Vegan Buffalo Pasta Salad Recipe

This vegan buffalo pasta salad is made with a deliciously flavorful and creamy cashew-based dressing. It’s an incredibly easy recipe that’s packed with chickpeas and vegetables.

Impress everyone at potlucks, picnics and barbecues, or just enjoy it yourself as an easy weekly meal prep! It’s great on its own as a balanced meal or as a side dish with other yummy foods.

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Vegan Buffalo Pasta Salad Ingredients

This recipe uses classic pasta salad ingredients to create a tasty treat.

For the salad portion of the recipe, you’ll need:

• Macaroni pasta: I love using macaroni pasta for pasta salad recipes, but any type of pasta can work.
• Chickpeas: Chickpeas are a great addition to any pasta salad, but use any type of bean you like. You could also use a vegan “chicken” alternative for a buffalo “chicken” pasta salad.
• Green onion: For added flavor, add some green onion to the salad. Red onions are another good choice for this recipe if you want a stronger onion flavor.
• Carrot, red bell pepper, celery: These three vegetables are classic choices for pasta salad as they add lots of crunch and color. Use any vegetables you like or have on hand; cucumber is another great choice!
• Fresh dill: This is optional, but I love the flavor fresh dill adds. It pairs perfectly with the creamy, spicy buffalo sauce and makes this recipe taste like you’ve used a buffalo ranch-style sauce. Cilantro would also taste great, but you can make it without fresh herbs and it’ll still taste amazing. You could also use dry dill, blending about 1 teaspoon into the sauce.

For the creamy buffalo dressing, you’ll need:

• Cashews: For the base of this sauce, use raw, soaked cashews. It’s very important to soak the cashews, preferably overnight. You can also use sunflower seeds in place of cashews.
• Plant-based milk: To keep the dressing super creamy, I use plant-based milk to blend everything together. I use soy milk, but any plain, unsweetened plant-based milk should work.
• Vegan mayonnaise: For some extra richness and tangy flavor, I add vegan mayonnaise to this buffalo dressing, but you could use tahini instead.
• Lemon juice and apple cider vinegar: To balance the rich creaminess of this sauce, I like to add lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. This dressing is on the tangy side, but you can add a sweetener of your choice (especially if you’re used to store-bought salad dressing which often contain sugar).
• Hot sauce: Use any hot sauce for this recipe, but buffalo sauce is typically made with a vinegary, Louisiana-style hot sauce (like Frank’s Red Hot).
• Garlic and onion powder: Spice the sauce with some onion and garlic powder.
• Dry parsley: Along with the other flavors, dry parsley is a nice addition to this sauce. If you don’t have dry parsley, don’t worry, the result will still be delicious.
• Salt and pepper: Round out the flavors of your buffalo dressing by adding salt and pepper to taste.

How to Make Vegan Buffalo Pasta Salad

This is a very simple recipe to make and comes together in a few simple steps. Just cook your pasta, prepare the other salad ingredients, make the sauce, toss and enjoy!

Step 1: Cook Pasta

Start by cooking your pasta according to package directions. Once cooked, drain the pasta and let it cool.

You can cool the pasta by placing it in your fridge. For pasta salads, I typically rinse cooked pasta under cold water until it’s cooled. This is a quick and easy way to enjoy pasta salad right away (rather than waiting for the pasta to cool on its own).

Step 2: Prep Other Salad Ingredients

While the pasta cooks, prep the other salad ingredients.

Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas, then peel and chop some carrot. You can also shred the carrots if you prefer. Chop the bell pepper and celery as well. Finally, chop the fresh dill.

Add all the salad ingredients to a large mixing bowl (a very large one) along with the cooked and cooled pasta.

Step 3: Make Dressing, Toss and Serve

Drain the soaking water from your cashews, then add to a small blender along with all the other dressing ingredients.

Blend the dressing until it’s super smooth and creamy. I recommend scraping down the edges of your blender a couple of times to make sure everything is nice and smooth.

Toss the blended sauce over your salad and serve cold!

How to Serve a Balanced Vegan Meal

I consider a balanced meal one that contains a good source of plant-based protein, carbohydrates, fats and lots of vegetables or fruits.

This recipe has it all! There’s plenty of carbohydrates from the pasta and chickpeas.

The chickpeas and cashews offer some plant-based protein too. Overall, it’s not a super high-protein recipe, but you can add extra protein to the salad or on the side. Use seitan or a vegan “chicken” alternative instead of chickpeas if you want more protein in the salad or serve this as a side dish along with a higher protein main.

There’s lots of healthy fats to keep you feeling satisfied; these also provide lots of flavor and richness to the recipe. Most of the fat is from cashews and vegan mayonnaise.

Lastly, there’s lots of colorful veggies to round out this salad, making it a great meal on its own if that’s what you’re looking for!

If you want to explore some other salad recipes that don’t use lettuce, you might also be interested in:

• Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
• Potato Salad with Dill Tahini Dressing
• Vegan Greek Salad with Tofu Feta
• Creamy Vegan Waldorf Salad

How to Store Leftover Salad

Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days. This recipe is great for meal prep as it holds up well to being stored for a few days.

It can easily be made a day ahead of time if you want to make this for a potluck, picnic or barbecue.

If you make this recipe, please rate and comment below to help others benefit from your experience!

More Vegan Side Dish Recipes

Like this recipe? You should also try:

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