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    Home » Meat » Beef

    Easy Southwestern Pasta Steak Salad

    Published: Jun 8, 2021 · Modified: Mar 15, 2022 by Ashley Havecker

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    This nutritious and easy Southwestern pasta steak salad is the perfect cold salad recipe to whip up for the entire family! 

    Jump to:
    • What Other Ingredients Can I Add?
    • Tips & Tricks to Make it Better
    • How Can I Store the Leftovers?
    • Serving Ideas & Suggestions
    • Southwestern Pasta Steak Salad
    Mixed With Pasta

    Pasta salads are the perfect side dish to make when you’re hosting a party at your home or going for a potluck. They’re easy to make, super delicious, and are very filling too. This Southwestern pasta steak salad is loaded with a ton of healthy ingredients and is super flavorful too! 

    Can’t wait to try it out? Here’s what you need to know before you do! 

    What Other Ingredients Can I Add?

    While this pasta salad is already full of bold flavors, you can still take it up a notch and add in a few ingredients that will boost its taste and nutritive value. 

    Fresh Veggie Ingredients
    • Pepper jack cheese 
    • Chopped lettuce 
    • Chopped green onions
    • Ground, cooked beef 
    • Sliced olives
    • Cooked shrimp
    • Chopped chives
    • Sliced, hard-boiled eggs
    • Steamed broccoli 

    Tips & Tricks to Make it Better

    While this recipe is pretty straightforward and simple, there are some tips and tricks you can implement to make the salad taste even better. 

    First, remember to add the avocados towards the end, right before you serve. This will keep them from turning brown. 

    If you’re making the salad in advance, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Making it in advance and serving it the next day is great because it really allows the flavors to develop and intensify. 

    Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature before you mix them all together. This will help prevent the salad from getting all watery and lumpy. 

    How Can I Store the Leftovers?

    Got leftovers? You can easily store this pasta steak salad or literally any other salad by simply transferring it to an airtight container and placing it in your refrigerator. The salad can stay fresh in there for 3-5 days. 

    Freezing this salad is not ideal, since it will cause most of the ingredients to lose their texture and turn watery and lumpy. 

    Serving Ideas & Suggestions

    Most pasta salads can be a wonderful side to team up with your protein-based mains like hamburgers, sandwiches, and hot dogs. Since this salad is loaded with healthy veggies and has some steak in there too, you can have it as is too. It can be quite healthy and filling on its own. 

    Southwest Steak Salad

    If you’re still keen on having something to go with it, consider a light side like corn on the cob, cornbread, Italian pinwheels, deviled eggs, fried chicken, or stir-fried okra. 

    And of course, you can’t go wrong with some nachos or tortilla chips to pair with this pasta salad. They add in a nice element of crunch, and if you serve them with the base dressing you made for this recipe, they’ll taste even better! 

    Loved how delicious and easy this salad turned out to be? Here are a few other exciting and interesting salad recipes to try your hands at. 

    • Grilled chicken salad skewers
    • Watermelon mint feta salad
    • Honey ginger salad 
    • Grandma’s cucumber salad
    Southwestern Pasta Steak Salad

    Southwestern Pasta Steak Salad

    This nutritious and easy Southwestern pasta steak salad is the perfect cold salad recipe to whip up for the entire family! 
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    Prep Time 20 mins
    Cook Time 9 mins
    Total Time 29 mins
    Course Lunch, Salad
    Cuisine American
    Servings 4 people

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 lb cooked pasta your favorite shape, al dente, cooled
    • ½ c frozen corn steamed in microwave
    • 1 - 14.5 oz can of black beans drained
    • 1 medium red onion
    • 1 tbsp red bell pepper finely diced
    • 1 tbsp green bell pepper finely diced
    • 1 tbsp jalapeno pepper finely diced
    • ½ pint cherry tomatoes coarsely sliced
    • 1 - 4 oz can of diced green chilis
    • 10 oz barbecued steak dices
    • ½ c salad dressing
    • ¼ c sour cream
    • 1 tsp chili powder
    • ¼ tsp chipotle powder
    • ½ tsp cumin powder
    • ½ tsp garlic powder
    • ⅛ tsp salt
    • 1 juice of lime
    • 1 avocado thinly sliced
    • fresh cilantro

    Instructions
     

    • Cook, drain and cool the pasta.
    • Slice and dice the ingredients listed above.
      Fresh Veggie Ingredients
    • Slice your avocado lengthwise and coat with half of the lime juice to prevent browning.
    • In a large mixing bowl, combine the pasta, corn, peas, black beans, red onion, red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, green chilis, and steak. Mix these together well.
    • In small mixing bowl, combine the salad dressing, sour cream, chili powder, chipotle powder, cumin, garlic and salt and stir until well mixed.
      Ingredients Mixed Together
    • Stir this mixture into the pasta vegetable mixture you made above.
      Mixed With Pasta
    • Garnish with avocado slices, a squirt of lime juice and a sprig of cilantro.
      Southwest Steak Salad

    Notes

    Tortilla chips or corn chips add another level of flavor to this dish. Note that its flavor improves with time in the refrigerator, so you can make most of it ahead and chill it down really well while the flavors mingle. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.
    Keyword Pasta Salad, Pasta Salad with Steak, Southwestern Pasta Salad
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    About Ashley Havecker

    My name is Ashley Havecker. I'm a self-taught cook with decades of experience. It's a bonding experience when family and friends can gather together for a meal. This simple yet powerful bonding is why I’ve built Saving Mealtime to make mealtime more convenient and a precious time of day.

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