Red Lentil Pasta Salad

If you’re looking for an easy, filling salad recipe that takes less than 20 minutes to make, you’ll love this lentil pasta salad.

It’s pure deliciousness on the plate and has a firm spot on my family’s menu rotation.

One of the things I love about the red lentil pasta salad is that it tastes great even if you don’t have every ingredient on hand. And it requires no special cooking skills.

I’ve made it with and without olives and with and without artichokes. And it tastes delicious both ways.

I’m also adding crumbled feta cheese. And it’s something that my family enjoys. But you can skip the feta cheese and turn the Red Lentil Pasta salad into a vegan dish.

Ingredients

Sun-dried tomatoes give the Red Lentil Gluten Free Pasta Salad great texture. If you are looking for easy ingredients that will make your food explode with flavor, add sun-dried tomatoes on your next grocery shopping list.

How to make Red Lentil Pasta Salad

  1. Slice olives and add them to the artichoke hearts. 
  2. The sun-dried tomatoes don’t require much chopping unless you have some large pieces. Then, add them to the olives and artichokes. 
  3. Once the pasta has cooked, drain and chill with cold water. Next, add the pasta to your chopped artichokes, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes. 
  4. Add your gluten-free Champagne dressing and season to taste. Typically, I’ll add a dash of black pepper. 
  5. Optionally, you can sprinkle your pasta salad with some crumbled feta cheese.

More Recipes You’ll Love

Notes and Tips

So if you are a vegan, skip that step.

Thus far, we have no plans to eat exclusively vegetarian or vegan, but most of our diet is plant-based. If you eat fish, you can easily take this dish up a notch and serve it with some broiled salmon.

Check out my super simple and roasted salmon recipe – it pairs exceptionally well with the Mediterranean-inspired red Lentil Pasta Salad. We’ve made this dish dozens of times and found that it keeps well for a day or two.

Should you have any leftovers, I recommend you take the salad out fridge 15 minutes before serving. This way, the dish can slowly rise to room temperature and be even more delicious on the second day.

Buying Red Lentil Pasta

I just wanted to add a word about the ingredients. The closest grocery store to my house is Trader Joe’s, and we buy 90% of our groceries at Trader Joe’s.

But that doesn’t mean you have to use Trader Joe’s products.

If you don’t live near Trader Joe’s, you can, for instance, get this red lentil pasta from Walmart or these (already quartered) Reese’s Artichoke Hearts from Target.

And if you don’t like store-bought dressings, you can easily make your champagne vinaigrette.

The point is that this salad has a lot of ingredients from one type of store, but you’ll have no trouble finding similar products at your local grocery store.

Tools used to cook the Red Lentil Pasta Salad

More Simple Pasta Salads

Share Your Thoughts! If you make this recipe, please rate and review the recipe. Your feedback helps us grow and continue to provide recipes free of charge. Thank you.

Lentil Pasta Salad

Author: Maike Corbett
Prep Time: 8 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Serving Size 6 people
This gluten free pasta salad is a great option for a quick, healthy, and nutritious lunch or dinner. Skip the Feta cheese if you want a vegan dish. 
Save This Recipe Form

Save This Recipe!

Enter your email, and we’ll send you the recipe to your inbox!

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Cook pasta according to instructions. Once cooked, drain and chill the pasta with cold water. Set aside.
  • Combine artichoke hearts, kalmata olives, and sun-dried tomatoes into a large mixing bowl.
  • Combine the chilled, cooked pasta with the chopped artichokes, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes. 
  • Add the champagne dressing and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the pasta salad with crumbled feta cheese.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 435
Carbs: 74g
Fat: 11g
Protein: 9g

Nutritional Disclaimer

Cheerful Cook team members are not trained nutritionists or medical professionals. Calorie information and nutritional values are estimates. If you have nutritional concerns, we recommend using a nutritional calculator.

Maike Corbett is the founder and food blogger of Cheerful Cook, a popular recipe website featuring comfort food recipes from the US and Germany. She has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the AP Wire and MSN.

5 from 2 votes

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




4 Comments

  1. Ooooh this looks lovely! I am always looking for healthy, gluten free recipes. Thank you!

  2. 5 stars
    My mouth is watering! I always look for new and easy gluten free recipes. This is fantastic!! Can’t wait to make it.

  3. 5 stars
    Even my toddlers loved this red lentil pasta salad. I can’t believe it’s Gluten-free!