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A bowl of cranberry pasta salad with a bowl of dried cranberries in the background.
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Pasta salad with dried cranberries

Pasta salad with dried cranberries is a sweet and savory salad with holiday flavors but it can be enjoyed in any season. It has a delicious silky dressing made by cooking cranberry juice with spices that coats all the ingredients, making the salad irresistible.
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Diet Vegan, Vegetarian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 10
Calories 188kcal
Author Vandana Chauhan

Equipment

  • 1 Cooking pot
  • 1 Large strainer for straining pasta
  • 1 large bowl for mixing salad

Ingredients

  • 400 grams any short cut uncooked pasta
  • 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas
  • 1 medium red onion thinly sliced
  • 1 medium Persian cucumber, chopped around 1 cup chopped cucumber
  • 1 stock celery chopped
  • 2 cups baby spinach
  • ¼ cup roasted and chopped almonds

Ingredients for dressing

  • 1.5 cups cranberry juice without added sugar
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup or any sweetener of choice
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons red chili flakes
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper adjust to taste
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  • In a pan, put all the dressing ingredients. Put the pan on the stove and cook while whisking continuously until the dressing thickens. Switch off the stove and keep the dressing aside.
  • Cook pasta al dente as per the instructions given on its packet. Strain and put the cooked pasta in a large bowl.
  • Add baby spinach and cover the leaves with pasta. Leave for 2-3 minutes so that the leaves get wilted.
  • Add boiled chickpeas, cucumber, onion, celery, and chopped roasted almonds.
  • Pour salad dressing on top.
  • Gently toss until the dressing evenly coats all the ingredients.

Video

Notes

  1. You can use any short cut pasta in this salad.
  2. Feel free to replace chickpeas with beans of your choice.
  3. Cook pasta al dente and toss it gently while mixing it with other ingredients.
  4. You can also add other ingredients like orange zest, lemon zest, blueberries, black raisins, nutmeg, etc to the cranberry dressing.
  5. Use cranberry juice without added sugar. If it has sugar, skip maple syrup in the recipe.
  6. Season the dressing well otherwise the salad will taste bland.
  7. You may also add roasted vegetables to make the salad tastier and healthier.
  8. More recipe tips and tricks are shared in the post above, please follow them to make this recipe.

Nutrition

Calories: 188kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 0.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 233mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 715IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 2mg