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Cheeseburger Pasta Salad

5 from 1 reviews

This Cheeseburger Pasta Salad is a delicious and pretty healthy combination of two of the best comfort foods!  It makes for a colorful, veggie filled, and fun summer side dish or even a main course.  A total crowd pleaser.

Ingredients

Scale

Pasta Salad

  • 8 oz whole wheat pasta
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chopped red onion
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup chopped pickles
  • 1/2 cup shredded lettuce
  • salt
  • pepper

Burger Sauce Dressing

  • 2 tbsp mayo (read rest of post for the one i like!)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp ketchup

Instructions

  1. Start by boiling the pasta.
  2. While the water is boiling chop the yellow onion and garlic.
  3. Pour the olive oil into a pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic with salt and pepper until soft and fragrant.
  4. Add in the ground beef and cook through. Add some more salt and pepper.
  5. Drain the pasta and add to a large bowl to set aside. I recommend adding a splash of olive oil to the pasta and mixing, to avoid sticking.
  6. Drain any excess oil from the ground beef and set aside in another bowl.
  7. Chop the tomatoes, red onion, pickles, and lettuce.
  8. Combine the ketchup and mayo until smooth in a small bowl.
  9. Once the pasta and ground beef have cooled, add 1 1/2 cups of the ground beef mixture to the pasta. Or add more or less, totally up to you.
  10. Then add in the tomatoes, red onion, pickles, lettuce, and cheddar cheese. Combine everything.
  11. Pour on desired amount of the burger sauce dressing. The batch pictured uses all of it.
  12. Store in the fridge and enjoy!

Notes

  • You will have leftover ground beef with these measurements!  If you don’t want leftover ground beef I would recommend adding a serving or two of pasta or only cooking 3/4 of the ground beef.

Keywords: pasta salad, cheeseburger, cheeseburger pasta salad, pasta, healthy pasta salad, side dish, healthy side dish, summer pasta salad