Enjoy a fresh taste of summer any time of year with this colorful and refreshing Italian Pasta Salad. Brighten up your family’s salad routine for a delightful change of pace.
From work and school lunches to picnics, dinners, and parties, anytime is the right time for this Italian Pasta Salad. It’s a quick and easy meal to whip together, and it tastes even better the next day, so making ahead is a perfect option. I often make a big batch on Sunday, so I have it to take to work for lunch during the week.
Because pasta salads like this lend themselves to customization, you can add and subtract ingredients each time, creating a new and exciting taste sensation to thrill your tastebuds. Kids love the twirly rotini pasta shapes and mozzarella chunks. Go ahead, make a batch today, and watch it disappear.
Change Up the Pasta Shapes for a Fun Surprise
I don’t know about you, but I always switch things up to keep my kids excited about mealtime. Pasta is the perfect way to do that because there are many varieties and shapes. Tri-color rotini is always fun, as it brings color and taste to the dish, thanks to the addition of spinach and tomato in the red and green pasta. I often substitute farfalle, cavatappi, fusilli, or shells in my Italian Pasta Salad.
You can also use gluten-free pasta for this salad. I often make the salad this way if I know that someone who is GF is coming over. Most people never even notice the difference. In fact, I had someone ask me once what brand of pasta I used because she said it was the best she had ever tasted. Imagine her surprise when she learned it was gluten-free!
Give Your Italian Pasta Salad Time to Rest Before Serving
Pasta salad is one of those dishes that gets better with age, allowing the dressing and seasonings to blend and impart their flavor into the pasta and veggies. Whenever possible, make your Italian Pasta Salad the day before serving.
A crucial factor in making the perfect pasta salad is cooking your pasta al dente. That requires one to two minutes less cooking time than on the package. When you almost reach that point, pull a piece of pasta from the boiling water, let it cool a little and bite into it to check the texture. Check every thirty seconds to a minute after that so as not to overcook the pasta.
How to Make Ahead and Store
You can prepare the Italian Pasta Salad the day before, storing it in an airtight, covered container. Remember to mix it well before serving. Because the pasta will absorb the liquid in the dressing, you may want to have extra on hand if you want to add more. Your prepared pasta salad will keep refrigerated for up to 4 days. Pasta salad should not be frozen.
Serving Suggestions
I love to entertain and often set a theme for my events. If I was taking a Mediterranean route, this Italian Pasta Salad recipe would go well with these Italian Ciabatta Sandwiches.
Of course, there needs to be something sweet to go along – after all, every meal should have the perfect sweet ending. My favorite choice is Pignoli Cookies (Italian Pine Nut Cookies). Another benefit to this overall meal is the ability to make it all gluten-free. Choose your favorite GF pasta and rolls, and substitute 1 to 1 gluten-free flour in the cookies. Enjoy!
Italian Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound rotini pasta
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese cubed
- 1/2 cup black olives sliced
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper diced
- 1/2 cup green bell pepper diced
- 1/3 cup red onion diced
- 3/4 cup Italian dressing
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the rotini pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente, about 8-10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooled pasta, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, black olives, red and green bell peppers, and red onion.
- Pour the Italian dressing over the pasta mixture and toss until everything is well coated.
- Season with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper, then add the chopped fresh parsley and toss again.
- Cover and refrigerate the pasta salad for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld together.
- Before serving, give the salad a quick stir and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
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