Cucumber Pasta Salad
This quick and easy Vegan Cucumber Pasta Salad combines a creamy vegan dressing – like a mixture of Ranch and tzatziki – with freshly sliced cucumbers and red onions along with plenty of chopped dill! It’s the perfect unique pasta salad recipe for your next backyard barbecue.
You Will Love This
- It’s the perfect refreshing summer pasta salad. If you’re looking for a different way to use up all those fresh cucumbers from the garden or farmer’s market – look no further! This salad is loaded with fresh, simple, real ingredients that are welcomed departure from the classic meat and cheese filled pasta salads!
- There’s no mayo! Coconut milk is the (not so) secret ingredient that gives this cucumber pasta salad all its creaminess. So you still get that rich, indulgent flavor without the heavy, greasiness that mayo can sometimes bring to a dish.
- Your friends and family will love it – vegan or not! Your vegan friends will be pumped that there is something they can eat the backyard barbeque or family get together. And your non-vegan friends will be shocked how much they enjoyed a dish that’s totally vegan!
Instructions
Cook pasta and toss it in olive oil and a couple pinches of salt and pepper.
Add coconut milk, vinegar, olive oil, dill, Dijon mustard, and garlic powder with a couple large pinches of salt and pepper a small bowl.
Whisk until well combined.
Add pasta, sliced cucumbers, and sliced onions to a large bowl.
Pour dressing over pasta.
Toss to combine. Garnish with fresh dill and enjoy!
Tips
- You will need to use canned full fat coconut milk for this cucumber salad recipe. The coconut milk that comes in a carton is too thin for this and is also totally lacking in the flavor department. Canned full-fat coconut milk is going to give you the perfect flavor and texture to coat every nook and cranny of these noodles!
- The dressing will thicken as it sits. You can add more coconut milk, olive oil, or a splash of vinegar or water to loosen it up. Just be sure to season to taste with salt and pepper after adding any more liquid to the salad.
- This is a great make-ahead pasta salad recipe. Although, because the dressing tends to thicken as it sits, I would recommend not adding the dressing to the noodles until just a few minutes before serving.
- If you’re making this ahead of time, you can mix the dressing ingredients together and refrigerate them for up to 5 days before serving. Just make sure you give the dressing a good mix before adding it to the salad as it will start to separate as it sits.
Try these pasta salads next!
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Cucumber Pasta Salad
This quick and easy Vegan Cucumber Pasta Salad combines a creamy, herb-filled vegan dressing with al dente noodles, sliced cucumbers, red onions, and dill!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 16 oz. rotini pasta
- 2 cups sliced cucumbers (about 1/8″ thick)
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
Dressing:
- 1 (13.5 oz.) can coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped dill + more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions, until al dente. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Toss to coat noodles evenly. Set aside to cool.
- In a small bowl combine coconut milk, vinegar, olive oil, dill, Dijon mustard, and garlic powder with a couple large pinches of salt and pepper.
- Add pasta, sliced cucumbers, and sliced onions to a large bowl.
- Pour dressing over pasta and toss to combine.
- Garnish with fresh dill and enjoy!
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
You will need to use canned full fat coconut milk for this cucumber salad recipe. The coconut milk that comes in a carton is too thin for this and is also totally lacking in the flavor department. Canned full-fat coconut milk is going to give you the perfect flavor and texture to coat every nook and cranny of these noodles!
The dressing will thicken as it sits. You can add more coconut milk, olive oil, or a splash of vinegar or water to loosen it up. Just be sure to season to taste with salt and pepper after adding any more liquid to the salad.
This is a great make-ahead pasta salad recipe. Although, because the dressing tends to thicken as it sits, I would recommend not adding the dressing to the noodles until just a few minutes before serving.
If you’re making this ahead of time, you can mix the dressing ingredients together and refrigerate them for up to 5 days before serving. Just make sure you give the dressing a good mix before adding it to the salad as it will start to separate as it sits.
This recipe is soooo delicious! I doubled the sauce for the pasta (my husband and I are sauce lovers) and ate it with grilled chicken for meal prep lunches. The flavors are absolutely amazing! I will definitely keep this in our rotation! Thank you so much for sharing!! 🙂
Also, how much is one serving for your calorie count? 🙂 THANK YOU!
Great idea, Stephanie! I am super saucy too so I bet that was delicious!! Grilled chicken is a great addition. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
Made this recipe exactly to the instructions and it’s sooooo good with the can coconut. I LOVE COCONUT. Which is the reason I wanted to make it. I think next time I’m going to add cherry tomatoes and maybe olives? Avocado would be great on it too. I would recommended extra dill!
YUM! Those additions sounds delicious! And extra dill is always a great idea 🙂 Thanks for leaving a review, Kristina. I really appreciate it!
With the Coconut Milk, is there a huge coconut presence to the taste? I would like to stick the recipe, it sounds delicious.
Thanks!
Surprisingly, no! I use coconut milk for a lot of vegan recipes to replace traditional heavy cream and as long as there are enough other flavors, you can’t taste the coconut! In many cases, the slight sweetness from the coconut milk actually plays well with the other flavors 🙂 Great question, Terra!
I made this recipe for Easter. It was delicious. I will be making this again soon.
What can you use if allergic to coconut?
If you’re looking for a dairy-free option you could try another plant-based milk. If you’re not worried about keeping it vegan, try heavy cream or half and half in its place. Just keep in mind that you’ll likely need to adjust the amount of liquid you substitute with because coconut milk has a thick, creamy texture.
I used 1/2 cup of Mayo, only 2 tablespoons of the vinegar, dried dill (to my tasting) and then the rest of ingredients as normal. I loved how it turned out! I added shredded carrots, tomatoes, shredded mozzarella cheese also just to make it my own.
This looks like something that would make me do a happy dance! It looks amazing, I might bring a bowl to the office to share 🙂
This was so easy to make!! Served it at a pool party, added black olives and cherry tomatoes. Then I ate more for dinner! Next time I might add avocado.
This was so easy and tasty on a hot day. I added a lot of extra dill because I like dill.
I love adding extra dill too! So glad you enjoyed this pasta salad, Alyssa! Thanks for leaving a review!
Hello! Cucumber pasta salad sounds amazing, but If I wanted to use mayo, how much would you think would be equal to the coconut milk? I have everything to make this except the coconut milk.
Great question, Farah! I’d start with maybe 1/4-1/2 cup of mayo and try mixing it with some milk (if you have some on hand) to loosen it up a bit. Then I’d add more as needed just so it doesn’t become too overwhelmingly mayo forward in flavor. Hope that helps!
I made this for lunch today! So easy and so delicious! The coconut milk gives it that creamy texture it needs. I followed everything to a T and then added finely diced squash and grape tomatoes to the recipe. I used red lentil rotini for my noodles. Wow, I felt so good eating this! I will definitely be making it again! Thanks for a wonderful healthy recipe!
Yesssss – those additions sound DELICIOUS! I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Hayley! Thank you so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
This recipe sounds delicious! Do you serve this warm or cold? I’m going to try it tonight.
I like to serve it cold!! This is one of our family’s favorites. Perfect for this time of year 🙂 I hope you enjoy!!