Another pasta salad to make your summer days better! This Octopus Pasta Salad is fresh and full of flavour, made with tender octopus and a tangy dressing.
How to cook the octopus?
Nowadays, you can easily find ready cooked octopus tentacles in the deli areas of any supermarket. Or else, you can also use the tinned ones (which bring so many childhood memories for me). However, you can cook the octopus yourself from scratch – but remember this will take a bit more time than suggested in the recipe card. Cooking octopus is relatively easy. There are multiple methods, however, my go to ones are the following.
The first method is the way my mother does it; boiling the octopus in water. Fill a large pot with warm water and add the octopus. Let it cook until tender. Normally it takes about 1 hour for a 1kg octopus. This method is great to curl up the octopus tentacles easily and equally. However, my go to method is to let the octopus cook in its own water. I simply add some olive oil to a large pot and let it heat for a bit. Put the octopus with some bay leaves and peppercorns in the pot, cover and let it cook for 10 minutes. Check on it and see if the octopus has started to release its water. Turn it and let it cook until it’s nice and tender. To check if it is, simply pierce it with a fork, if it goes in effortlessly it’s done! If it’s still slightly resistant, let it cook for some more time. For more details on how to cook and serve octopus, you can check out this link!
FAQs
What other seafood can I use?
Even though in this recipe I’m specifically using octopus, you can use seafood such as prawns, muscles or even lobster. You can also use chunks of cubed fish such as tuna, salmon, sea bass, mahi mahi or even cod!
Can I serve this pasta warm?
Yes! The beauty of this dish is that it can be enjoyed both warm and cold! Although when I created this recipe I had in mind for it to be a cold pasta salad, this dish can also be enjoyed warm!
How can I store leftover pasta?
If you have any leftovers of this octopus pasta salad you can store in an airtight container in the fridge. I would recommend using up any leftovers in 2 days, as the dressing can make the pasta go soggy and the octopus might get rubbery if left in the fridge for long.
Octopus Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 250 g small shaped pasta
- 400 g chopped cooked octopus
- 100 g corn
- 1 diced small red onion
- 80 g capers
- 1 diced red pepper
Dressing
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
Instructions
- In a large pot, cook the pasta in salted water according to the instructions on the package. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, whisk together the olive oil, white wine vinegar, garlic, honey, mustard, oregano and salt.
- Gently toss together the cooked pasta, chopped octopus, corn, red onion, capers and red pepper. Add the dressing and combine.
Nutrition
If you have any questions, feedback or comments on this recipe, please leave a comment below. Please also rate this recipe by double clicking on the stars below. If you did make this recipe, tag @apronandwhisk and hashtag #apronandwhisk, as I’m curious to see what you create! Don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list down below so to receive the recipe updates straight to your mailbox!
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