Italian pasta salad is one of my favorite cold pasta salad dishes! Fresh and colorful vegetables, cheese, salami, and Italian vinaigrette are tossed with your favorite pasta to create an unforgettable dish for just about any summer occasion.
Pasta salads are one of my go-to potluck dishes from easy and fresh Greek Pasta Salad to a delicious Caesar Pasta Salad and of course my famous Dill Pickle Pasta Salad! Not only does everyone love them, but pasta salads are super easy to make and they’re even better when made ahead of time!
Potluck Perfect Pasta Salad
Whenever summer rolls around, we always seem to be headed to barbecues, potlucks, and patio parties. Of course, I’m always asked to bring a big pitcher of Classic Mojitos (it’s the drink I’m known for) but I almost always bring a cold pasta salad recipe along too! This Italian Pasta Salad recipe is a really fun twist on a classic pasta salad because it’s loaded with so many goodies. It travels well and goes with pretty much anything.
Big Bold Flavors
This easy pasta salad recipe is loaded with flavor, you can add in your own favorite Italian inspired ingredients; diced artichokes and sundried tomatoes also make great additions!
Ingredients for pasta salad:
- Bold Flavors: cheese, salami, olives, and Italian seasonings add a big punch of flavor
- Crunch: Bell pepper adds great for color, crunch, and flavor
- Veggies: I love the juicy tang tomatoes add, throw in some cucumbers or any veggies you have on hand
Noodles for Pasta Salad
Tri-color rotini does an amazing job at holding the cheese and Italian dressing in the crevices for max flavor, but you can use shells, or whatever medium noodles you happen to have handy!
Cook the pasta al dente so it isn’t mushy and it holds up well to the dressing.
Tips to Make the Perfect Italian Pasta Salad
- Cut your veggies small: Cutting your vegetables into pieces slightly smaller than bite-sized will ensure that you get a taste of everything in each bite!
- Don’t overcook your noodles: Overcooking will make a mushy pasta salad as the acids from the dressing will break down the starches farther. Shock your noodles once they are cooked al dente in cold water for best results!
- Cool your pasta before adding the toppings: You don’t want to begin to cook your vegetables while you toss everything together!
- Let your pasta salad sit before you serve it: This gives the dressing a chance to really permeate your veggies and pasta, resulting in a more flavorful and delicious Italian pasta salad!
- Keep it colorful: If you are adding some extra veggies you have on hand, keep your pasta salad fun and colorful! I love adding things like artichokes, shredded carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers, etc.
Italian Pasta Salad Dressing
To make this recipe quick and easy, I use a bottled Italian dressing but of course, homemade Italian Dressing is amazing if you have the ingredients on hand.
Make ahead… The best thing about this pasta salad recipe is that it gets better as it sits and the flavors blend! It’s the perfect make ahead side dish, it takes 20 only about minutes to prepare. What could be better than that?
As this Italian pasta salad sits in the fridge, the acids in the dressing actually work to help break down the starches in the pasta and the proteins in the veggies, resulting in a more flavorful and tender pasta salad (so be sure not to overcook your noodles)!
Make Homemade Italian Dressing combine the following:
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or use half olive oil, half vegetable oil)
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or your favorite)
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Favorite Pasta Salad Recipes
- Caprese Pasta Salad
- Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad
- Bow Tie Pasta Salad
- BLT Pasta Salad
- Easy Greek Pasta Salad
- Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 16 ounces tricolor rotini
- 8 ounces salami chopped
- 1 cup Italian vinaigrette dressing store-bought or homemade
- 1 cup cubed mozzarella cheese
- 1 pint grape tomatoes halved
- ½ cup sliced black olives
- ½ green bell pepper diced
- ½ orange bell pepper diced
- ½ red bell pepper diced
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- ⅓ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Rinse under cold water.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Toss to combine.
- Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Pasta, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Salads look awesome!!!
These recipes look great and very healthy.
I also I also agree that the prep time takes 20 to 30 minutes to wash and dice your veggies. I think this was a great and simple and fast recipe. I also found it very tasty. I suppose substituted the blocks of mozzarella cheese with shredded mozzarella cheese and I also used Feta cheese instead of Parmesan cheese it tasted so delicious. Perfectly simple recipe. Thank you
We love using this chopper to make quick work of the prep but I am so glad you enjoyed it TJ.
Recipe was great and the pasta salad was a big hit. Might be me; however, I feel the prep time is way off if you are cutting all the ingredients by hand and doing almost ‘diced-size’ pieces. Would allot 30 minutes for prep, at least.
Hi Brenda, our favorite chopper makes quick work of the dicing! Glad everyone enjoyed it :)
I love your recipes and there so tasty and fun to do with the kids
I have made pasta salad many, many times over the years, but this recipe is by far THE BEST! I took it to a birthday party barbeque tonight and it was a big hit! Will definitely make again. I assembled the pasta salad ahead of time and kept it in the fridge overnight. Very flavorful. Thanks, Holly, for a true winner!
I don’t know how I hit on this but all the recipies look so—-good And I feel I what to keep them coming.Thank You
Glad you are enjoying them Barbara!
Thank you for the recipe! Pasta salad is something I’m craving so I’m making this tomorrow because I found it in a search! Had to say Thanks!
A question please was curious if you cook the peppers & onions or simply add raw? Thank you for your time in replying!
We add them in raw Sherrie. Enjoy!
Great base! Next time I will add more parmesan and mozzarella, and also it might be the type of pasta I used, but some extra Italian salad dressing was needed as well. I don’t like olives so I omitted that. Great quantity, we can keep coming back to this for side dishes throughout the week. Thanks!
Good idea Alison, I feel like you can never have too much cheese!
Delicious and easy!
Thanks Marlize! So happy you enjoyed it.
I love this recipe! It’s easy to adjust based on what you like or have on hand and it’s always a hit at potlucks and at home, too.
So happy to hear that Dianne, and I couldn’t agree more!
I have made this recipe twice and it’s absolutely amazing! I used Olive Garden’s light Italian dressing! You can easily add or omit any veggies as well. I didn’t use tomatoes and it was great.
That’s great Abby! So happy to hear you loved it.
Hey Holly,
I enjoy your Recipes so much. However, you appear to have left the bullet points for Homemade Italian Dress in the recipe – blank??
Thank you for all your delicious Recipe.
Ah sorry Mary, I’ve updated it. Here you are:
½ cup vegetable oil (or use half olive oil, half vegetable oil)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or your favorite)
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
This is a great recipe, for sure. I grew up making” Italian Pasta Salad”, since my family is in the restaurant business. We always use “Kraft Robusto Italian Salad Dressing” (very flavorful), and we also add a secret ingredient, a generous sprinkle of McCormick’s “Salad Supreme”, which you can find in the spice isle of your local supermarket. These two ingredients will take your Italian Pasta Salad to the next level, so please enjoy!
Thanks for sharing Angelina, your secret is safe with us ;) But that does sound so delicious!
My husband won’t eat salami so I’m going to try it with crumbled bacon and the broccoli. Time to hit the market for fresh veggies!!!
Mmmm, that sounds delicious Andie. Have fun at the market!
yes
Enjoy Brenda!
Has anyone added broccoli to this recipe or might that be too much? What about mild banana peppers? If I use these should I cut back on the other peppers a bit?
I haven’t tried it but I think either would be delicious. No need to cut back on the other ingredients but you may need a little bit more dressing if you add a lot.
I always add broccoli to my pasta salad… it doesn’t soak up the dressing as much as other veggies so it stays nice and crunchy. The beauty of pasta salad is that you can add whatever you want to it and really make it your own… this recipe is no exception. I doubled the dressing and loaded up on veggies… also added broccoli, shredded carrots, green olives and feta. Absolutely delicious!!
Your time of preparation is so untrue.
Omg. This is the BEST pasta salad I’ve ever had. I added ham as well salami to mine. I didn’t have enough mozzarella so I also added Cheddar/Colby mix to iit, as well as the parmesan. I am truly amazed. I’ve never tried salami because I assumed I didn’t like it. Ha! It added such great flavor to the pasta. Simply the best.
Thats awesome Tracy! Glad to hear you loved it!
Looking for some new meals. Thanks!
You’ll find so many delicious meals here Anita! We can’t for you to try them!