the idea of a warm pasta salad! I bet the corn goes really well with the more Italian flavors here.
I guess you add vinegar, olives, basil at end? Almost ready to eat!
Yup, where it says to combine the pasta with 'remaining' ingredients.
I used sweet basil since it's what I had on hand, and balsamic vs. white vinegar – turned out scrumptious! Going to make it again with white, to see which way we like it better. Didn't last long in this house!
YUMMY! This recipe is awesome!
Every single recipe looks and is so yummy.
YUM. must try. olga, the pictures are GREAT. love the red dish towel as well 🙂
So happy to hear that! I think the towel was something I picked up in Target on clearance.
When do you add the white vinegar?
At the very end. It adds a bit of acidity and brightness.
Hope this helps.
This looks wonderful! I just picked up some fresh zuccini and corn from the farmers market! I'm a huge fan of leftovers so I'll definatly be making this for my husband and myself to take for lunch! Thanks for the recipe Olga!
You are very welcome 😉
Oh my word this looks delicious. Makes me want some zucchini!
This looks delicious. Can't wait to try it!
YUM! Can't wait to make this for a family reunion so I know I have something healthy to eat!
So happy to be able to share my recipe with everyone! Glad you like it 😉
I love that you are doing Meatless Mondays, my vegetarian daughter will love this with whole wheat pasta.
This looks amazing! Put this right into Evernote for future use!
Love this summer salad!