Spicy Southwest Pasta Salad

"While browsing for a pasta salad recipe, I found Inez Willenborg's Homestyle Macaroni Salad. It sounded good, but I didn't have all the ingredients, so I improvised and came up with this one. We absolutely loved it. Thank you, Inez, for the recipe that was the inspiration for this winner."
 
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photo by Jonathan Melendez photo by Jonathan Melendez
photo by Jonathan Melendez
photo by kelli703 photo by kelli703
photo by Calee photo by Calee
photo by Kim127 photo by Kim127
photo by SusieQusie photo by SusieQusie
Ready In:
20mins
Ingredients:
11
Serves:
4

ingredients

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directions

  • Cook pasta in salted boiling water until tender.
  • Drain pasta and rinse with cold water.
  • Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
  • Add pasta and stir until the pasta is coated.
  • Refrigerate at least an hour before serving.

Questions & Replies

  1. why the buttermilk?
     
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Reviews

  1. This is incredible! I doubled the sauce ingredients as I made it the night before the lunch I was going to serve it at and I didn't want it to dry out. It was perfect! I served it with chopped black olives, sliced green olives and mild banner rings as garnish. My guests raved! Thanks for making me look good PanNan!
     
  2. I really enjoyed this salad! I used mayonaise and I didn't have any buttermilk so I added a tbls. of vinegar to a1/4 cup milk. I used commercial salsa. Thanks for a yummy recipe!
     
  3. I took this to a labor day cook out and everyone loved it. First time I have ever used buttermilk and was quite impressed. I did as Michelle S did, I doubled the dressing as it sat over night and it was perfect the next day. Thanks for posting this one. Its a keeper.
     
  4. This was a fun recipe! I had some salsa in the fridge that I needed to use up and it worked out so nicely. This is the recipe you need when you don't really feel like cooking!
     
  5. Simple and easy. I added half a red bellpepper chopped up, because I had it and it seemed to suit the recipe! My salsa was quite hot! But the salad was pleasantly spicy, after the salad had had time to chill. Bowties suit this recipe very well, I must say. Thank you, much enjoyed, made for Pick A Side, Fusion, Culinary Quest 2019, FeedBags
     
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Tweaks

  1. Very good & different from the normal run-of-the-mill pasta salads. A great addition to our summer side dishes to go along with our grilled main dishes. I made it with a full 12 oz box of bow tie pasta (because my helper dumped the whole box in!). I doubled the "sauce" portion & it was just the right amount when we ate it right away. I substituted green onions for the scallions. Used 1/2 c. milk with 1 1/2 tsp vinegar instead of the buttermilk. Used regular jarred salsa. Added a can of drained & rinsed black beans because it seemed to go well. Only thing I'll change next time is to cut back on the red pepper b/c it had too much of a kick for my kiddos.
     
  2. This was great! I changed it quite a bit, but I always get good ideas from other reviewers, so I will describe what I did. Used soy milk + vinegar for the buttermilk, subbed with soy mayonnaise and left out the eggs to make it vegan, doubled the dressing ingredients except for the "buttermilk", added 1 cup each of frozen corn and canned black beans. Also, left out the celery and scallions due to personal taste. The salad had plenty of taste without them. Will definitely make this again. Thank you for sharing, PanNan!
     
  3. Great Salad for a hot day! This was really nice and a little different from the typical pasta salad. I followed previous readers advice and used sliced green and black olives, diced roma tomatoes, mayonaise and milk wity vinegar in place of buttermilk. I also had no scallions so I used shallots and celery seed in place of celery. My DH who is not a fan of pasta had a second serving! Thanks for the recipe.
     
  4. Because I didn't like the idea of hardboiled eggs, I used 1/4 lb bacon crumbled up instead. I used commercial salsa, and substituted milk soured with vinegar for the buttermilk. I did double the liquid mixture, as suggested by another poster. Yum yum yum! Will make again, thank you!
     
  5. You are fast becoming my favorite cook! Excellent blend of flavors in this salad - just the right amount of cayenne to give an afterbite. I doubled the recipe, made it with whole wheat penne, subbed green onions for scallions & tossed in 2 deseeded & ribbed anaheim chilis from the garden. A garnish of parsley & it's ready for the Father's Day crowd. Thanks, Nan!
     

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