June 13, 2013 (Updated May 12, 2021)

Summer Artichoke & Pesto Pasta Salad

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

31 comments
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Hello, my friends! We interrupt your regularly scheduled Italy adventure recaps for a recipe. 🙂 Introducing my new hot weather favorite: Summer Artichoke & Pesto Pasta Salad! Served cold, preferably with some fruit, salad, or maybe some Prosecco on the side. Yep, I still have Italy on the brain, clearly.

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A couple weeks ago, I was given the challenge to come up with a recipe using one of Naked Juice’s new Power Garden juices: either Tomato Kick or Berry Veggie. The obvious choice would have been a berry smoothie or an amped up Bloody Mary, but I decided it would be more fun to get creative. 😉

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The Tomato Kick juice has all sorts of fun stuff in it – tomato, celery, red bell pepper, carrot… sounded like the makings of a nutritious pasta sauce, which is where I got my idea to use it in a cold summer pasta salad! I knew right away that it would be need to include artichokes – every since Italy, I’ve been obsessed.

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This pasta salad is quick and easy to make, vegetarian, and would be great as a simple dinner with a side salad or as an easy make-ahead packed lunch for work. For those that are looking closely at the pictures, you’ll notice you can’t see the pesto in the photos because I decided to add that last minute, after the photos. I know, I like living on the edge. Pesto just makes everything that much more delicious, don’t you think?

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Summer Artichoke & Pesto Pasta Salad

Serves 4

Whether you need an easy packed lunch or a simple dinner, this is your new go-to summer recipe. Serve cold and enjoy on its own, with a salad, or with fruit!

Ingredients:

  • 2 C cooked whole wheat/grain pasta, any shape (I’m partial to spiral pasta but didn’t have any on hand, so spaghetti it was)
  • 1 (15 oz.) can cannellini beans, drained/rinsed
  • 1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts (canned/jarred in oil), chopped
  • 2 C packed fresh baby spinach, placed on a plate and microwaved on high for 1 minute (to wilt it)
  • 1/3 C goat cheese
  • 2/3 C Naked Power Garden Tomato Kick juice
  • 2 Tbsp. pesto (store bought or homemade – try my Spinach Basil Pesto recipe!)
  • Dried or fresh oregano and basil to taste
  • A couple shakes of garlic powder (optional)
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Throw everything into a bowl, mix, and enjoy! I only had dried oregano and basil on hand, but fresh would have been a delicious addition.

Enjoy!

Told you it was easy! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I had mine with a side of fresh strawberries one day last week for lunch.

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Summer Artichoke & Pesto Pasta Salad

Summer Artichoke & Pesto Pasta Salad
May 5, 2019 by Anne

Whether you need an easy packed lunch or a simple dinner, this is your new go-to summer recipe. Serve cold and enjoy on its own, with a salad, or with fruit!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Yield
Serves 4
Pin This

Ingredients:

  • 2 C cooked whole wheat/grain pasta, any shape (I’m partial to spiral pasta but didn’t have any on hand, so spaghetti it was)
  • 1 (15 oz.) can cannellini beans, drained/rinsed
  • 1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts (canned/jarred in oil), chopped
  • 2 C packed fresh baby spinach, placed on a plate and microwaved on high for 1 minute (to wilt it)
  • 1/3 C goat cheese
  • 2/3 C Naked Power Garden Tomato Kick juice
  • 2 Tbsp. pesto (store bought or homemade – try my Spinach Basil Pesto recipe!)
  • Dried or fresh oregano and basil to taste
  • A couple shakes of garlic powder (optional)
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. Throw everything into a bowl, mix, and enjoy! I only had dried oregano and basil on hand, but fresh would have been a delicious addition.



Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Stay tuned – Naked is going to host a fun Pinterest sweepstakes contest related to the recipes created as part of this campaign, and I’ll share more details about that on Monday!

Have a great day, my friends!

What’s your favorite chilled summer pasta salad recipe?

—

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Power Garden is Naked Juice’s new veggie drink lineup with 1lb. of veggies in every bottle (weight of veggies prior to juicing).  With delicious flavors that only Naked could blend, Power Garden offers one of the easiest ways to get your daily servings of veggies and fruits, along with good sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Learn more at http://www.nakedjuice.com/veggiedrinks. 

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Naked via Glam Media.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Naked.

Vegetarian
- anne

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31 comments
  • Sarah @ Yogi in Action
    This looks delicious! I want to be in my kitchen now so I can make it ASAP. I love the colours-and the flavour combo sounds delicious!! Definitely making this soon.
    Reply
  • Erin @ Girl Gone Veggie
    This looks delicious! I love the idea of a cold pasta salad. For my Naked post I used the Tomato Kick to make a hot summer tomato orzo with a lemon kick. I'm loving seeing everyone's entries and how creative they are.
    Reply
    • Anne
      Yum, sounds delicious!
      Reply
  • Miriam @ Legally Blind Love
    This looks great - I will definitely try it! My husband loves artichokes, but hates goat cheese...I wonder if I should sneak in the goat cheese or try to substitute it. Plain yogurt, maybe? Or would that be too runny?
    Reply
    • Anne
      Plain yogurt would be too runny, so I would either leave it out or use another kind of cheese - Parmesan or feta?
      Reply
      • Jane @ Not Plain So Jane
        Feta would be good! I never know what to do with artichokes but I always love when I get dishes at a restaurant with them. This looks like a perfect food to take on a picnic.
        Reply
  • Alyssa
    Just took a look through some of your recipes, and I need to try them! Loving the mix of delicious and healthy! This one especially. Always looking for a good, healthy cold pasta.
    Reply
  • Grace @ Grace Dishes
    This looks delicious! I love artichokes in absolutely everything from flatbreads to salads so this recipe is right up my alley. Thanks for posting!
    Reply
  • Charlie @therunnerbeans
    This looks really good, I'm going to try it with wholewheat penne for a pasta salad for lunch!!
    Reply
  • Tina @ Best Body Fitness
    Oh, yum! I love light, fresh pasta salads during the summer. And artichokes are a favorite. Thanks for sharing such a good recipe.
    Reply
  • Alexis @ Hummusapien
    This looks so refreshing--perfect for a summer night! I love the creative use of the green juice, too!
    Reply
  • Renie
    Oh, Anne, that looks scrumptious. I love artichokes. I will definitely try this out.
    Reply
  • Angie
    Can I buy this in stores yet? (The naked juice) I've been wanting more choices of juice to buy because my town isn't into juice bars, but they do sell Naked. I struggle finding ones I can drink, however, because I'm severely allergic to mango! I would LOVE these two new ones!
    Reply
    • Anne
      Yep! I bought it in Whole Foods. :)
      Reply
      • Angie
        I was afraid you'd say that! Good old Grand Rapids, Michigan doesn't have a Whole Foods. I'll have to keep an eye out for our regular grocery store! At least I know it's out! Thanks :)
        Reply
  • Lindsay
    Pinning this -- looks delicious :D Artichokes is one of my favorite salad/pasta additions. Love roasted red peppers, too!
    Reply
  • Jo Lynn
    I've been looking for recipes where I can use my homemade pesto--this looks like a winner! I don't have Naked Power Garden Tomato Kick juice on hand. I assume regular tomato or V-8 juice will be okay? I've never had NPGTKJ (memorable acronym, what!) so I don't know what it tastes like.
    Reply
  • Angela @ Happy Fit Mama
    I love artichokes and pesto - what a great combo! I'll have to look for that flavor of Naked Juice on my next grocery store stop.
    Reply
  • Hayley @ Running on Pumpkin
    Mmmm I love pasta salad in the summer and anything with artichokes! Such a cool idea to use one of those juices! Very creative.
    Reply
  • victoria @ reluctantly skinny
    I love cold pasta over the summer - I make a no cook tomato sauce with cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, and some oil...it's so delicious! This makes me want to add some pesto to amp up the flavor - great idea!
    Reply
  • Anel Perez
    What an interesting way to use the Naked juice! I'm curious now! I will have to try it! Thanks!
    Reply
  • Jan @ Sprouts n Squats
    Yum that looks great! I like making a recipe I got from a friend which is very simple it uses spiral pasta, avocado, macadamias (this is what makes it), chopped ham, cherry tomatoes and then mayonnaise, salt and pepper!
    Reply
    • Anne
      I would never have thought to add macadamia nuts!
      Reply
  • Pamela
    Thank you for this recipe!!! Just made it for my husband for dinner, he loves it. Took your recommendation and used spiral pasta, had some fresh basil which made it even more aromatic. Cancer runs in his family, I try to make three meat-free dinners a week & was running out of recipes he'll eat. Again, thank you so very much, it's a home run!
    Reply
    • Anne
      I'm so glad it was such a hit! :)
      Reply
  • Dana @ Conscious Kitchen Blog
    Sounds delicious! I love Naked juices. I actually tried the Berry Veggie one and thought it was so good. I don't usually eat beets so I was a little hesitant, but so pleasantly surprised. This pasta salad is such a creative use for the juice - love it!
    Reply
  • Emily @ The Sunny Studio
    Yum yum yum! I want to make this and eat it right now :) If I use your homemade pesto recipe, any suggestions for a dairy-free version? Just leave out the parmesan perhaps?
    Reply
    • Anne
      Hmmm yeah you could try that! It might not be as good but let me know!
      Reply
  • Amanda
    I loved reading your Artichoke recipes … I even went on a crazy google search after reading this and found a very nice article that explains from A-Z about artichokes: http://wrgmag.com/food/food-spotlight-the-artichoke/. It’s totally worth a check out to get an idea of how to make this recipe from whole artichokes :)
    Reply
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