Southwest Pasta Salad

5 from 1 vote

This southwest pasta salad is made with fresh veggies, rotini pasta noodles, and coated in a creamy chipotle ranch dressing. Perfect for summer potlucks or poolside lunches!

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Total Time20

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: southwest pasta salad

Servings:

Author: Joy Shull

Ingredients

16 oz rotini pasta
1 can of black beans drained and rinsed
2 ears of corn cut from the cob
1 red bell pepper chopped
½ red onion chopped
10 oz cherry tomatoes halved
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

For the Chipotle Ranch Dressing

8 oz sour cream
¾ cup mayo
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dill
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons lime juice

Instructions

Make a batch of the chipotle ranch dressing in a blender or food processor
Cook the rotini to al dente according to the package directions, then drain and rinse with cold water immediately
Make the chipotle ranch dressing by combining all of the ingredients together in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Add the drained black beans, corn, bell pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro to a bowl. Once the pasta is cool and mostly dry, add it to the other ingredients in the bowl
Add 1 ¼ cups of the homemade chipotle ranch dressing and stir well to combine. Store the leftover chipotle ranch dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Chill the pasta salad in the fridge for at least one hour before serving

Notes

You will have about 1/2 cup of the creamy chipotle ranch leftover that you can stir into the pasta salad when you serve it, if desired. Pasta salad will dry out in the fridge, so this is a good way to add more creaminess when you serve the leftovers.

If you want your dressing to be less spicy, you can start with using just 1 or 2 adobo peppers and add more to taste

Nutrition