This cool and delicious Lemon Capellini Salad is a lovely cold pasta dish filled with fresh tomatoes and irresistible capers in every bite!
I first found this cool and slippery pasta salad in the deli section of my local grocery store and knew I wanted to replicate it instantly. It pairs really well with a Grilled Skirt Steak or Juicy Oven Baked Chicken.
We love this easy pasta salad because it’s a side dish that works well in all seasons! It’s cool and refreshing in the summer, or bright and tasty for those winter days.
Lemon Capellini Salad
This is an Italian-inspired lemon pasta dish with classic, simple seasonings that beautifully enhance the natural flavors of the other ingredients.
Ingredients Needed
Only a few simple ingredients are needed to make this easy Lemon Capellini Salad. Here’s a basic list of what you’ll need. As always, you can find a full list of the ingredients in the printable recipe card below.
- Capellini Pasta – or angel hair
- Lemons – zest and juice
- Olive Oil
- Garlic Salt
- Black Pepper – fresh ground is best
- Diced Tomatoes – roma or grape tomatoes work well
- Capers – usually found near the salad dressing or pickle isle
- Parsley – fresh for a lovely pop of color and flavor
How To Make Lemon Capellini Salad
I’ll walk you through the steps for making this delicious lemon pasta salad!
COOK PASTA
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, and carefully place pasta into the pot, careful not to break it. Cooking capellini pasta doesn’t take long, about 5 minutes until al dente. Drain and rinse the pasta with cool water to halt the cooking process.
PRO TIP: For best results, make sure you don’t break the delicate capellini pasta in half! The best part of the pasta salad is the long swirly noodles, they are the star of the show.
PREPARE DRESSING
While the pasta is cooking, combine the juice of two lemons, olive oil, garlic salt, and black pepper in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
COMBINE INGREDIENTS
To the dressing, add in the cooked, cooled pasta, diced tomatoes, and capers, then toss to combine.
Finish the pasta salad by mixing in the freshly chopped parsley and lemon zest and give it one more toss before serving to distribute the dressing evenly.
Difference Between Capellini and Spaghetti
Capellini is a long, thin pasta that is slightly smaller in diameter than a traditional spaghetti noodle, but slightly thicker than an Angel hair pasta.
If you can’t find Capellini, you could also use a thin spaghetti.
Serving and Storage
This lemon pasta salad is even better the next day, after it soaks up the lovely lemony dressing.
You can serve it right away, or cover and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
This pasta salad can be refrigerated for up to 5 days. Be sure to toss the salad again before serving in case any dressing has settled on the bottom of the dish.
What To Pair With Lemon Capellini Salad
This is the perfect pasta side dish for so many meals! Here are a few ideas to try…
- Juicy Oven Baked Pork Chops Recipe
- Balsamic Grilled Chicken Recipe
- Garlic Butter Steak Bites Recipe
- Cheesy Garlic Roasted Asparagus
More Easy Pasta Salad Recipes
It’s always Salad season here! Here are a few of our favorites if you need some ideas.
- Caesar Pasta Salad Recipe
- Creamy Corn Pasta Salad
- Best Creamy Pea Salad Recipe
- Shrimp Orzo Pasta Salad
I hope you enjoy this lovely lemon pasta salad as much as we do!
Lemon Capellini Salad
Ingredients
- 8 oz capellini pasta, or angel hair pasta
- 2 medium lemons, juice of + 1 tsp lemon zest
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ tsp garlic salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ cup diced tomatoes, seeds removed
- 3 tbsp capers, drained
- 1 tbsp curly leaf parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until tender. It shouldn't take very long since the pasta is fairly thin. Drain and rinse with cool water to prevent further cooking.
- Meanwhile, combine the juice of 2 lemons, olive oil, garlic salt and black pepper in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add in the cooked pasta, diced tomatoes and capers, then toss to combine. Finally, stir in the freshly chopped parsley and give it one more toss. Serve the pasta salad right away or cover and chill in fridge until ready to serve.
Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks
Angela A
This is outstanding! So fresh, so zippy with the lemon and the capers and I shaved fresh parm over the top! This recipe will be made and made again many times! Thank you for sharing it!
Judi
Made this last night for company, omitting the parsley which I forgot to buy… Very easy to make and everyone loved it…had to give a copy of the recipe to our friends. Served with grilled salmon.. delish!
Judi
What I also love about this recipe is it doesn’t have the 1/2 lb of butter and loads of Parmesan cheese that other recipes have…less guilt, still very tasty!!
Sherry Kessel
I love this recipe. It’s the closest to what I bought in the deli at my local store. Their listed ingredients included vinegar and basil, so I added some white wine vinegar and some fresh chopped basil and got the tang I was looking for. Delicious!
Cynthia Dougan
This looks SOO GOOD…I would like to know if the capers can be substituted. I’m not a lover of capers…
Linn
I just finished making this pasta salad! When I tasted it, before the capers, I kept thinking it needed some sort of acid, i.e. vinegar, rice wine vinegar… Then I realized I didn’t put the capers in yet. I just had a little more than the recipe called for left in my jar. I dumped the jar with the remaining juice and all, and I must say, it was just what was missing! If you don’t put capers, you might want to add a splash of vinegar, or some sort of brine.