Do you guys ever have those moments when you see a picture of a recipe and you just have to make it!? Well it happenend to me when I saw two of my favorite ingredients together: black beans and pasta! I made my own healthy tweeks to this black bean taco pasta salad recipe.
First of all, I don’t mess around with taco seasoning packets. I stock so many spices, there is no need! Also, those packets have added ingredients that you don’t need. Just keep a well stocked spice rack and you are set!
Another healthy swap I made was yogurt! Whole milk yogurt has 75% less saturated fat and 50% less calories than sour cream. Both are creamy and tangy, but yogurt is significantly better for you!
In an application like this, you can’t even tell that it’s not sour cream! Want to slim back even more? Try 2% yogurt instead of whole.
Variations to the Black Bean Taco Pasta Salad recipe:
- Try fresh pepper: Swap the can of green chilies with diced green peppers. Any variety will work, such as bell peppers, poblanos, or Anaheim’s.
- Lessen the onion bite: Try soaking the diced onion in water for 10 minutes. Drain and stir into the salad. The bitter flavors will be drawn out into the water leaving you with a milder flavor.
- Add avocado: If you are an avocado lover, it will go great in this salad. I didn’t have any or I totaly would have tossed it in!
- Cheese note: I had a food blogger fail; the cheddar cheese did not make it into the photos, but I do recommend adding it. The salad is missing something without it.
- 8 oz small pasta (any shape, I used rotini)
- ¼ cup whole milk yogurt
- ½ cup red salsa
- 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn (frozen/thawed)
- 1 cup finely shredded mild cheddar cheese
- 4 oz can green chilies, drained
- ½ cup red onion, diced
- 1 small tomato, diced
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp each: garlic powder and chili powder
- ¼ tsp each: salt and black pepper
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cool water.
- Meanwhile mix together yogurt and salsa.
- In a large bowl, toss together cooked pasta, black beans, cheddar, corn, green chilies, red onion, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, salt and pepper. Mix in the salsa mixture and serve.
