Tomato Mozzarella Pasta Salad

Fresh and easy pasta salad packed with protein, nutrients and flavour. The perfect side dish, meal prep or dinner idea!

This fresh and easy pasta salad recipe comes together in under 30 minutes and turns out to be perfect for multiple occasions.

Besides you can store it in the fridge up to 4 days so it can easily be made the day before or even used as meal prep for work.

This pasta salad is just as tasty served cold as it is heaten up. The ingredients make it flavourfull and tasty either way.

It was mostly inspired by throwing together a different bunch of food items I had left in the fridge based on the theme of making some kind of tomato mozzarella salad. In my opinion it turned out so amazing that I love making it for summery occasions, such as a barbecue or picknick now.

Ingredients (4 servings)

Cook Time: 12 min / Prep Time: 6 min / Total Time: 20 min

• 200g Tofu / optional chicken

• 200g cottage cheese

• 200g whole wheat penne

• 40g pesto rosso

• 3 whole tomatoes / 150g cherry tomatoes

• 125g mozzarella

• 20g cream cheese

• 10g tomato paste

• 6ml lemon juice

• spices: salt, pepper, tumeric, paprika

Instructions

1. Heat up a pan with some olive oil, cut the tofu into pieces (as shown on the picture) and put it in the hot pan. Fry it for 6-7 minutes on every side. Lower the heat and add the spices (salt, pepper, paprika, tumeric). Stir everything together and turn the heat low. Add the cream cheese, tomato paste, lemon juice, 25g cottage cheese and 10g pesto. Mix everything and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes, then turn the pan off and let it cool down.

2. Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain the pasta and set it aside.

3. Whilst the pasta and tofu are cooking cut the tomatoes and mozzarella into small pieces.

4. Mix 175g of cottage cheese with 30g of pesto and some salt for the dressing.

5. First mix the pasta with the tofu, then add the tomato and mozzarella and at least the cottage cheese mixture.

You can serve the salad as it is still warm or let it cool down. If you like add some pine nuts and balsamico for extra flavour.

One portion breaks down to 414 kcal, 27,3g protein, 39g carbs and 15,3g fat.

In case you dont like tofu you can switch it with chicken, it will still be high in protein and tasty. Make sure to cook it the same way with the sauce to get the taste.

Let me know how you liked my recipe.