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Caprese Caesar Pasta Salad. A combination of our yummiest, well-dressed Caesar salad mixed together with our favorite fresh Caprese salad, along with plenty of sweet cherry tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella. Add your favorite pasta and this will surely become a staple in your kitchen this spring and summer! It’s almost completely no-cook and comes together quickly and with very little effort. Enjoy this for dinner and save the leftovers for lunch. Or serve it up at your next spring/summer party, it’s always delicious.
It’s probably pretty obvious, with my sweet berry recipes and vibrant light dinners, but I am so excited for summer! With May well underway, we only have a few short weeks until it’s officially summer.
Mother’s Day is this weekend, then Memorial Day, Father’s Day, and before you know it, the 4th of July will be here! It’s officially time to start planning our summer menus and I’m kicking things off with this salad. I love it so much.
It’s basic, but elevated with that creamy Caesar dressing!!
My inspiration
When my dad would cook dinner for the family growing up, a pasta salad was always on rotation throughout spring and summer. I still have yet to share my dad’s pasta salad recipe, maybe later this summer I finally will!
He’d do it up so simply with broccoli, bell peppers, so much fresh basil, and big chunks of cheddar cheese. He’d then toss in the hot pasta and dress it with lots of olive oil.
My dad’s secret was tossing everything together while the pasta was HOT. The cheese would melt over the pasta. It was so good. I still, to this day use his trick of tossing hot pasta with cubes of cheddar. It’s a simple trick, but so delicious.
The details
Like most delicious salads, this recipe starts with the dressing. Typically when you have any kind of Caprese salad, it’s dressed with oil and vinegar, most often a balsamic vinaigrette.
It’s always good, but for this pasta salad, I wanted something creamier. I thought about all my favorite salad dressings and kept coming back to the idea of a Caprese Caesar. It sounded so wonderful in my head, so that’s what I did.
The Caesar dressing is easy, just mix mayo with olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, parmesan, salt, and pepper. I added in a few chili flakes too. Can’t leave those out!!
Now for the salad. You’ll need pasta, fresh mozzarella, sweet cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and then an avocado too.
Mix the pasta with the salad ingredients, then pour over the creamy Caesar dressing, and toss it all up! It’s a simple 1, 2-step salad!
Don’t let the simplicity fool you. This hits all the flavors and it’s the first dish to disappear on any dinner table!
Looking for other salad recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Corn, Tomato, and Avocado Pasta Salad
Pesto Chicken Caesar Salad with Tomatoes and Burrata
Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken and Avocado Bacon Salad
Lastly, if you make this Caprese Caesar Pasta Salad, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Caprese Caesar Pasta Salad
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 592 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1-2 cloves garlic, grated
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 pinch chili flakes, to taste (optional)
Salad
- 1 pound short cut pasta
- 1 head romaine lettuce, shredded
- 2 cups mozzarella balls, use marinated if you can find
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
- 1/2 cup cubed spicy cheddar cheese (optional)
- 1 avocado, diced
Instructions
- 1. To make the dressing. Combine all ingredients in a glass jar and whisk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the pasta to al dente, according to package directions. Drain. 3. In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, lettuce, mozzarella, tomatoes, cheddar, and avocado. Pour over the dressing and toss well to combine. Serve warm or cold. The salad will develop more flavor as it sits.
I’ve made this 3 times in the past few weeks, it’s so good! True family favorite over here and will be a staple for many years.
Hi Haley,
Happy Friday! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks a lot for making it and sharing your review!🍓🍑 xT
Perfect for this rare hot summer in England!!!
Hi April,
Happy Friday! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks a lot for making it and sharing your review!🍓🍑 xT
So yummy!!!
Hi Devon,
Fantastic!! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, love to hear that it was tasty! xT
OMG, so delicious!!
Hi Katie,
Happy Wednesday!! I love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you and appreciate you making it! xT
I made this for Father’s Day – Delicious and SO easy. In the future, I will leave out the romaine lettuce. I don’t feel it added anything extra and it gets a bit soggy if you have any leftovers for the next day.
Hi Lisa,
Fantastic!! I appreciate you making this recipe and your comment, love to hear that it turned out well for you!🍒🥭
Can you make this a couple days ahead?
Hi David,
Yes, that would be just fine for you to do! Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xx
How many servings does this salad make?
Hi Carolyn,
This recipe will make 6 servings. Please let me know if you have any other questions! I hope you love this recipe! xT
Another amazing recipe from HBH. I swear, my family is living off your recipes these days.
Very light and delicious. We skipped avocado because the ones I purchased were ripe and added a small amount of grilled chicken. Delicious!
Hey Liz,
Happy Sunday!! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks a lot for making it and your review! Thanks so much for your kind message! xT
This looks delicious. I don’t really love mayo and am wondering if there might be a substitute option you would recommend. It might be disguised enough tho with the rest of the ingredients but figured it was worth asking. Thank you!
Hi Becky,
I find the mayo really is covered with most of the other ingredients, it just brings a creamy factor. Tahini would also work for you! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Do you have any store bought Caesar dressings you recommend that I could use instead? 🙂
I would try Primal Kitchen brand!
You can find other caesar salad dressing recipes online that don’t call for mayo. I also don’t care for mayo in salads, so I used a recipe I really like from Closet Cooking (search for his “light” version). (I also really wanted a caesar salad dressing recipe with anchovies).
I otherwise followed the recipe as written (including one other commenter’s suggestion of adding grilled (fake) chicken, and it was delicious!
Happy Memorial Day! I had my daughter make this salad for Mother’s Day, and it was delicious. I made this today but used spinach instead of romaine. Thank you for this tasty, easy salad, which will be my “go to.”
Hey Sharon,
Fantastic!! I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks for trying it out! Have a great week:)
This is my absolute new favorite side dish!!! Though really it can be a meal all by itself. Amazing flavor and so colorful! Thank you for sharing this. Will be a new regular addition!
Hi Bri,
Happy Memorial Day!!🇺🇸🎆 I am thrilled to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks so much for making it! xT
Crazy great! I was an Ina Garten devotee in years past but the ratio of “hit it out of the park” recipes of HBH so far surpasses Ina that I almost never look for recipes in Ina’s books – and I have all of them. This salad is one that everyone tried to keep eating before I could even plate it – Wow!
Hey Kathy,
Wonderful!! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your comment, so glad it was a hit! Thanks so much for your kind message! Happy Memorial Day weekend!🇺🇸
I made this today for a girlfriend’s potluck get together. Everyone loved it. A few thoughts though…
The recipe doesn’t state whether to drain the oil from the marinated mozzarella balls or not. I did not. Dumped the whole container, oil and all, into the pasta salad. The recipe also doesn’t say what to do with the freshly torn basil. I added it into the salad.
Next time, I would skip the avocado as it got very mushy in the salad and the leftovers turned brown. I will sub kalamata olives instead.
Hi Melanie,
Thanks for making this recipe and sharing your feedback! You are not using the liquid from the mozzarella balls, the basil is added in step 3:) Please let me know if there is anything else that I can help with! xx
I made this for a potluck and everyone loved it! My romaine was pretty large and the dressing wasn’t quite enough for such a large amount, so I just added a bit of the liquid from the marinated mozzarella container. Great recipe!
Hi Anna,
Happy Sunday!!🍍🥥 Thank you so much for trying this recipe and your feedback, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
I made this pasta salad this afternoon. It is so delicious. I love a good pasta salad and thankfully my husband does too. It just makes a nice side to have on hand. I’m adding chicken to it and serving it for dinner tonight. I’m hoping I can stay out of it!!!
Hi Lisa,
Happy Friday!!😎 I love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it and your comment! xx
Made the recipe & used Lentil fusilli to save on calories, also omitted the Parmesan & oh boy it was delicious. Will deffo make again 👌
Hi Mary,
Wonderful!! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your comment, so glad it was a hit! Happy Memorial Day weekend!🇺🇸
Made this for 1 today. It was interesting with hot pasta and lettuce.
Too much to finish so the other half is in the fridge. Can’t wait to try it cold also. Great flavor and delicious dressing!
Hi Debbie,
Fantastic!! I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed and I appreciate you making it! Have a great weekend! xx