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Mara’s Pasta recently asked if I could develop some recipes using their products, which I am excited to share with you below. But don’t stop there because Mara’s also has an entire page on their website dedicated to recipes including some that will help you utilize all your fresh summer produce including “Mara’s Fettuccine with corn, squash, peppers, tomatoes, and cilantro” and “Mara’s Whole Wheat Fettuccine with Tomato Basil Sauce.” Also, if you’d like to get 15% off your Mara’s Pasta order use coupon code “100DAYS” (now through August 5th) and then “update” your shopping cart before checking out on their website. A big thank you Mara’s for sponsoring today’s post!
Mara’s Peanut-Thai Pasta
The ingredients in this pasta sauce may sound unusual at first, but the end product is an exotic and delicious combination. My girls loved this recipe so much that they even accidentally ate a few cucumbers along the way. I will definitely be making this again…possibly even for their school lunch boxes soon where I think I’ll dice the cucumbers even smaller so they are harder to pick out. :)
Peanut Thai Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz spaghetti (Mara's, 1/2 box)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- ½ cup basil (fresh, chopped)
- ½ cucumber
- crushed red pepper (to taste (optional))
Instructions
- Cook noodles according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic, and basil until combined into a smooth mixture.
- Once the pasta is ready, drain and combine with the soy sauce mixture until pasta is evenly coated with sauce. Dice half of a cucumber and toss together with pasta. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Mara’s Feta Pasta Salad
Thanks to inspiration from The Food Babe, I’ve learned that just like mozzarella cheese the type of feta cheese you buy matters. In both cases go with the versions sold floating in water and you will not be disappointed! Since this recent discovery, I’ve been eating feta on just about everything and this pasta dish is no exception.
Feta Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 6 oz farfalle pasta (Mara's, 1/2 box)
- 1 cup feta cheese (crumbled)
- 1 tomato
- 2 avocados
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- Dice the tomato and mix with the feta in a large bowl, set aside.
- In a small bowl make the dressing by whisking together the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, onion powder, and salt.
- Once pasta is done drain and rinse with cool water. After the pasta cools for a few minutes add it to the large bowl with the tomato and feta.
- Dice the avocados and add to the bowl with the pasta as well. Pour the dressing over top and toss to combine. Garnish with extra feta if desired and serve at room temperature or chilled. Avocados may brown if stored overnight.
And I almost forgot, I grate fresh Parmesan to mix in too!
This is my favorite pasta salad recipe, but I make a few changes. :) first, I double the noodles and sauce. It is SO yummy for lunch the next day and my husband and I have a hard time stopping ourselves from devouring it the night I make it, so this isn’t quite enough for leftovers. I just use 100% whole wheat spiral (or whatever shape) noodles. I also add cucumber, as much as you want. (I do one large or two small) And instead of a whole tomato, I slice cherry or grape tomatoes in half. I like how they hold together better. And lastly, I use Dijon mustard (not doubled) because that’s what I usually have in my fridge. So delish! Can’t wait to have it for lunch today! :)
This reminds me of my favorite noodle salads that I make using more of a method than a recipe, easy to customize for what you like/have on hand, and a great way to make a one dish meal using leftovers. I basically just combine one or more choices from each of five categories- noodles (spaghetti, soba, or rice), protein (cooked chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp, tofu), crunchy veggies (cucumber, bell pepper, grated carrots, bean sprouts, snow peas, shredded cabbage), dressing (sesame oil, rice vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce, peanut butter, hot sauce, in any combination) and yummy extras (my favorite is a combination of scallions, cilantro, and chopped peanuts, could also use basil, sesame seeds, crushed red pepper, cashews) Creative, frugal, convenient, and yummy!
Hi Jessica. Here is a post the Food Babe did on coconut palm sugar:http://foodbabe.com/tag/coconut-palm-sugar/. I use it in my coffee but have yet to bake with it. Also, look for an upcoming post by Lisa and Jason on wheat. ~Amy
Hi,
I just love your blog! It is so inspiring to see you cut the nasty processed crap the food companies are selling us. I wanted to know if you watch DR OZ? I watched his show a few days ago and he was talking about how we are such a wheat based country then went in to give us other grains to try and substitute. Teff, kalmut, were two I have never heard of…then millet and buckwheat. You can go to doctoroz.com and get more info…also what are your thoughts/feelings on coconut sugar?
Wow! My stepmother used to make almost this exact same recipe (although not a “real food” version).. My little brother dubbed it “brown spaghetti”. I haven’t had it in years, and it is bringing me back. This is definitely going on next week’s menu.. Thank you!!
I made the Mara’s Peanut-Thai Pasta for my family tonight and its a big hit!
where can I buy the Maras pasta? (other than on the website?) thanks! can’t wait to try it!
Hi Katie. Their website lists where it is sold…http://www.maraspasta.com/where/. Jill
I made the peanut thai pasta but added some sautee chicken and my whole fanily loved it. I actually had to add more soy sauce as I thought it was too thick of a sauce and I didn’t find it to salty at all. Very yummy and a big hit in my house!!!!
Super easy with little to clean up after dinner. I substituted Red Wine Vinegar for the Rice Wine Vinegar just because that’s what was in my pantry. I agree it was a bit salty and decided to throw in little sugar…I didn’t think about honey (I’m new at this). It helped a lot! My only request from my 10 and 8 years old was less peanut butter next time. My family of four gave it a 3.5! Did I mention how easy it was??!!
For some reason it won’t let me ‘Pin’ this recipe. I’ve pinned many others today but can’t pin this one. Anyone else having this problem?
Maybe this is a silly questions, but are all the condiments organic? Does that matter?
Hi Anna. As much as I can I try and use organic. Jill
I also thought it was very salty. Here is what I did. I made the sauce in a seperate sauce pan. I added 1/4 cup of olive oil and a teaspoon of honey.
I only used about 1/4 cup of sauce and tossed into into the pasta. I did not salt my pasta when cooking. Tossed pasta with fresh diced cucumbers. Chill pasta and then serve.
I enjoyed it, didn’t add the salt for my taste, I usually do not add salt with recipes, I love Feta though thanks…..
I made it for my daughter who loves asian food. Way too salty/strong as it was – fortunately I taste tested it and made some adjustments before serving: added about 1/4 cup canola oil, 1/3 cup brown sugar, more peanut butter and some ground peanuts. Next time I would also saute the garlic to tame it down a bit before adding.
Hi Jane. You could also consider using reduced sodium soy sauce and/or reducing the amount of soy sauce you use. Jill
The peanut pasta was fabulous! So filling too. :-)
I just made the Thai pasta for my family tonight. Unfortunately it was overpoweringly salty to the point of being inedible. Either I did something wrong (very likely!) or there’s too much soy. The dish was screaming for a sweet element like honey. Has anyone else tried it? Probably my error!!!
if it was your error, then it was mine, too. just made it, and boy, is it salty. i actually put in a little honey, but boy, it’s still salty. i followed the recipe to a T. different strokes for different folks, i guess. just bummed :(
Hi Sher. You may want to try reduced sodium soy sauce or just reduce the amount of soy sauce. Jill
hi jill, and thanks for the suggestions. i did use reduced sodium soy sauce originally and it was still quite a salt-fest. that being said, i followed another poster’s advice and added some brown sugar, which mitigated it a bit. next time, i will probably reduce the soy sauce first and see how it goes :)
Hi Mary Claire. You may want to try reduced sodium soy sauce or maybe even cut down on the amount of soy sauce. Jill
Mmm, the thai pasta sounds delicious!
I’m thinking we’ll try the peanut Thai recipe this week, but I’m going to replace cucumbers with onion, carrots, peppers, and whatever else we have. Sounds really good! Might have to make the feta pasta salad as well!
What type of oil could I use instead of Sesame (allergic)? Thanks
Maybe coconut oil? You would prob need to eat it warm though. Or, just use olive oil :)
We just didn’t use the sesame oil at all and it tasted fabulous! It’s only a teaspoon so it didn’t seem to affect it much. :-)
You could just leave it out all together – it might alter the taste just slightly. Jill
Yummy! I used to buy the bottled thai peanut sauce and was just thinking when I recently passed it at the grocery store that I should look for a home-made recipe. So, thanks!!! I will be trying this peanut-thai pasta very soon! And that’s good to know about Mara’s pasta. I think I’ll visit their site!
Awe!!! Thank you Lisa. I am definitely going to be trying both versions. The Peanut Thai sauce has my mouth watering already.
I will try shredding the cucumbers. My family doesn’t like them either. I didn’t when I was a kid, but love them now, especially with hummus. I recently made a salad with grilled chicken, red peppers, cucumbers and Thai peanut sauce, and it really needed the cucumbers.
These salads look great! i just made something (sort of) similiar last night…cold soba noodles: buckwheat noodles with a tamari-apple cider vinegar-ginger-honey-olive oil-sesame oil sauce, add some fresh cilantro, green onion and cucumber…it’s delicious and with some tempeh on top, very nutritious!
I love rice wine vinegar but am having such a hard time finding it the last year or so. The 1 time I found it I bought the 3 bottles on the shelf, but am out again. Any suggestions on places to buy it?
What about amazon? We’ve recently started buying some of our groceries from amazon because they are difficult to find locally.
Hi Jennifer. I have not had a difficult time finding it at a mainstream grocery store or at one such as Earthfare. It is usually with the asian food. Jill
I love making Pasta with a Thai Peanut Sauce. Instead of cucumbers, I often add shelled edamame and red bell peppers. It is delicious combination and the edamame sticks with the asian character of the meal!
would LOVE the feta version, and possibly the thai without cucumbers. I’d be like your girls and pick them out! Lol I’ve come a loooong way in what I’ll eat/not eat, but I just can’t do cucumbers still.
These look just like the kind of dinner I like to make that my kids will actually eat. ;-) Thanks!