Three Easy Gluten-Free Dinners When All You Have Is An Hour
#3 – Easy Gluten-Free Pasta Salad
Click here to see the original recipe. I use this recipe on the Allrecipes.com website as a base and then provide ideas and products to offer gluten-free options. They have a great video as well that breaks down this recipe step by step.
Sooo easy and perfect for picnics and those looking for a quick gluten free dinner. My gluten eaters in the family loved this recipe as well and didn’t even care that I made it gluten free! They couldn’t tell the difference.
Now, I have made this a ton of times and most of the time I just use whatever vegetables I have in the fridge, leftover veggies from another recipe, etc. so it is different every time, but use whatever vegetables you prefer or even maybe some pre-cut ones from the local grocery store you found on sale.
To start, you need a gluten-free pasta. Here is what I used for this recipe because this is what I had on hand:
But I also had these two Simple Truth brand gluten-free kinds of pasta as well I could have used:
The recipe suggests 16 ounces though of pasta so I would have had to use both these boxes and so I ended up going with the Ronzoni pasta even though it was only 12 ounces, but it worked out just fine.
So, start by making the pasta according to the directions on the box and then move on to cutting your vegetables (unless you bought pre-cut veggies at the store or had some cut already on hand, then you’re almost done!). Just a tip about making gluten-free pasta, it doesn’t hold up to overcooking very well, so you have to keep watching it because if it overcooks it will fall apart, unfortunately. It just has to do with the ingredients that have to be used for gluten-free pasta.
I had a lot of vegetables already cut up from the night before, so I used zucchini, yellow and orange peppers, red onion, tomato, and some cucumbers. But just use whatever you have, no need to be perfect at all!
Once the pasta is done, just combine all the vegetables and the pasta together in a very big bowl and add the Italian dressing. I use Ken’s Steakhouse Italian Dressing. I like Ken’s Steakhouse brand of dressings because they clearly mark ‘gluten-free’ on the label and their website also clearly states one way or the other if they are gluten-free.
Here is a link though I found that gives a good list of gluten-free salad dressings and what to look for on the labels. Click here.
Last is to mix the Italian seasoning and the Parmesan cheese together. Once combined then add to the bowl with the pasta and veggies and mix all together.
For the Italian Seasoning, that is a hard one. Most spices that are readily available to me in local stores do not label as gluten-free. Some like McCormick’s spices are more readily available and they do have some products that are gluten-free, but the majority of their spices are not tested for cross-contamination, so they do not label them gluten-free. I have found a brand that is labeled gluten-free, but it is not local to me, unfortunately. I can usually only get it if I go into a larger city and shop or I order online, but I feel better knowing that it is labeled gluten-free so that is what I normally do. It is a reasonable price as well really and you get a larger amount of it. The company’s name is Spicely Organics and to the left is a picture of their Italian Seasoning. They have a lot more spices and blends though as well.
Regarding the Parmesan cheese, I am always looking for something that is already grated but I want actual cheese too (not a fan of fake cheese). I have used Kroger Grated Parmesan cheese before because all of the ingredients are gluten-free, but it is not labeled gluten-free unfortunately. I recently found this great option that is labeled gluten-free and was available in my local Walmart too which is awesome. The brand of this Parmesan cheese is BelGioioso and their products are made in America and I think it was only $3.00 at Walmart so very affordable.
And that’s it! Mix together and eat, yum!
There you go, three quick gluten-free meals in no time at all! With just a few products on hand that can be used in multiple recipes, you can have a healthy dinner made from scratch that is entirely gluten-free. Have your gluten-eating friends taste these dishes, they will never know the difference!
For more great gluten-free dinner ideas, click here!
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