Today’s green pasta party and $300 giveaway – woot woot! – is sponsored by Oliviers and Co., makers of olive oil, vinegar, and most importantly, that heavenly basil spread.
Sometimes I need, want, just completely love green foods. This is one of those major big times since I’m still coming down from two weeks of vacation where, for me, green foods take a back seat to grilled pork and freshly caught and fried Walleye tacos. So I’m ready, guys. Bring me the green things!
This pasta salad contains 1-2-3-4-5 fresh, healthy ingredients assuming that olive oil and salt don’t count towards my total cause you’re nice like that. Can we just make those freebies? Five is such a nice number for my bouncy grocery store mind.
Favorite thing about simple recipes (hi, five ingredient green pasta salad): the higher the quality of the ingredients, the fewer ingredients you really need because the flavor of even just one ingredient is so over-the-moon-delicious. This pasta salad, which – side note – would be perfect warmed up for dinner OR eaten cold for lunch as I can assure you from experiencing both! features a few of those high quality ingredients alongside a few grocery store basics.
I have always had this thing about high quality olive oil – if I’m going to use the really good stuff, I want to TASTE it. So in this here salad, I took some Oliviers and Co. olive oil and drizzled it over the top, cold, pure, right on the greens, just before diving in so I could really fully taste and appreciate the joy. As in j to the o to the y.
It’s tempting for an ingredient and flavor obsessed girl like me to make this a one-million-foods-in-a-bowl-party, but there’s no need to get wild and crayzee with the food shenanigans. This is food minimalism at its best: just really high quality, delicious vegetables and herbs in a big bowl of summer freshness drizzled with beautiful olive oil that has flavor you can taste.
PS. Me = dipping my face in that bowl. You = wondering if I’m serious. I am.
You know those nibbly little pasta tubes? Yes – THOSE ones. Bring them on.
This pasta salad fiesta starts with the baby pasta tubulars getting tossed up with green beans which are obviously cut in a copycat shape of pasta tubes because matchy-matchy is funnnn. The green continues with some chopped up spinach, a handful of Parmesan, and then the best thing happens: Oliviers & Co. basilic – basil and olive oil spread comes a’calling.
This is where Oliviers and Co. gives us a hand: this company makes what is considered some of the world’s best olive oil, probably because they are involved in every step of the olive oil process, from overseeing family farms throughout Europe, to the mills, bottling facilities, and ultimately to its boutiques. We’re talking about grove-to-table products here. Two thumbs up!
And one of their most wonderful olive oil products (which I got to sample and then: true story: I had to email them and ask for another jar for this here recipe partnership because the first one was gone in about 2 hours) is the Oliviers & Co. basilic basil and olive oil spread that I’m using as a sort of dressing in this recipe. In addition to using it for this salad, I’ve also shmeared it all over my poached egg and avocado toasts on several occasions – which reminds me, would it be weird to have that for both breakfast and lunch today? – and put it on, wait for it, PIZZA. The fact that it’s not traditional pesto (no nuts, no garlic, nothing besides basil and the most pure, beautiful olive oil) makes it extremely versatile. And yummy. *licks fingers*
Alright, I think it’s time for me to leave you and the five ingredient green pasta salad alone for a little while. It’s fantastically, wonderfully simple. If you don’t make this or your own local summertime variation of it within 24 hours, you are a food criminal and your punishment involves lunch at my house where we sit outside and drink Pellegrino and eat this salad with an extra scoop of Parmesan. Mmk?
Five Ingredient Simple Green Pasta Salad
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This Five Ingredient Green Pasta Salad is fresh, healthy and delicious with just five simple ingredients. New favorite? Yes!
Ingredients
The Essentials:
- 2 cups cooked small tubular pasta
- 2 cups chopped green beans
- 2 cups shredded spinach
- 1 jar Oliviers and Co. basilic – basil and olive oil spread
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- salt to taste
- fresh lemon juice to taste
The Extras:
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup Oliviers and Co. olive & basil oil
- ¼ cup Oliviers and Co. organic balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Toss the cooked pasta with a little olive oil to prevent it from sticking (and to make it extra yummy). Heat a little bit of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the green beans and the garlic cloves (if using, which I recommend because it’s delicious) and saute quickly just until the garlic is fragrant and the green beans turn bright green and tender. Toss the green beans and garlic with the pasta. Place in the fridge to cool for 15-20 minutes otherwise you’ll wilt the spinach.
- When the pasta is cool, add the spinach, basil and olive oil spread, Parmesan, and salt. Toss, taste, and adjust as necessary. I like to serve each individual portion with a drizzle of the O&Co. olive oil and a splash of balsamic if you like a little tang in there.
Notes
I’ve also added bacon, tomatoes, chickpeas, fresh basil leaves, and other ingredients to jazz this up and use up whatever ingredients I have on hand – customize away! Also, for my vegheads out there, just replace or omit the Parmesan with a vegetarian-approved cheese.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian-Inspired
Keywords: green pasta salad, pasta salad recipe, healthy pasta salad
{This Giveaway Is Now Closed.}
Annnnd that’s a wrap! Thanks for checking in on the green pasta salad today, you most awesome readers and food lovers. I hope your first week of August has been fab and I hope your weekend includes some really really good food. XO
I too love green food, nothing like a pop of green for a meal. Makes you think you’re eating so healthy, which of course with this easy peasy recipe…….duh Laura, you are!! yay.
I’m a sucker for high-end olive oil too. You nailed it, higher quality ingredients make such a difference. Too bad for my waist line that I just discovered high-end butter….oh my!
But I’ll just eat this salad for the next few meals and be ok. Thanks for an awesome giveaway!!!
i love pasta, and everything that has a relation with italian food 🙂 just yummy
I always feel so healthy when eating a meal that has a ton of green in it! This salad looks so good! And those olive oil bottles? Beautiful packaging! I’ll definitely have to try the basil infused, there’s nothing like high end olive oil to take a dish to the next level.
Loving all that green!! So yummy!
Beautiful recipe! I too am a bit of a good olive oil snob – I have a friend who brings me home made olive oil from Liguria – I am spoiled! Would love to try the Persiani olive oil.
I love meals like this – easy, delicious, and healthy! A perfect weekend dinner when you are on a time crunch. Gorgeous as always, Lindsay! Almost Friday. 🙂
I want to try the spread you used in your recipe and the aged apple balsamic. The salad looks delicious!
I love that this is basically 2 parts vegetables to 1 part pasta — that’s my favorite kind of pasta salad! I’d love to get my hands on that olive & basil oil. I’m a total sucker for flavored olive oils and somehow haven’t discovered a basil flavored one yet, yum!
I want to try to clementine and cinnamon spread because I just woke up with the worlds largest sweet tooth and that sounds like the perfect cure! I’m going to be craving sugar all day, I can see it coming.
I’d love to try the Olive & Lemon Oil. I think it would be great on fish! Oh, and the beautiful olive wood accessories are gorgeous!
Looks yummy Lindsay! It’s so true, by picking 5 seasonally fresh, high quality ingredients, you can create a delicious healthy 5 star dish.
I’d like to try the white truffle oil! Yum!
This looks so beautiful and refreshing. Now technically I count ten ingredients (cause I count the ingredients within ingredients i.e. pasta, cheese ) but that is just me being particular 🙂
It still is such a great, less processed dish. We need more of these.
Heavenly!! There’s an O&Co next to my hair dresser in Boston and I could legit spend all day in there! Let’s just say I have a plethora of olive oil in my pantry!
I would love to try the mandarin oil & pomegranate or white wine vinegar with honey & ginger.
The mint olive oil looks amazing! I love mint and I”m trying to find new ways to incorporate it into my cooking.
looks yummy. I’d love to try the basil olive oil!
I love this super healthy green twist on traditional summer time pasta salads!! PINNED =)
I’ve been to a couple olive oil and vinegar stores where you can go around and taste each item before they bottle it up for you to purchase. I could spend more time there than at all the other stores we went to… COMBINED! Yum yummmm. The White Wine Vinegar with Honey & Ginger sounds the most intriguing to me… maybe on an asian salad?
I love lemon so the lemon oil looks good. And all of the paired oil/vinegar flavor combos! I’d love to try using them with different salads.
would love, love, love to try OLIVE & BASIL OIL! lemon would be amazing for salads and chicken as well. so many options! this looks delicious!
cheers!
xx
I think the basil spread looks amazing, but I would probably try one of the balsamics because I am crazy about balsamic! 🙂 This recipe looks amazing!
I have a sweet tooth, and it’s very hard to find healthy sweets, so the Tortas Sweet Olive Oil Crackers caught my eye. Healthy and SWEET! Can’t beat that!
This dish is so super gorgeous! As much as I’d love to try the basil and olive oil spread… They have a peri peri sauce, something I’ve come to love in South Africa, and I’d definitely like to get my hands on it!
I would love to try the cherry & chipotle barbecue sauce!
I would love to try the Tenuta Di Ghizzano–sounds fab! I love a great olive oil!