Steak Pasta Salad with Fresh Basil Vinaigrette

Pasta salad is a Summer classic and this Steak Pasta Salad with Basil Vinaigrette needs to be on your menu! It is fresh, loaded with flavor and makes a perfect Summer dinner.

I absolutely love making pasta salads during the warmer months. They are great to throw together in advance, they store wonderfully and give you a great balanced meal that is always delicious. Whether you have beef steak, venison steak or any other kind of wild game steak, you need to make this one!

For this Steak Pasta Salad, you start by boiling your choice of pasta then letting it cool. Next, chop up all your add ins like crispy bacon, cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Toss that together with the pasta and a simple fresh made basil vinaigrette that is to die for! Lastly, sear up your choice of steaks, slice them thin and serve over top of that beautiful pasta salad.

This salad is a delicious way to use fresh basil if you are over flowing with it like we are. The basil dressing is lighter than a pesto but has such incredible flavor. You can make this pasta salad for a week night dinner, prep it for lunches for the week or make it to bring to a gathering. It is nourishing, flavourful and I promise everyone will love it.

Tips For Making Perfect Steak Pasta Salad

1. After you have boiled your pasta, I recommend straining it and running it under cold water. This will help cool the pasta down quick and remove some of the excess starch that makes the noodles stick together.
2. Pasta salad is almost always better the next day as the flavours develop, so if you have the time this is a great recipe to prep in advance. Then you can sear up the steak right before serving.

Steak Pasta Salad with Basil Vinaigrette Ingredients

Pasta- Anything like penne, rotini or farfalle is great. Use gluten free if you need.

Steak– This recipe is great with any kind of steak you like. Beef, moose, deer, elk etc.

Bacon– We love using ur homemade bacon but use any that is your favorite.

Cherry Tomatoes– These add delicious sweetness and hold up better than diced tomatoes.

Bocconcini– Small little balls of fresh mozzarella cheese. If you can’t find it you can simple dice up a log of soft mozzarella.

Parmesan Cheese– Use a fresh block of parmesan you cut yourself for the best flavor.

Red Onion– Slice this nice and thin.

Basil– Fresh basil, not dried.

Olive Oil– Adds great flavor but you can sub with avocado oil if that is all you have.

Honey- I love the sweet layer this adds.

Garlic– Fresh is best always.

Apple Cider Vinegar- If you don’t have this you can sub with white wine vinegar.

Lemon– Fresh squeezed lemon adds a beautiful fresh acidity to the dressing.

The Steps

1. Start by boiling the pasta in salted water until tender.
2. Strain the pasta, then rinse it under cold water to cool. Add it to a large bowl.
3. Next, add the bocconcini, parmesan cheese, crispy bacon, cherry tomatoes and red onion to the pasta and toss it all together.
4. For the dressing, add all of the ingredients to a blender/ food processor or to a jar with an immersion blender.
5. Blend the dressing until mostly smooth but with small flecks of the basil throughout.
6. Pour the dressing over the pasta salad, and toss well to get it all coated.
7. Place the pasta salad in the fridge, while you cook the steaks.
8. Pat the steaks dry with paper towel, then season generously with salt and pepper or steak spice.
9. Then, heat a cast iron skillet over hight heat with a couple tbsp of ghee, tallow or butter.
10. Once the pan is nice and hot, and the steaks and sear for a couple minutes on each side or until desired doneness.
11. Remove the steaks from the pan at 120F for rare or 130F for medium rare.
12. Allow the steaks to rest for 5-8 minutes before slicing thin. Serve up the pasta salad in bowls, topped with the sliced steak and enjoy!

If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment or a recipe review below!

Looking for more tasty pasta salad recipes to try?

https://cmbarndominium.com/fresh-lemon-asparagus-sourdough-pasta-salad/

https://cmbarndominium.com/easy-cilantro-lime-venison-pasta-salad/