Creamy Pasta Salad Recipe (Nudelsalat)
This creamy pasta salad recipe is packed with peas, peppers, corn, noodles, eggs, and delicious German-style bologna, then held together by a creamy, tangy homemade dressing using my secret ingredient! I have perfected it over several years and everybody (including the kids) always loves it!
Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 466kcal
Equipment
- Salad Bowl how pretty is this ceramic serving bowl?
- Salad Servers love some nice wooden salad servers!
- Cutting Board wooden cutting board withstand the test of time
- Kitchen Knife these are great and I grew up with them in Germany
Ingredients
- 500 g fusilli pasta I love the spiral shape for holding onto all the dressing and salad ingredients!
- 200 g peas frozen or fresh
- 200 g bologna I love using this German-style bologna from the NYC-based butcher Schaller & Weber for authentic taste
- 150 g yellow corn canned
- 4 eggs plus more for garnish (optional)
- 3 bell peppers I use a variety of colors
- 3 spring onions
Dressing
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 egg yolk super fresh
- 3 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 100 ml flavor-neutral oil I like to use avocado oil
- 150 g Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup I usually use honey
- 2 tablespoon pickle juice from German dill pickles. I also love using the Grillo's dill pickles juice (found in the refrigerated section)
- salt, pepper and paprika to taste
Instructions
Boil the eggs & pasta
- Carefully place 4 eggs in boiling water and cook for 10 minutes (if you'd like more eggs for garnish, then boil a couple more). Run cold water over them while peeling. Cut up for the salad.
- In the meantime, cook pasta according to packaging instructions.
Make the dressing
- Combine mustard, egg yolk and vinegar and whisk together. Then slowly add the avocado oil a bit at a time while whisking. The sauce will begin to thicken. Whisk in dill pickle juice, Greek yogurt, honey and season with salt, pepper and paprika powder.
Prep other ingredients
- Peel the bologna and cut into ½ inch cubes (you can also cut up sliced bologna or fully cooked Wiener sausages).
- Wash, trim and cut up the bell peppers and spring onions. Rinse any canned vegetables.
Assemble your Nudelsalat
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Garnish with more eggs and fresh chopped parsley or chives (optional).
- Serve with some grilled German Bratwurst (or make Currywurst with it) or some German-style grilled pork (Schwenkbraten).
Notes
Switch out ingredients. While I have tested the combination of the vegetables added to this creamy pasta salad over and over again, you can totally switch out certain ingredients if you would like.
- You can even use crisp-cooked bacon lardons instead of the German-style bologna I used in this salad.
- You can also use different pasta shapes like penne, elbow or bowtie pasta if you'd like.
Nutrition
Calories: 466kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 292mg | Potassium: 408mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1446IU | Vitamin C: 54mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 2mg