Preserved Lemon Lime Pasta Salad

Ready to bring some zing to your next cookout? Let’s talk about a pasta salad so bold, so zesty, so unapologetically citrusy, it might just replace your potato salad. (Sorry, spuds.) Meet my new obsession: Preserved Lemon Lime Pasta Salad. Yes, we’re doubling down on the citrus and never looking back.

Preserved Citrus?

First off, preserved citrus. If you haven’t tried making your own preserved lemons and limes, prepare to feel like a kitchen wizard. It’s absurdly easy. Just slice your fruit, stuff it in a jar with a comical amount of salt, and wait. That’s it. In a few weeks, you’ll have a jar of citrus gold just begging to be chopped and stirred into everything. Including this pasta salad. Especially this pasta salad. Also, I like to add it to potato salad, salad dressings, or mac and cheese. The possibilities are endless. Wherever you like to boost the flavor profile of a recipe with tang. Then definitely use preserved lemons and/or limes.

Now, let’s talk noodles. I don’t do boring. For this Preserved Lemon Lime Pasta Salad recipe, I go with Caserecce from Giadze, aka Giada’s line of delightfully high-quality pastas. These twisty little guys grab onto the dressing like it’s gossip at a neighborhood BBQ.

So let’s get dressed

Speaking of dressing, it starts with mayo. And yes, I was a loyal Hellman’s girl until Duke’s waltzed in with that creamy Southern swagger. I feel dirty. But I like it. Into that mayo goes olive oil, chopped preserved lemons and limes, and a few dramatic splashes of their juice. No added salt to this Preserved Lemon Lime Pasta Salad! The preserved citrus is already salty enough to season your entire life. Just trust.

Add a little sugar, a generous crank of black pepper, and you’re basically done. Toss the pasta with some chopped sweet onion—because sweet and tangy are soulmates—and smother it in that dreamy citrus-mayo situation. Chill it, taste it, do a happy dance.

This Preserved Lemon Lime Pasta Salad is BBQ side dish royalty. It’s tangy, sassy, and wildly flavorful. Plus, it stands up to heat better than your cousin Steve at the grill. Bring it to your next picnic and watch it disappear. Move over, boring pasta salad. Citrus is in charge now.

Print

Preserved Lemon Lime Pasta Salad

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American, Middle Eastern

Keyword Lemon Lime Pasta Salad, Lemon Lime Salad, Lemon Pasta Salad, Pasta salad, Preserved Lemon Salad

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 6

Author Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Pasta
• 1/2 preserved lemon
• 1/2 preserved lime
• 1 tablespoon preserved lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon preserved lime juice
• 1 sweet onion
• 1/3 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Boil the pasta in salted water.
2. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Let cool completely.
3. Chop the preserved lemon and lime into very small pieces.
4. Peel and dice the onion.
5. Whisk together the mayonnaise, olive oil, and preserved lemon and lime juices.
6. Season with sugar and pepper. Add more or less to your taste.
7. Toss the pasta with the onion, then the dressing, and serve.

So, do you like this Preserved Lemon Lime Pasta Salad? Then also check out some of these other delicious recipes:

PRESERVED LIME BUTTERMILK POTATOES

RAMP PRESERVED LEMON EGG SALAD

PRESERVED LEMON POTATO KUGEL