This Corn Tomato & Avocado Pasta Salad is so fresh and full of wonderful summer produce – lots of corn, tomatoes, zucchini and basil. It’s perfect as a side salad or a plant based main dish for summertime!
This salad was inspired by a delicious corn salad my sister-in-law, Becky, made while we were visiting Wisconsin recently. It’s a very simple recipe to toss together. Becky made the recipe without the zucchini, pasta and crumbled cheese garnish and it was excellent. Today I decided to grill some zucchini along with the corn and used up a half of a package of pasta I had in the cupboard as well is a bit of feta I had leftover (use a vegan cheese for plant based or omit).
Corn Tomato & Avocado Pasta Salad
Ingredients
4 ears of corn
1 zucchini
1 avocado, diced
1/2 English cucumber, diced (I used 5 baby cucumbers)
1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
2 Tbls. finely diced red onions (could use a sliced green onion)
handful of fresh basil, chopped
1/2 lb. pasta (I used gemelli)
Optional: crumbled feta or goat cheese (I sprinkled a bit on top of each serving)
Dressing:
1 Tbls. olive oil
1 lemon, juiced (I used a bit of zest as well)
Salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Whisk dressing ingredients together, taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. Set aside.
- Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse and set aside.
- Drizzle a little olive oil over corn and zucchini. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then grill until slightly cooked and charred. Let cool then slice kernels from cob and add to large bowl. Slice zucchini and add to bowl as well.
- Add remaining ingredients to bowl with corn and zucchini and toss with dressing.
- Taste and adjust salt, pepper and lemon, if needed. Serve with crumbled feta or goat cheese, if desired.
Notes
If plant based/vegan, use your favorite brand of vegan cheese to garnish, or omit completely.