This vegan pasta salad is coated in a creamy homemade dairy-free ranch made with hemp seeds. It’s the best healthy pasta salad recipe that makes for the perfect picnic food or a delicious bbq side!
Vegan Pasta Salad with Homemade Dairy-Free Ranch
You know those recipes that are born out of pure necessity, such as when you were a little ambitious at the grocery store and now have a million and three vegetables to use up before they go bad and an overflowing pantry?
Yah. That’s how this vegan pasta salad was born. Fresh veggies + pasta = an instant meal. Slather on some dairy-free ranch dressing made from almighty hemp seeds (!!!), and you’ve got a winner. 🏆
Ingredients for Vegan Pasta Salad
The beauty of this vegan ranch pasta salad is that you can also customize it to what you have on hand! We’re packing it full of veggies, making our own dairy-free ranch, and I recommend using a chickpea pasta for added protein to balance it out and make for a healthy pasta salad!
- Pasta. Use what you have! If you want to make it a more balanced meal, I recommend something like chickpea pasta to add protein.
- Greens. I used romaine, but spinach, kale, cabbage or other lettuces all work!
- Veggies. I used carrot, bell pepper, celery, cucumber and radishes because that’s what I had on hand. Leftover roasted broccoli, sauteed zucchini, or tomatoes would also be delicious! If you don’t have chickpea pasta, you could also add canned beans for more plant-powered protein.
- Hemp seeds. We’re making our own dairy-free ranch for this vegan pasta salad, and hemp seeds are our base! They’ll make a super creamy dressing and are packed with omega 6 and 3.
- Almond milk. Any dairy-free milk will work, just look for unsweetend.
- Fresh parsley. For that fresh, herby goodness in our dairy-free ranch.
- Lemon juice. You’ll need about ½ lemon.
- Dried herbs. You’ll want both chives and dill for that classic ranch flavor.
- Apple cider vinegar. This helps add acidity to our vegan ranch.
- Garlic cloves. Ranch isn’t complete without garlic! However, fresh minced garlic will oxidize the longer it’s stored and go bitter, so if you don’t plan to eat your vegan pasta salad right away, store the dressing separate from the pasta salad in an air-tight container and add when you’re ready to eat it, or use 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder instead.
- Maple syrup. Agave could also work.
How to Make Homemade Dairy-Free Ranch
Probably the best part of this vegan pasta salad is the homemade dairy-free ranch. It’s so good you’ll literally want to drink it… but don’t. You need it for the vegan pasta salad!
So many vegan ranch recipes use cashews, but I want my friends with nut allergies to be able to get in on the vegan ranch love, too! We’re using hemp seeds to make the base of our vegan ranch. Hemp seeds are a great source of healthy fats and plant protein ( I told you it was a healthy pasta salad!), and they’ll help to make our dairy-free ranch creamy and thick just like the original.
The best part about this dairy-free ranch? All you have to do to make it is dump all the ranch ingredients into a blender, turn on the blender and boom – you’ve got a delicious vegan ranch. SLATHER IT ON EVERYTHING.
More Vegan Pasta Salad Recipes
There’s a reason pasta salad is a go-to summer recipe. It’s so easy to make and this ranch pasta salad is truly no exception. If ranch isn’t your style then don’t sweat it! Check out one of these vegan pasta salad recipes instead:
- Vegan Caesar Pasta Salad with Chickpeas
- Vegan Avocado Caprese Pasta Salad
- Italian Vegan Pasta Salad
- Creamy Vegan Mexican Pasta Salad
- Vegan Curried Pasta Salad
- Vegan Caprese Salad with Orzo
Vegan Pasta Salad with Homemade Dairy-Free Ranch
This vegan pasta salad is coated in a creamy homemade dairy-free ranch made with hemp seeds. It’s the best healthy pasta salad recipe that makes for the perfect picnic food or a delicious bbq side!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pasta of choice*
- 4 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 2 medium ribs celery, chopped
- 1/2 medium cucumber, chopped
- 3/4 cup radishes, chopped
- 1/2 cup hemp seeds
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
- 2 tablespoons dried chives
- 1 tablespoon dried dill
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (about 1 teaspoon)**
- ½ teaspoon maple syrup
- Coconut bacon, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- In a large bowl, add lettuce, carrots, bell pepper, celery, cucumber, and radishes. Toss to combine. Add pasta; toss until all ingredients are mixed together.
- In a blender or food processor, add hemp seeds, almond milk, parsley, lemon juice, chives, dill, vinegar, garlic, and maple syrup. Blend until smooth.
- Pour ranch dressing over the salad; toss to fully coat all ingredients.
- Top with coconut bacon, if desired.
Notes
*I used chickpea pasta, but you can use any whole-wheat or gluten-free variety you prefer!
**Fresh minced garlic will oxidize the longer it’s stored and go bitter. If you don’t plan to eat your pasta salad right away, I recommend using 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder instead of fresh garlic in the dressing.
*I used this homemade coconut bacon recipe.
