Summertime usually means lots of get-togethers and BBQ parties, which also means bring on the pasta salads!! They really are simple to make and a great side dish to pair with your burgers/hot dogs. This turkey taco pasta salad was amazing..I seriously couldn’t stop eating it! I have had something similar made with ground beef and using doritos in the past but I wanted to lighten it up and make it more freestyle friendly. I remember the first time I tried it I was skeptical having cold beef in my salad but I promise it is delicious! Makes 12- 1 cup servings at 4 smart points each.

Turkey taco pasta salad

Turkey taco pasta salad

Drizzle
2-4PP, 4SP blue, green & purple/per 1 cup serving *Note swap out the white pasta for whole wheat and it will be 2SP on purple
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Prep Time 20 mins
Total Time 20 mins
Course Main meals
Servings 12

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb fat free ground turkey weighed raw
  • 2.5 Tbsp taco seasoning
  • 2 cups of cooked rotini style pasta I weighed pasta uncooked and picture below for my nutritional numbers, the 2 cups uncooked was 17SP
  • 1 cup diced peppers I used green & yellow
  • 1/2 cup diced red onion
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
  • 2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
  • 1 cup reduced fat shredded cheese I used a 3 cheese blend
  • 1/2 cup calorie wise catalina dressing or french dressing
  • 1 tsp taco seasoning
  • 4 taco shells crushed

Instructions
 

  • Cook and drain your pasta and rinse under cold water.
  • Brown your ground turkey and stir in the 2.5 Tbsp taco seasoning, drain and add to a bowl
  • Add your pasta, peppers, onion, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, 1 tsp taco seasoning and dressing, stir well. Once you are ready to serve stir in your crushed taco shells *these are best added only when ready to serve as they will go soggy after a while.
  • Store salad in the fridge, makes 12- 1 cup servings

Notes

Personal Points- 2-4 depending on your 0PP foods 
Freestyle smart points- (Blue & purple) 4 using WW recipe builder *swap out white pasta for whole wheat and recipe is 2SP on purple
Smart Points- (green) 4 using SP calculator
Point Plus- 4 using PP calculator
Nutritional info.. Per serving (1 cup) Calories 171...Fat 3.7g...Sat fat 1.5g...Carbs 18.8g...Fiber 2.7g...Sugar 4.1g..Protein 14.4g using My Fitness Pal *Note, these numbers incl all ingredients so if entering into a WW calculator you may get a different point value
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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25 Comments

  1. This looks delish. Thanks for an idea for lunch. Is the 2 C. pasta measured before or after cooking?

    • Drizzle Reply

      HI Mona, as mentioned in the post the pasta is weighed before cooking and I used the info from the box (as that info is for dry uncooked pasta)

  2. Victoria Pearson Reply

    Excellent idea to use canned premium chicken white meat too. I can’t wait to try it!

    • Drizzle Reply

      This is a cold pasta salad.. I know it might seem weird lol and the first time I had something similar at a BBQ (but with ground beef) I was like ..wait..it’s cold? But it is sooo good!!

  3. Penny Renfro Reply

    Is there something that could be substituted for the Catalina or French Dressing?

    • Drizzle Reply

      you can try another dressing of choice, I mean it is going to change the overall taste of it but if you don’t like those dressing use one you like, Italian maybe 🙂 it will still be a tasty recipe

  4. I was only able to get 7 (1) cup servings, I measured out 2 cups dried rotini after cooked it came out to 2 3/4 cups cooked pasta. I didn’t add the lettuce into the pasta mixture, I was afraid it might get soggy sitting in the refrigerator

    • Drizzle Reply

      Hmmm that seems very low when it makes 12 cups, you used 1 pound turkey correct? The lettuce does add 2 cups but you are still off a bit, sorry not too sure why you did not get the 12 cups I did, maybe a larger pasta?

      • Yup, I used 1 lb 99% ground turkey. I even used more than 1 cup bell peppers. It was delicious had for lunch today, next time I think I’ll try bowtie pasta to see if I’ll get 12 cups

  5. Hi there, question on the pasta salad, how much would dressing be per serving if I put it on separately so it wouldn’t get soggy?
    Thank you in advance!

    • Drizzle Reply

      Hi, my dressing for the amount used in the recipe was 8SP total

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