Description
Mediterranean seafood pasta salad dances with ocean-fresh flavors, bringing coastal Italian charm to your table. Crisp vegetables, tender shrimp, and zesty herbs mingle in this light summer dish you’ll crave all season long.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients:
- 1 pound imitation crabmeat, chopped
- 1 12 (8 ounce) packages tri-color pasta
- 1 cup frozen green peas, defrosted
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 12 tablespoons white sugar
Seasoning Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 14 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare a generously sized pot with a light salt sprinkle, bringing water to a rolling boil at high heat. Cook pasta for 8-10 minutes until perfectly tender, ensuring an al dente texture.
- Drain pasta immediately and rinse thoroughly with cold water to halt cooking process and rapidly cool down the noodles.
- While pasta cooks, finely dice celery into uniform small pieces and gently break apart crabmeat into delicate fragments.
- Quickly thaw frozen peas by running warm water over them, allowing them to soften and reach room temperature.
- In a spacious mixing bowl, create a creamy dressing by vigorously whisking mayonnaise with sugar, vinegar, milk, salt, and freshly ground black pepper until smooth and well-integrated.
- Gently fold the cooled pasta, chopped celery, and delicate crabmeat into the prepared dressing, ensuring every ingredient receives an even, luxurious coating.
- Taste the salad and carefully adjust seasoning, potentially adding more salt, sugar, or mayonnaise to achieve the perfect flavor balance.
- Refrigerate the seafood pasta salad for a minimum of 2-3 hours, allowing flavors to meld and develop a rich, harmonious taste profile before serving chilled.
Notes
- Choose short pasta shapes like rotini or shells to help sauce cling better and create more interesting texture.
- Swap crabmeat with imitation crab, shrimp, or canned tuna for different protein options and budget-friendly variations.
- Prepare this salad a day in advance to allow flavors to meld and develop deeper, more complex taste profiles.
- Reduce mayonnaise calories by substituting half with Greek yogurt or using light mayonnaise without compromising creamy texture.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Dinner, Appetizer, Snacks
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12
- Calories: 271 kcal
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 456 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 32 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg