Teriyaki Spinach Pasta Salad With Pine Nuts

I am always looking for tasty ideas to bring to gatherings.  I have a few prerequisites: the dish must be portable and the dish must be easy to put together. If I do make it out of the house after 7 PM, I’m usually in a rush after running the homework, dinner gauntlet. I like pasta salad because it can be made in advance and does not require heating up. This spinach pasta salad recipe takes a lighter approach to traditional pasta salads. I brought this Teriyaki Spinach Pasta Salad with pine nuts to my last book club and it was a huge hit. This easy pasta salad recipe has the best flavor!

You’ll Love This Flavorful Recipe: Teriyaki Spinach Bow Tie Pasta Salad With Pine Nuts

This pasta salad with spinach has quite a lot of baby spinach leaves. We are not just talking lip service for the spinach. This helps it be a lighter, lower carb version of a pasta salad and it has great texture. The bow tie pasta salad with spinach is unlike most you have had before in that the pasta is just one ingredient- not the main ingredient. You are going to love this spinach pasta salad recipe because the Teriyaki sauce and the mandarin oranges just makes it pop with flavor!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Serves 4

Teriyaki Pasta Salad Ingredients:

• 1 bag of fresh baby spinach
• 8 oz. of bow-tie pasta (AKA farfalle pasta, which means butterfly in Italian)
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 4 oz. can of mandarin oranges
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup Teriyaki sauce
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar (may substitute red wine vinegar)
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

How To Make Spinach Pasta Salad:

Boil the bow tie pasta in salted water according to package directions for about 10 minutes. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water.  Set cooked pasta aside. 

In a large bowl throw in the fresh spinach, pine nuts, can of drained mandarin oranges, pasta, and dried cranberries. 

In a smaller bowl whisk together all the ingredients from the Teriyaki sauce on down.  Season with salt and pepper to your preference. 

Lightly toss the dressing with the spinach mixture and bow ties until everything is evenly coated.

If you are taking this salad to a gathering or party, wait to toss in the dressing right before serving.  This salad does not store well since the spinach will get soggy and wilt once the dressing sits on it so only make what you will eat.

You can serve this as a vegetarian pasta meal on Meatless Monday or you can boost the protein of this salad by adding a grilled chicken breast or a piece salmon. This Spinach Pasta Salad is easy to make in a pinch if you keep the ingredients in your pantry.  All you need to do is grab a fresh bag of spinach. It is the perfect recipe for hot summer days.

Printable Recipe Card For Teriyaki Spinach Bow Tie Pasta Salad:

I hope you and your family enjoy this Teriyaki spinach pasta salad recipe! Enjoy your teriyaki spinach pasta salad! Feel free to customize it with additional ingredients like grilled chicken or tofu if you’d like.

Let me know what you think of the spinach pine nut pasta salad in the comments or tag us @familyfocusblog

Related Posts:

Easy Lemon Pepper Chicken Pasta

Cute Painted Pasta Flower Art Craft for Kids

Creative Recipes To Get Kids to Eat Vegetables