This mandarin pasta spinach salad with teriyaki dressing is easy, quick, healthy, and tossed in the most addictive teriyaki vinaigrette dressing!
If you love pasta salad as much as I do, then you’ll want to make these other reader favorites: Mexican Street Corn Chicken Pasta Salad, Strawberry Avocado Chicken Pasta Salad, Greek Tortellini Pasta Salad, and Pesto Chicken Pasta Salad.
Why This Recipe Works
Teriyaki dressing — The combination of craisins + spinach + mandarin oranges + pine nuts + cilantro borders on magical. But the dressing! The dressing is stuff actual dreams are formed of.
The dressing easily doubles — I’ve actually doubled the pasta salad dressing and saved half to keep in the fridge for another salad. However, all day long I find myself looking for anything and everything to dip in this stuff. Pasta, chicken, pretzels, cucumbers, my finger…
Mandarian oranges — These little, tasty citrus wedges are an unexpected (but totally amazing) addition to this spinach salad. They offer a nod to Asian food, pair well with spinach (a little bitter, a little sweet), plus offer a soft texture to the chewy craisins and crunchy pine nuts. Don’t sleep on the oranges, is what I’m getting at.
Teriyaki sauce — The dressing simply wouldn’t work without teriyaki sauce. Salty, sweet, savory, it’s all the things in one lovely bottle.
Here’s How You Make It
- First, cook the bowtie pasta (or other smallish) according to the package’s directions, then drain and rinse in cold water. Set it aside. (not pictured)
- You can make the dressing while the pasta is boiling. Just add all of the dressing ingredients to a jar with a tight fitting lid or in a bowl (again with a lid if it has one). Either shake the dressing ingredients in the jar with the lid on or whisk in a bowl to combine. Let the dressing chill in the fridge. (photos 1-2)
- Now combine the pasta, spinach, nuts, oranges, raisins, and cilantro to a bowl and toss. (photos 3-4)
- Pour the chilled dressing over the pasta salad right before serving and give it a toss again to combine. Serve and enjoy! (photos 5-6)
Ideas for Customizing this Recipe
- Add some bite and flavor to this spinach salad with some finely diced red onions or shallots. (I recommend shaking up finely diced shallots with the dressing.)
- Crumbled feta or goat cheese would make an amazing addition to this spinach salad.
- Instead of pine nuts, you could add slivered almonds or finely chopped pistachios.
- Any type of smaller pasta shape you have on hand is fine in this pasta salad. I just like the bowties because they add a fun, pretty shape. But rotini, fusilli, and penne would work great too.
- If you’d prefer a different dressing in this pasta salad, try my Orange Poppyseed Dressing (it’s amazing!).
- Instead of mandarins you could use thinly sliced apples, ripe pears, or even peaches.
Is Raw Spinach Healthy?
Do you love raw spinach? Then you’re in luck because not only is it delicious, but it’s also nutritious. Raw spinach contains tons of iron, vitamin C, niacin, potassium, folate, and riboflavin. Not to mention it’s a green, leafy veggie that has protein, fiber, and calcium too!
What’s the Difference Between an Orange and a Mandarin?
Mandarins are a kind of orange. Mandarin is a broad term for smaller, sweeter orange fruit like clementines and tangerines. So tangerines are a kind of mandarin. They are easier to peel too, thanks to a thinner skin that’s more loosely attached to the fruit.
Expert Tips
- The thicker the teriyaki sauce, the better the pasta salad dressing will be. My favorite brand is Kikkoman, but you can use whatever thicker brand you like.
- Unless you purchase your spinach already bagged and washed, I recommend rinsing the spinach leaves first. They can still have dirt/grit on it that doesn’t taste so great when you go to chew it. I simply soak my leaves in the sink/colander/salad spinner, then let the water drain through.
- If you prefer to use fresh mandarin oranges, it’s best to peel them and then try to remove as much of the pith as you can before slicking and adding to the pasta salad.
- For best results, do not dress the salad until just before you’re ready to eat it or the spinach will get too soggy. In fact, I wait to make the salad till just before we’re about to eat it or take it somewhere, then dress it. The dressing can be made a couple days ahead of time and stored in the fridge, though.
More Incredible Salad Recipes
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Greek Avocado Chicken Salad
- Pesto Chicken Pasta Salad
- Greek Tortellini Pasta Salad
- Best Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
Did you try this simple pasta salad recipe? GREAT! Please rate the recipe below!
Mandarin Pasta Spinach Salad with Teriyaki Dressing
Ingredients
- 8 ounces bowtie pasta noodles
- 4 cups spinach leaves
- ½ cup craisins
- ⅓ cup pine nuts - or cashews
- 1 4-ounce can mandarin oranges - drained
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves - roughly chopped
Dressing
- ⅓ cup teriyaki sauce - (the thicker, the better!)
- ⅓ cup rice wine vinegar - (may sub apple cider vinegar)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder - (if you have it)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ cup oil - (such as vegetable oil, canola oil, olive oil)
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
- While pasta is boiling, prepare the dressing. In a jar combine all dressing ingredients. Cover and shake to combine. Chill until ready to use.
- In a large bowl toss together pasta, spinach, raisins, nuts, mandarin oranges, and cilantro. Just before serving pour dressing over salad, toss, and serve.
Your recipes are always winners! In making the sauce, I only had runny teriyaki sauce but did have some of your recipe sweet and sour sauce. I put the s & s sauce in the 1/3 measuring cup and topped it off with the runny teriyaki sauce. Debated on leaving out the sugar, because of the s & s sauce, but ended up adding 2 tsp. sugar substitute. It taste great! Eventually I’ll make it the proper way, but this more than works for now. Thank you thank you thank you!
I love looking for new recipes but what I love more are the comments when people actually make it and this one sounds like a winner! I am going shopping for the ingredients today! Thank you!
This is my family’s new favorite salad! Everyone that has the opportunity to taste it loves it. I recently retired from the Fire Dept and this would have been a huge hit in the Firehouse. Thanks for posting it, it is very rare to have something this easy and wonderful come along. (we also often add grilled chicken or steak to it and it becomes our summer night main dish)
So glad you’ve enjoyed it Mike! I love that you add steak to it, we’ve done chicken many times but now I am craving it with steak!!
Made this yesterday. It’s got a lot of tastes in it that I’m not used to, but it’s addictive in its strangeness. I had to keep the dressing separate, as the salad’s going to be sitting around for days before it’s finished off, and I had to withhold the pine nuts (to be sprinkled on top) due to concerns of food sensitivity with a roommate. While I’m eating it, I’m never quite sure if I like it, yet I keep going back for more… Thanks for sharing!
this salad is very adaptable, using items you have on hand. I did use apple cider vinegar instead of The rice wine vinegar as that is what I had. The dressing is AWESOME!!! I’ve tried other Asian salad dressings, none of them compare to this!
OK. So. At first I was like: “Why is she begging me to make this salad? What is so good about it?” haha…But then I decided to make it and after one bite I screamed: “NOW I know!” It was delicious. All ingrediends were really good friends and the DRESSING. I made homemade Teriyaki dressing and after I finished eating I had to make more for my mom. I bet she will love it! Wonderful! Thank you 🙂
See?? I wasn’t kidding this salad really is incredible right?! Haha – so glad you gave it a try and loved it as much as I do!!!
This printed weird. All the “Follow on [social media]” links overlaid the Notes section. Also, the eCookbook promo code printed on there (though without obstructing the recipe text). Dunno if anything can be done about that…
Hi! Sorry about that, it occasionally happens with some printers/devices but I’ve gone ahead and emailed you a print-ready version!
Hi! Sorry about that, it happens occasionally with some printers/devices but I’ve gone ahead and emailed you a print-ready version!
I can’t wait to make this salad, but I have a question. My husband is allergic to pine nuts. But he can have peanuts or almonds. What would you suggest using?
I would go with the almonds!!
This salad dressing is AWESOME!!! The BEST Asian I have ever had!! All others fall short. The salad is delicious, I used sugar snap peas, red onion, carrots honey roasted almonds and the spinach and mandarin oranges of course. A very versatile salad!
OOh, I definitely have to try adding some sugar snap peas that would be amazing!! Thanks for the idea Gina!!
I just made this for dinner last night with one variation – I added sliced, grilled chicken breasts to make it more of an entree! This is a divine salad and I will definitely make again. I may add some grilled pineapple chunks, next time, too. Thanks for sharing! (And you are right – the dressing is to to die for!). Bon Appetit!
I love adding chicken to salads to make them a perfect main dish! So glad you enjoyed it and agree that the dressing is so amazing!!
I have an aunt that makes a version of this salad but marinates the cooked pasta in the dressing overnight and uses honey roasted peanuts! This really is one of the best salads I have ever had!!
Ooh I had never thought to marinate the pasta, that sounds amazing!!
This salad is sooo awesome! Made again for today’s pool party. The dressing is to die for:)
What type of Kikkoman teriyaki sauce do you use? Regular or the glaze? Sorry, I saw what you used in a prior post.
If I were to make this for a family how soon in advance do I need to make it? Driving to North Carolina with it?
Hi Andrea, not sure how far away North Carolina is for you but if you make it just before you head out you should be fine. Just wait to toss the salad with the dressing until you’re ready to serve!
Hey, I did see someone asked a questions about which Kikkoman teriyaki sauce to use. I have seen both the “marinade & sauce” which is the thinner one and the “baste & glaze” which is the thicker one. But my friend found the Kikkoman Original Teriyaki which is under the Takumi Collection and in a brown bottle. Was the one you used in a brown bottle, a red bottle or an orange bottle. I just want to make it exactly the way you did. On a side note, when my friend was originally making this recipe before she passed it along to me, she missed the part about Teriyaki Sauce and used Soy Sauce instead and said it was the BEST thing ever. I told her it was supposed to be Teriyaki Sauce and she said she can only imagine how good it would be with that instead. So I guess soy sauce is a good alternate if you can’t find Teriyaki sauce where you live. Thanks for the awesome recipe!!!
Hi Anne! Wow, I can’t believe it came out so great with soy sauce, I’m going to have to try that now!! As for the teriyaki sauce, I use this exact one here!