Southwestern Pasta Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

By raegrifftie

Ingredients

• For the salad:
• 8 ounces pasta (I used Rotini)
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced orange or yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 cup sweet corn (can use frozen corn)
• 1 large avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 lime, for juicing over the salad
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• For the Creamy Avocado Dressing:
• 2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
• 3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (I use Chobani)
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 1 small jalapeño pepper, chopped and seeds removed
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Details

Servings 4
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 25mins
Adapted from twopeasandtheirpod.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and stir in the pasta. Cook until al dente. Rinse with cold water and set aside.

2. While the pasta is cooking, make the Creamy Avocado Dressing. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

3. In a large bowl, combine pasta, black beans, tomatoes, peppers, red onion, corn, and chopped avocado. Pour dressing over pasta salad and stir until salad is well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the salad, so the avocados don't brown. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve at room temperature or chilled.

Note-you may have leftover dressing, depending on how "dressed" you like your pasta salad. If the dressing is too thick, add more buttermilk.