Cold Pasta Salad

[Chrissyb]

I made a simply cold pasta salad with rice macroni, eggs, mayo and spices after a couple of days in the fridge the pasta became hard. Is this normal for rice pasta of did I do somethng wrong, this was the first time I have made a pasta salde with rice pasta.

[nikki-uk]

You will find that rice and corn pasta has more 'starch' content making it more sticky.

I always rinse mine with boiling water to get rid of some of it, then I add either a little bit of olive oil or mayonnaise to stop it all 'sticking' together

[Ridgewalker]

This is pretty normal. I haven't found a way to prevent this from happening yet. I try to make enough to only last a couple days. Also, some gluten-free pastas are better than others... Tinkyada brand is by far our favorite in taste and texture.

It's disappointing, but I've kinda gotten used to it... I just know ahead of time that the pasta salad is going to be best the day it's made. These days, I still eat it after it's gotten a little hard , although I do add some extra mayo or dressing. Doesn't really help the texture of the pasta, but makes the salad a little better overall.

Not sure why this happens, but regular white rice gets hard after just a day in the fridge... It softens if you microwave it with a couple drops of water. When I want to warm up leftover pasta for spaghetti or alfredo, I plop it in boiling water for a few minutes instead of microwaving it- same concept. (Actually, don't PLOP anything in boiling water, you know what I mean.) But of course you can't do this with a cold salad.

There are other types of gluten-free pasta, such as those made with corn or quinoa. I've never used them, so I don't know if they work better for cold salads. Maybe we could give it a try.

[lonewolf]

I've had better luck with Mrs. Leeper's corn/vegetable pasta - shaped like little "pagodas". It might be called radiatore or something? It's multi colored and stays softer a bit longer than the rice pasta. I make mine with Italian dressing, vegetables, goat cheese and olives though - a bit different than the mayo variety. With 6 people in my family we don't usually have pasta salad in the fridge for too long, but the rice pasta does get hard pretty quickly. I've served salad made with Mrs. Leeper's to company and taken it to family gatherings and everyone seems to like it pretty well.

[dbmamaz]

Thats funny - the first 2 times I made the pasta salad, I chowed down on the leftover the first day and it was all gone. I made some 2 days ago and tried it today, and . . .it was all hard. I used the corn-quinoa pagodas.

[LuvMoosic4life]

I noticed this the first time I made pasta salad. I use tinkyada pasta which can withstand a lot of over cooking. I find that if I over cook it it doesnt become as hard when chilled, it actually is just al dente. just be careful that when you purposely overcook it, not to go crazy with stiring it with mayo/dressing or whatever you use otherwise it will start to break apart. I aalos rinse it in cold water after it as finished cooking.

I like al dente pasta though, so maybe thats why it hasnt bothered me being on the hard side. I actual have come to like the rice pasta muh better, and of course for more reasons just than taste!

[Juliebove]

I haven't had much luck making pasta salad with gluten-free pasta. When I do make it, I try to make just enough for that meal and eat it right away. With wheat pasta I would make it the day before and allow it to sit overnight for the flavors to blend. This doesn't seem to work with the gluten-free pasta and as a result, I think the salad doesn't taste as good. I also can't use the dressing I used to use. Might not be gluten that is the issue there, but other allergens.

[MNBeth]

I haven't had much luck making pasta salad with gluten-free pasta. When I do make it, I try to make just enough for that meal and eat it right away. With wheat pasta I would make it the day before and allow it to sit overnight for the flavors to blend. This doesn't seem to work with the gluten-free pasta and as a result, I think the salad doesn't taste as good. I also can't use the dressing I used to use. Might not be gluten that is the issue there, but other allergens.

I wonder if it would help to make the dressing a day in advance, so at least those flavors have a chance to blend, then put the salad together the next day.

[Juliebove]

I wonder if it would help to make the dressing a day in advance, so at least those flavors have a chance to blend, then put the salad together the next day.

It seems that the problem is the pasta doesn't soak in the flavors of the dressing.