Southwest Steak Pasta Salad - A hearty pasta salad with Southwest flavors; hearty enough to be a dinner entrée.
Call it a good thing or call it a bad thing but I'm on such a red meat kick lately. You see, we don't have much in the way of ventilation in my kitchen, so I hardly ever cook steak indoors. Once the summery weather begins, I just want to grill me up some steak!Â
I've been big on grilling flank steak lately (Grilled Fajita Pasta / Peppercorn & Coffee Rubbed Flank Steak ), but for this dish I actually used some thin sliced sirloin tips.  Not for any major reason, it just happen to be super cheap at my grocery store this week. Plus, because it's sliced thin it cooked up in a matter of minutes. If you can't find the thin stuff, just use the regular sirloin tips. If you aren't keen on sirloin tips then by all means use the flank steak, it would work and it would work well.
Okay, so about this pasta salad. I set out to make it a pasta entrée,  but we ate it at room temperature and it has a "dressing", so I kind of think that makes it a pasta salad, right?  Then I thought, well it's an entrée and I didn't want you guys to think it was just like a side pasta salad. In the end, I had to call it pasta salad, but just know this is fit to be an entrée. You'd be surprised at how stressful it is for a blogger to name their dishes!
Oh, so one last thing. You guys know I don't love tomatoes in salad, but if you like tomatoes, you should totally toss some tomatoes in here.
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Printable Recipe Card
Southwest Steak Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb sirloin tip steak thin
- 2 T homemade fajita seasoning or store bought
- 2 ears corn shucked
- ½ C finely diced red onion
- ÂĽ C finely diced jalapeno pepper seeds removed
- 8 oz whole grain rotini
- 15 oz can black beans rinsed and drained
Dressing
- ÂĽ C lime juice freshly squeezed
- 1 T olive oil
- ½ teaspoon homemade fajita seasoning or store bought
- Salt to taste
Homemade Fajita Seasoning
- 2 T Chili Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1 T Smoked Paprika
- 1 T Garlic Powder
- 1 T Onion Powder
Instructions
- Preheat grill to medium/high heat.
- Season steak with 2 T fajita seasoning. Wrap shucked corn in aluminum foil.
- Place corn and steak on grill. Cook steak until desired doneness. Cook corn 10-15 minutes, turning often. Set steak aside to rest at least 5 minutes.
- Once corn is cooled enough to handle, cut the corn off the cob with a sharp knife.
- Place cooked and drained pasta in a large bowl with red onion, corn, jalapeno and black beans. Stir.
- Whisk together all dressing ingredients and stir into pasta.
- Slice steak into bite size slices and top pasta with steak.
- Serve.
Notes
Michelle says
Chris, this looks soo good. I never thought to put steak in as a pasta salad! I can't wait to try this.
foodyschmoody says
Thanks Michelle! After I made that fajita steak pasta the other day, it made me realize steak DOES goes well w/ pasta, I hoped this would work too! We really liked it!
Agy says
I didn't think you could put a steak in pasta too! Would you need to wait for a while before you cut the steak for the salad. I'm thinking about all the juice oozing out from the yummy steak! 🙂
foodyschmoody says
Yes, Agy. I guess I should have been more specific. I mention slicing the steak a few steps down after it's come off the grill, but I guess I should mention the actual resting time. Thank you. I think I'll make that edit!
nancy@skinnykitchen.com says
Looks amazing Christine!
foodyschmoody says
Thanks Nancy!
angela says
I think I have everything on hand to make this!! It sounds amazing!!!
foodyschmoody says
Great, thanks Angela!
Lora@craftivitydesigns says
I love the idea of giving a southwest kick to pasta salad! It looks delicious.
foodyschmoody says
Thank you Lora
Sandi Gaertner (@sandigtweets) says
The perfect dish to use left over steak in!
foodyschmoody says
Sure is. Leftover corn on the cob too!
Joanne T Ferguson says
love the balance of this recipe Christine Pinned and shared
foodyschmoody says
Thanks Joanne!
Cindy @ Hun... What's for Dinner? says
What a delicious pasta salad. Love the southwest flavours!
Stacie says
How would it taste if I added blue cheese?
foodyschmoody says
Normally, I'm all about bleu cheese with steak but I wonder with all the Mexican flavors if that would work or not. I would go more with a Monterey jack or something like that. But if you do try it, I'd like to hear the outcome.
Stacie says
LOL! I trust your judgement! I'll stick with Monterey Jack 🙂
linda spiker says
Looks fabulous!
Michelle @ The Complete Savorist says
Pasta and steak sound lovely together. A fulfilling meal for sure.
Jamie says
This looks delicious! I'm so glad that the weather is finally starting to be nice enough for grilling again! I just love the way grilled meat turns out-- so much flavor!