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.
Looks delicious!
I’ve made this and was extremely happy. I needed it to be kicked up a notch and added pepparachini . exactly what it needed
I’m going to make for my Boss 65th birthday! I hope it taste good.
Will try this one
I love cold pasta salads.
I made it, single guy new to cooking. wow I ate it all myself. sorry.
Glad you enjoyed it Tom! I get you, so easy to eat the whole dish! ;)
Delicious! I used bottled Olive Garden Italian dressing, it’s my favorite! Before I saw it on the shelf at the store, I had researched the best tasting Italian dressings online and saw that Kraft Tuscan Italian dressing was the best. While I found that, I had to go with my OG. But love this recipe – it’s the classic Italian antipasto pasta salad. Thank you!
Delicious! Best Italian pasta salad we’ve had. Love that it is quick & easy to make. This is going to be a go-to recipe for sure!
I normally make suddenly salad but my teen daughter wanted 100% homemade. I have tried homemade recipes in the past and go back to box mix. This is the best homemade recipe I have made for pasta salad. The homemade dressing was easy and tasted great! The fresh parsley was a great addition. I am keeping this recipe and will try some of your other recipes. Thanks for sharing!
I am making this for a pot luck and I am going to substitute the noodles for gluten-free chickpea noodles (same shape). Are there any other ingredients I would need to change to make it fully gluten free? :)
I can’t say for sure, I would suggest checking the labels of your ingredients to be certain.
This is such a versatile salad , especially now with all the garden produce available! I love that people have tried different veggies and cheeses and it still turns out awesome!
Would using Zesty Italian dressing and peppered salami be too much for this recipe?
I think it would be delicious!
This is my favorite and go-to pasta salad. Waaay better than any deli salad you’d buy at the grocery store.
Just made this, and it’s incredible! I’m not a fan of salami, so I substituted Italian sausage, and I used sun-dried tomato/oregano dressing. Quick, easy, makes a lot, and delicious!
I made this for dinner and it was delicious!
It’s a shame that the italian dressing recipe you include here doesn’t make enough for the pasta salad.
Hi Dee, if you found that wasn’t enough, here are updated amounts:
¾ cup vegetable oil (or use half olive oil, half vegetable oil)
4 ½ Tablespoons red wine vinegar (or your favorite)
1 ½ teaspoons dijon mustard
¾-1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Thank you for your note!
Best advice would be to Double up. Thankfully the extra time doesn’t impact the salad. Best wishes.
Love your salad recipes
Pasta salad sounds great!
I know I will love this
Great delicious recipes