Let me take you to a little Italian cafe for a moment. When you close your eyes and bite into this delicious Bruschetta Pasta Salad, you’ll feel like you are here…

photo credit: Wall Paper Safari

This salad is a healthy spin on traditional bruschetta. The perfect blend of fresh spinach, basil, and tomatoes tossed with pasta and some vinaigrette come together to make a tasty salad that you will want to make again and again.

By skipping the loaf of bread and adding 3 cups of fresh spinach, one generous 2-cup serving of the Bruschetta Salad is just 6 WW FreeStyle Smart Points.

Low calorie rotini pasta.

The pasta I used in this recipe was Creamette 150 rotini. The Creamette 150 brand of pasta is a reduced calorie pasta that has 25% fewer calories than regular pasta. In regards to Smart Points, the difference between using this kind of pasta and regular rotini is just one point, so it’s six points per serving using reduced-calorie pasta and seven points per serving using regular pasta.

The easiest way to slice basil.

I know fresh basil costs more than using the dry basil seasoning you can find in the seasonings aisle, but you will definitely want to stick with the fresh stuff for this recipe. This is a fresh salad, and the fresh basil is a key ingredient to making it taste just right. Refer to the picture and instructions below for the easiest way to slice fresh basil.

To slice fresh basil quickly and easily, simply stack the basil leaves and slice them all together.

Here is what you need:

2 cups Creamette 150 rotini
3-4 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1 cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese

Here is what you do:

Cook rotini pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain and rinse pasta with cold water.

While rotini is cooking, chop the tomatoes and slice the basil.

In a small bowl, mix together the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper to create the vinaigrette.

Toss together the vinaigrette with the rest of the ingredients and serve 2 cups per serving..

Makes 4 servings.
One serving is 2 cups Bruschetta Pasta Salad.
One serving is 6 Green, 6 Blue, and 6 Purple points.

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Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Bruschetta Pasta Salad

6 Green, 6 Blue, and 6 Purple points per serving.

Makes: 4 servings

Calories: 212

Author: Alisha Hughes

Ingredients

• 2 cups Creamette 150 rotini
• 3-4 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into thin strips
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese

Instructions

• Cook rotini pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain and rinse pasta with cold water.
• While rotini is cooking, chop the tomatoes and slice the basil.
• In a small bowl, mix together the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper to create vinaigrette.
• Toss together the vinaigrette with the rest of the ingredients and serve 2 cups per serving.