Taco Pasta Salad — 🌮🍅🥑 EASY, ready in 20 minutes, and loaded with great Mexican-inspired ingredients including corn, black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, and more! Serve it as a hearty side or as a stand alone lighter meal. Perfect for picnics, parties, and potlucks because this is a guaranteed family FAVORITE!
Post is brought to you by Santa Cruz Organic®. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own.
Table of Contents
This Mexican-inspired taco salad is loaded with so many layers of flavors, including tender pasta, black beans, juicy corn and tomatoes, creamy avocado, cilantro, green onions, and more. Everything is tossed in limey, taco seasoning-based vinaigrette.
It makes a large batch to feed your hungry family members, friends, and neighbors.
It’s accidentally vegetarian and my daughter said it’s one of the best things I’ve made in ages. Simple ingredients that deliver big time results and flavor.
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The Half & Half Iced Tea Lemonade and their Mango Lemonade go down so easily, and the Mango Passionfruit Agua Fresca is the perfect complement to the Mexican flavors in the recipe. If you’re into fizz and carbonation, you’ll love the and Carbonated Tea Lemonades.
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Ingredients in Taco Pasta Salad
To make this easy pasta salad recipe, you’ll need:
- Pasta
- Black beans
- Mexican shredded cheese
- Cherry tomatoes
- Corn
- Green onions
- Fresh cilantro
- Avocados
- Olive oil
- Santa Cruz Organic Lime Juice®
- Honey
- Taco seasoning
- Garlic
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Taco Pasta Salad
This is a FAST and EASY recipe for taco pasta salad! Here’s an overview of how the recipe is made:
- Stir together the cooked pasta, beans, tomatoes, avocado chunks, corn, green onions, cilantro, and cheese.
- Whisk the pasta salad dressing together in a separate bowl.
- Then drizzle over the pasta mixture and toss to combine.
- Enjoy immediately or pop it into the fridge and serve later.
Recipe FAQs
I recommend using a short, sturdy pasta in this taco pasta salad. Bow-tie, macaroni, rotini, and shells are all good options. They’ll hold up nicely against the heftier ingredients, like black beans and tomatoes.
You’re welcome to add your protein of choice to this Mexican pasta salad. Chicken, ground beef, and ground turkey would all be good additions! My Perfect 20-Minute Baked Lime Cilantro Chicken or Easy Grilled Lime Cilantro Chicken are both easy and tasty options. Or pick up a rotisserie chicken, shred it, and add it right in. I bet a vegan chorizo would also be tasty, if you want to keep this salad vegetarian.
Yes, you can add whatever veggies you’d like to this recipe.
Yes, you may use any canned beans you have on hand. Kidney or pinto beans would both work well in this recipe.
Yes, omit the cheese entirely or use a dairy-free alternative if that’s a concern for yo.
Storage Instructions
In the fridge: Store airtight for up to 5 days, noting the avocado will oxidize as time passes.
In the freezer: I don’t recommend freezing this recipe. The pasta will become grainy and the veggies will become mushy.
What to Serve with Taco Pasta Salad
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Taco Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- ¾ pound pasta, cooked according to package directions (small shells, rotini, bowtie, etc.)
- one 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used no-salt added)
- 2 cups Mexican shredded cheese blend
- about 1 1/2 cups sliced cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups corn, fresh or frozen
- ½ cup green onions, sliced into thin rounds
- ½ cup fresh cilantro, finely minced
- 1 or 2 medium/large Hass avocados, peeled and diced small
Dressing
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup Santa Cruz Organic Lime Juice®
- ¼ to ⅓ cup honey or agave
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning, (I use reduced-salt, medium heat)
- 1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced or finely pressed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
For Serving
- Santa Cruz Organic® Lemonades
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a very large bowl.
- Add the black beans, cheese (note – if you don’t want the cheese to melt, make sure the pasta has cooled before adding the cheese), tomatoes, corn, green onions, cilantro, and stir to combine.
- Add the avocado and stir gently to combine.
- To a medium bowl, add the olive oil, lime juice, honey, taco seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper, and whisk to combine.
- Drizzle the vinaigrette over the pasta bowl, stir well to combine, taste, and check for seasoning balance. Add more salt, pepper, lime juice, honey, cilantro, etc. if desired.
- Serve with Santa Cruz Organic beverages.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pasta Salad Recipes:
ALL OF MY PASTA SALAD RECIPES!
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Quick and Easy Tuna Pasta Salad — 👏🏻🧑🏻🍳 Jazz up a can of tuna with this FAST and EASY pasta salad that’s creamy, satisfying, and chock full of flavor! Perfect for lunch or as a great side dish for dinner!
Classic Macaroni Ham Salad — 💚🧡💛 This fast and easy pasta salad recipe with tender elbow macaroni, bell peppers, carrots, celery, ham, and a super creamy dressing is a family FAVORITE!
Spaghetti Pasta Salad — If you need a FAST and EASY hit for your next potluck, summer picnic, or barbecue, look no further than this spaghetti pasta salad recipe!
BLT Ranch Pasta Salad — EASY, ready in 15 minutes, feeds a crowd, and PERFECT for potlucks and parties. Creamy ranch dressing perfectly coats the pasta and BACON. Guaranteed family FAVORITE!
Italian Chicken Pasta Salad — Easy, ready in 20 minutes, and showcases some of my favorite summer ingredients. It’s perfect for summer potlucks and BBQs, or as a no-fuss family dinner!
Greek Lemon Chicken and Orzo Pasta Salad – EASY, ready in 25 minutes, and feeds a crowd!! Juicy lemon chicken with orzo, fresh spinach, cucumbers, and tomatoes make this a dinnertime WINNER!
Mediterranean Pasta Salad — Juicy tomatoes and cucumbers, black and green olives, crumbled feta, and tender pasta are tossed in a homemade balsamic vinaigrette!
I HAVE NOT TRIED IT YET BUT LOOKING FORWARD TO MAKING IT.
This is light, bright, refreshing and satisfying! Thanks for a great recipe !
Thanks for the 5 star review, Catherine, and I am glad this is a winner for you!
great
I am always on the lookout for tasty, full-flavored, easy recipes for busy days. This I must say ticks ALL the boxes! I’m planning to have an intimate get together and this will be a perfectly satisfying entree. Many thanks.
Glad this is going on your menu and ticks off many boxes!
made it a second time and it was better than the first one. Very delicious and easy to make.
Sending the link to my friend in Germany. Is there anyway your recipes can be translated into german?
Put it into Google Translator
From the moment I read this recipe I knew I had to try it. Thought I had everything on hand except for the fresh cilantro. Started things doing only to find no black beans. Made this using kidney beans and I used dry cilantro leaves which I put in with the dressing. This was sooooo good. Cannot wait to make it again with the black beans. The only thingI will change is to use diced red onions. Thanks so much for this great recipe.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it turned out great with what you had on hand!
what a delicious way to use some of my garden tomatoes, this is SO gorgeous Averie
Thanks Heather! I saw pics of your kids on FB the other day going back to school. Hope you’re hanging in there :)
hey girl- this salad looks so yummy!
Thank you!
This would literally be my heaven; marrying my two favorite dinners!
It was a total dinner win! And we had planned leftovers for days which was great!
I must try this ASAP….looks delicious.
I’m not experienced in “taco seasoning”….I tend to buy my tacos at Taco Bell (don’t judge me.) Anyway, is this amount like a package of taco seasoning for one pound hamburger meat? Or, do you buy a jar of it? Please teach me. Thank you.
It’s a packet near where they tend to keep salsas, beans, refried beans, etc. About 99 cents depending on brand. McCormick, Ortega, store brand, whatever you prefer.
This looks like a tasty and simple dish. Yummy! As my summer winds down and winter starts to creep into my mind… so does a trip to San Diego!
Thankfully it won’t be winter here in San Diego for many more months and it’s mild and brief :)
Finally a recipe eithout French Dressing! Looks great!
Lol I know! No French, you’re in business!
The taco pasta salad looks amazing!! And I regularly buy Santa Cruz fruit juices!!
Oh that’s great to hear!
All of my favorite foods! And I have Sungold tomatoes in my garden! Great looking recipe, thanks. Pinned.
Thanks for pinning! I love Sungold tomatoes too!
This looks like it is full of flavor! I love the taco seasoning in the vinaigrette and I know I ‘d make extra to have on hand for other salads later. Our office is receiving all kinds of tomatoes right now and I have a nice assortment of red and yellow cherry tomatoes that would be perfect in this!
I wish I was receiving all sorts of tomatoes! That would be my kind of office :) The vinaigrette is so tasty with the taco seasoning and this makes a big batch, perfect for parties or planned leftovers!