Seafood Pasta Salad – CopyKat Recipes

Are you within the temper for a creamy chilly pasta salad with a seafood twist? Look no additional than this scrumptious and straightforward seafood pasta salad recipe. Made with imitation crab meat and a medley of colourful veggies, this pasta salad is the proper dish for a weeknight meal. The tangy dressing is made with a mix of bitter cream, milk, and ranch dressing, including a zesty kick to each chew.

Overhead view of seafood pasta salad on a black plate.

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What Makes This Seafood Pasta Salad So Good? 

Seafood pasta salads could be iffy. Placing the proper stability between the sauce, seafood, and pasta isn’t at all times straightforward. However this seafood salad recipe with pasta will get it proper.

The creamy bitter cream and ranch sauce is simply tart sufficient to convey out the slight brininess of the imitation crab, and the veggies add a crunch that contrasts fantastically with the peerlessly cooked pasta. Make this Seafood Pasta Salad recipe as mild lunch or serve it as a part of dinner. 

Why This Seafood Salad Is Excellent for a Pot Luck Dinner 

That is the sort of dish that, when it reveals up on the desk at a potluck, you’d higher take an additional massive serving to as a result of there isn’t going to be any left once you return for seconds. In the event you present up with this salad, your folks can be impressed. And there’s no purpose to inform them how fast, straightforward, and cheap it’s to make sufficient to feed a crowd!

Seafood Pasta Salad Elements 

For this pasta salad, you’ll want:

  • Penne pasta
  • Bitter cream
  • Ranch dressing
  • Entire milk
  • Imitation crab meat 
  • White onion
  • Inexperienced bell pepper
  • Celery
Seafood pasta salad ingredients on a tray.

Imitation crabmeat is a typical ingredient in Japanese cooking, and you will discover it at most Asian grocery shops or on-line. It’s produced from fish pureed with different elements after which fashioned to resemble the actual factor.

You need to use different pasta as a substitute of penne. Macaroni, rotini, or ziti are nice selections.

Easy methods to Make This Seafood Salad With Pasta

To cook dinner the pasta:

  1. Boil the pasta in closely salted water in accordance with the bundle directions. Don’t overlook chilly temperatures mute flavors. Meaning you will have extra salt than traditional.  
  2. Cook dinner the pasta for a few minute longer than you’ll should you have been making scorching pasta. You’re in search of one thing just a little extra tender than al dente. 
  3. Pour the pasta right into a colander and rinse below chilly operating water to chill instantly. 
  4. Toss the pasta within the colander over the sink to take away as a lot water as attainable. Permit the pasta to empty nicely. 

To complete the seafood salad with pasta:

  1. Mix the bitter cream, ranch dressing, and milk in a big mixing bowl. Stir nicely. 
Seafood pasta salad dressing ingredients in a mixing bowl.
  1. Cowl the bowl with plastic wrap and stick it within the fridge for a minimum of two hours to permit the flavors to meld. 
  2. Simply earlier than you take away the sauce from the fridge, lower the imitation crab meat into chew dimension items. Chop the white onion, inexperienced peppers, and a couple of stalks celery into small items. Mix them with the pasta in a big bowl.
Seafood pasta salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
  1. Take away the well-chilled sauce from the fridge. Add the remainder of the sauce elements to the blending bowl.
  2. Add the sauce to the pasta combination and stir to mix.  
  3. Cowl the bowl with plastic wrap and chill it for a minimum of two extra hours earlier than serving.
  4. Garnish with paprika or herbs – recent dill or parsley.
Seafood pasta salad on a plate.

What to Serve With Imitation Crab Pasta Salad

This recipe could also be for a Seafood Pasta Salad with out mayonnaise, however it’s nonetheless extraordinarily decadent. Pairing the pasta salad with sides that may lower among the richness of the sauce work very well. Listed here are a couple of strategies:

  • Garlic bread brings a variety of crunchy texture to the meal and the sturdy and intense taste of garlic.  
  • A Greek or Caesar salad will add extra recent greens and assist increase the acidity of the seafood pasta salad. 
  • Coleslaw, however not the type with mayo. The perfect kind of coleslaw to pair with seafood salad incorporates shredded cabbage and carrots tossed with oil and vinegar!

Recipe Variations 

This seafood salad makes use of imitation crab as a result of it’s tasty and straightforward to work with however be happy to make use of the actual factor. In fact, it’s also possible to use different cooked seafood, corresponding to peeled shrimp and even lobster!

Easy methods to Retailer Pasta With Seafood Salad 

Put leftovers in an hermetic container and hold them within the fridge. Don’t freeze. 

How Lengthy Will It Final

You need to end any additional seafood salad pasta inside two to 3 days after making it. It isn’t fit for human consumption any seafood that has warmed to room temperature. 

Closeup of seafood pasta salad on a black plate.

Favourite Pasta Salads

Try extra of my straightforward pasta recipes and the very best salad recipes on CopyKat!

Overhead view of seafood pasta salad on a black plate.

Seafood Pasta Salad

Seafood pasta salad is a scrumptious creamy and chilly pasta salad nice for summer time dinner or a potluck.

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Course: Salad

Delicacies: American

Key phrase: Ponderosa Steakhouse Seafood Penne Pasta Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook dinner Time: 10 minutes

Chilling: 4 hours

Whole Time: 4 hours 20 minutes

Servings: 12

Energy: 511kcal

Elements

  • 1 1/2 pound penne pasta
  • 1 pound bitter cream
  • 16 ounces ranch dressing
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 pound imitation crab meat chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped inexperienced bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery

Directions

  • Cook dinner and funky the pasta.

  • Combine bitter cream, ranch dressing, and milk. Refrigerate the dressing it for a minimum of 2 hours.

  • Place onions, peppers, celery, crab meat, and pasta in a big bowl. Add the dressing and blend nicely. Refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours earlier than serving.

Diet

Energy: 511kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 10g | Fats: 27g | Saturated Fats: 7g | Ldl cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 665mg | Potassium: 241mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 300IU | Vitamin C: 7.3mg | Calcium: 74mg | Iron: 1.1mg