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{This post is sponsored by Old El Paso! I used their Enchilada Sauce to create this quick and easy Mexican inspired pasta salad.
HEYY! Let’s have a Charred Corn and Zucchini Enchilada Pasta Salad Sunday?!?!?
You down with that?
K, COOOOLLLLL! ? ?
It’s back to school month and even though I’m no longer in school, I always think of this time of the year as “back to school’ time. To me this may mean events like organizing my desk, getting new fall clothes, or even buying some fun “school” supplies…aka, the time of year where you actually have an excuse to organize, buy cute fall items, and cook up some easy, but delicious dinners for busy weeknights.
When I was a kid, August was always such a crazy month. My family and I were all doing our best to savor those last days of summer, while also trying to get back into everyday school routines, work on homework, and deal with the fact that we now all had to be up and outta the house by seven-thirty am! It was hectic to say the least.
On busy weeknights, my dad would make pasta salads, this recipe is my spiced up Mexican version! It’s loaded with end of summer veggies, pasta, cheese, and enchilada sauce, for a nice Mexican kick! Best part…it comes together in about thirty minutes!
Sounds pretty good to me!
Charred Corn and Zucchini Enchilada Pasta Salad.
Servings: 6 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 500 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound of your favorite short cut pasta
- 1 inch medium zucchini cut into 1/4 rounds
- 1 red bell pepper quartered
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- kosher salt + pepper
- 4 ears grilled or roasted corn kernels removed from the cob
- 1 (19 ounce) can Old El Paso Red Enchilada Sauce
- 2 ounces goat cheese or cream cheese
- 8 ounces cheddar cheese cubed
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1 avocado diced
Instructions
- In a bowl, toss together the zucchini, red peppers, olive oil, salt + pepper. Toss well to coat the veggies.
- Heat your grill, grill pan, or skillet to medium high heat.
- Add the bell peppers and zucchini, grill 3-4 minutes per side or until char marks appear. This is also when I grill or roast my corn. Remove everything from the grill. Slice the bell pepper into slices.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the pasta until al dente. Drain and add the pasta to a large serving bowl. To the hot pasta, add the enchilada sauce and goat cheese, toss well until the goat cheese coats the pasta completely. Add the cheddar cheese, grilled veggies, corn, cilantro, basil tomatoes and green onions and toss to combine. Top the pasta with the avocado. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
*For added protein you can add one (14 ounce) can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, grilled chicken or shrimp. *Other toss-ins for this could be grilled poblano peppers, fresh spinach, back beans, jalapenos and crispy bacon.
Have a great Sunday! See you guys tomorrow! 🙂
PS. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite bloggers for the Bloglovin 2016 awards…Half Baked Harvest is nominated for best food blog, yeah!!
PSS. I’ve also been nominated for the SAVEUR Magazine 2016 Blog Awards for Most Inspired Weeknight Dinners! I would be so grateful if you would go and vote for your favorite blogger. You can vote everyday from now until August 31st! ?
{This post is sponsored by Old El Paso. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep Half Baked Harvest cooking!! 
}
This pasta salad was amazing – new favorite! I used half the amount of pasta, sauce and cheese but the same amount of veggies and an extra avo. Will try with some jalapeño next time! I’m a vegetarian with a serious meat eater husband and he loved it as much as I did – thanks for the great recipe!
SO happy you two liked it!! good to hear that cutting down on the pasta sauce and cheese was still yummy!! I think jalapeño would make this even better!
Thank you Sarah!!
Ahuge thank you for food inspiration and greetings from Finland! 🙂 This is a perfect comfort food for a rainy afternoon we have here (an also for mexican taste lovers like me and my boyfriend 😉 ), following Olympics with a big bowl of this!
Hi!! So happy you like this pasta salad!! Hope you had a great day(:
My Taco Tuesday totally needs this salad!
What pasta did you choose? I’m new to eating healthy and I like the pasta you useted, I’m also attempting to be a vegetarian. Its a work in progress lol.
HI Oliver! I used bow ties, but any short cut pasta will be great. Please let me know if you have questions, thanks so much!
When do you add the cheddar cheese? With the goat cheese to melt or just at the end? Thanks! Sounds yummy!
Hey Julie! Add the cheddar with the goat cheese. Fixing the recipe now, so sorry about that. Hope you love this, thanks!!
Awesome stuff i am gonna be cooking this in my kitchen real soon.
Thats awesome! Thanks Jane, I hope you enjoy this!
Love this! Will help make continued use of my zucchini surplus. Thank you Tieghan!
Haha! YES! So perfect!!
Made this tonight and I can confirm that it is really good! A few notes:
– used a 14 oz can of enchilada sauce bc I was concerned about 19oz obliterating the flavor of the veggies, and it still turned out great
– skipped basil bc I didn’t have any
– I mixed most of the cheddar in at the same time as the goat cheese (I think the chedder step is missing from the directions?) Also, using shredded cheddar helped it melt quicker.
A+, wife approved.
So happy it was good!!
Glad that all worked well!
Thank you so much!!
So beautiful! Grilled vegetables are absolutely the best!
Thanks Cass!
Yup! I’m totally down with grilled veggies!!! Everytime I see your recipe for the day it just gives me inspiration to be creative with mine. I’m always looking forward to seeing what you’re making for the day! ?
The nicest thing i’ve heard today!! Thank you so much Shelia!!
Looks healthy. I am loving your recipe lately. It looks less complicated to follow. And as usual, love your photo. Blessings!
So happy to hear that Shobee! Thank you!!
A platter of of summer’s best.
(: Thanks Nancy!
Oh my gosh! This looks so delicious! I love that his pasta salad has grilled veggies in it! So perfect for summer!
YES!! It’s my favorite!!
Thanks Andrea!
This looks delicious! I love the charred corn
Thank you Rhian! I love the corn too!!
This looks and sounds amazing!! I would love to try this.
Emma Xx
http://www.emmaslookingglass.com
Thanks Emma! Hope you get to try the salad!