Pasta Salad With Marinated Mushrooms

A pasta salad, made with a low-carb pasta, is a great way to get some protein and variety into your diet. Most lower carb pastas are also reasonably high in protein as they tend to be made with bean flour and/or vital wheat gluten (and also often eggs, so check your labels). For this particular pasta salad, I have used Kaizen lupin pasta, which is very high in protein while being quite low in net carbs, and thus an accessible option for those adhering to a very low carb limit. However, it's only fair to admit, that I do not love this pasta. I find the texture quite unappealing, and when the boxes in my cupboard are finished, I will be making this salad with a higher carb chickpea pasta until I find a more palatable lower carb option to replace it with. If you happen to know of any good ones, please do let me know. I'm always on the look out for better pasta options. Details and macros for making this salad with chickpea pasta are given below the recipe. Bon appétit!​
Yield: 4 salads | 1⅓ cup (280g) marinated mushrooms (⅓ cup [70g] per salad)
Macros (per dressed salad): 410 calories | 25g protein | 30g fat | 11g net carbs
Macros (per mushroom-less salad): 235 calories | 24g protein | 11g fat | 10g net carbs ✎ 
Macros (per ⅓ cup [70g] mushrooms): 175 calories | 1g protein | 18g fat | 1g net carbs
Prep: 40 minutes + marinating mushrooms for roughly 8 hours/overnight
Storage: marinated mushrooms and remaining salad ingredients (chopped and combined) separately, refrigerated. Store undressed salad for up to 3 days and the marinated mushrooms for up to 10 days. Add mushrooms/dressing when ready to eat. Fully prepared salad can be stored, refrigerated, for a few hours.
Marinated Mushroom Ingredients:
  • 4 ounces (113g) mushrooms, quartered (about 1½) ✎ ​
  • ⅓ cup (80ml/72g) light olive oil or neutral-flavored oil of choice​
  • ¼ cup (60ml) red or white wine vinegar or vinegar of choice
  • 1 tablespoon (15g) Dijon mustard 
  • 1 tablespoon (13g) granulated allulose or equivalent in sweetener of choice (optional)
  • 2 cloves (6g) garlic, crushed (equals 1 teaspoon)
  • 1½ teaspoons dried thyme
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional or to taste)​
Other Salad Ingredients:​
  • 4 servings (224g) dry low-carb pasta, cooked & cooled ✎
  • ½ ​cup (48g) sliced almonds, toasted ✎
  • 4 cups (120g) baby or chopped spinach​ or preferred greens
  • 1 medium (123g) tomato, chopped (about 1 cup) or 1 cup of halved grape or quartered cherry tomatoes
  • ½ medium (150g) English cucumber, chopped (about 1¼ cups)
  • ¼ medium (27g) red onion, thinly sliced​ (a scant ¼ cup)
  • ⅓ ​cup (45g) sliced black olives (10-12 medium olives)
  • a few (5g) fresh basil leaves, chopped (optional)
Directions:
  1. Prepare the mushrooms and put them in a container or jar that holds about 1½ cups (360ml). Add the remaining mushroom marinade ingredients to the jar/container, seal with a well-fitted lid, and shake to combine. Refrigerate for about 8 hours or overnight. Shake a couple of times throughout this time period if possible. 
  2. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), spread the almonds out in a single layer on a baking sheet/pan, and toast for 3 to 5 minutes. Monitor carefully to prevent burning. Cool once toasted.
  3. Meanwhile, boil a large pot of water and cook the pasta as per the directions on the packaging. Once cooked, drain, rinse with cold water, and refrigerate to cool.
  4. ​While nuts are toasting and pasta cooking/cooling, prepare the remaining ingredients as per the ingredient list. Put these in a large salad bowl or medium-sized mixing bowl.
  5. Add the almonds, pasta, and mushrooms, along with the marinade/dressing, to the bowl and toss the salad thoroughly to fully dress all components.
  6. Divide the salad equally between 4 dinner bowls.
  7. Enjoy soon after preparing.
Mustard & Thyme Vinaigrette: if interested in making just the vinaigrette that marinates the mushrooms, omit the mushrooms, increase the oil to ½ ​cup (120ml/108g), and reduce the salt to a heaped ¼ teaspoon. Whisk or shake all ingredients together in a small bowl or jar. If time permits, refrigerate for about an hour to allow flavors to meld.
Yield: ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (210ml), equal to 14 tablespoons
Macros (per tablespoon): 70 calories | 0.1g protein | 8g fat | 0.2g net carbs
Make It With Chickpea Pasta (Carb-Booster): ​use chickpea pasta and replace the almonds with ½ ​cup (80g) pumpkin seeds. Toast these for 5 to 7 minutes. Divide the salad into 5 or 8 servings depending on personal carb limitations.
Macros (per dressed salad - 5 servings):
415 calories | 18g protein | 25g fat | 20g net carbs (Al Dente pasta) or 25g net carbs (Barilla pasta) ✎
Macros (per dressed salad - 8 servings):
​260 calories | 11g protein | 16g fat | 13g net carbs (Al Dente pasta) or 16g net carbs (Barilla pasta) ✎
✎ Notes:
  • The macros for the mushroom-less salad also exclude the marinade/dressing. You can add your own dressing to the salad, or use the recipe I've provided for just the Mustard & Thyme Vinaigrette. 
  • I like to use baby white button mushrooms for this recipe. I halve instead of quarter the smaller ones.
  • For this recipe, I am using Kaizen lupin pasta, which is very high in protein and pretty low in net carbs. To be honest, I don't love this pasta and I would not eat it hot and with sauce. It's simply not that sturdy and doesn't have the chewiness of a typical pasta. It has a gummy paste-like texture once cooked. It works ok for a pasta salad and I suspect that is how I will be using the remaining boxes that I've got in my cupboard. Then, in future, I will be making the higher carb version of this salad made with chickpea pasta unless a better alternative appears on the market.
  • Toasting the almonds is optional, but I highly recommend the crunch and depth of flavor toasting brings.
  • If you are in the United States or Canada, Al Dente chickpea pasta is a lower-carb option for chickpea pasta. What magic they've used to make this pasta lower in carbs than other chickpea pastas is a mystery to me, but I am happy to remain ignorant in this case.
  • Macros for this recipes are calculated with American national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from the allulose (Health Garden), low-carb pasta (Kaizen), and in the number carb variation, pumpkin seeds (Bob's Redmill) and chickpea pasta (Al Dente or Barilla).
  • Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.