Italian Pasta Salad is one of our favorite pasta salad recipes. This is an easy, make-ahead salad that is perfect for meal prep. Every bite is loaded with rotini, salami, mozzarella, olives, healthy veggies, and a homemade creamy Italian Dressing.
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Pasta Salad Ingredients:
Italian Pasta Salad is a meal in itself with protein, grains and plenty of vegetables. It has vibrant Italian flavors with kalamata olives, fresh mozzarella cheese, salami, and parsley.
We love that you can change up the ingredients based on what you have on hand. Try substituting with diced bell pepper, or crunchy broccoli, or use Feta instead of Mozarella cheese to add some Greek flavors. P.S. If you’re feeling adventurous, roasting your own bell peppers will take this salad to the next level.
What is the Best Italian Dressing?
We love homemade Italian dressing for the best flavor and because you can use high-quality oil and seasonings. In a pinch, store-bought Italian dressings will work. We like Newman’s Own brand Italian dressing and Ken’s brand Italian dressing.
How to Make Pasta Salad Video Tutorial:
I hope this Pasta Salad Recipe becomes a new favorite for you. It makes meal prep so easy! If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our Youtube Channel and click the bell icon so you get a notification when we post a new video.
What is the Best Pasta for Salad?
We love rotini noodles for pasta salad. Rotini is the spiral-shaped pasta you will see in the photos here. You can buy them in the traditional pasta color or in a multicolor blend which can be really fun for a pasta salad. You can also experiment with different kinds of pasta such as shell pasta or macaroni.
How to Cook Pasta for Pasta Salad:
Cook your pasta in salted water according to package instructions until it is aldenté. Aldente means firm to the bite. Pasta that is overcooked can seem mushy in pasta salad and will absorb more dressing so make sure you don’t overcook. As soon as the pasta is aldenté, drain in a colander then rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process, chill the pasta, and rinse off excess starch to keep the pasta from sticking.
Cook’s Tip: Buttered pasta doesn’t work well for pasta salad so do not add butter or oil after your pasta is cooked. Rinsing in cold water is enough to prevent noodles from sticking together and there is plenty of oil in the salad dressing.
More Pasta Salad Recipes:
- Creamy Avocado Pasta Salad
- Caesar Pasta Salad
- Chicken Orzo Pasta Salad
- Cucumber Cauliflower Ditalini Pasta Salad
Italian Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 8 oz rotini pasta
- 6 oz salami, sliced into strips
- 10 oz cherry tomatoes, halved (3 cups)
- 1/2 English cucumber, diced
- 1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella, pearls or halved mozzarella balls
- 1/2 cup black olives, pitted and sliced
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- 1/2 cup roasted red peppers* drained and coarsely chopped
- 1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup Italian dressing, or added to taste
Instructions
- Cook rotini pasta according to package instructions in salted water just until pasta is aldente (firm to the bite).
- While pasta cooks, prep remaining ingredients and make Italian Dressing.
- Add dressing just to the portion fo salad you plan to eat. Enjoy right away or cover and let the salad marinate for 1-3 hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Natasha, Honestly, this is the BEST Italian Pasta Salad I have ever made! It’s scrumptious! Everyone loves it. In fact, ever recipe of yours that I have tried is wonderful and your homemade salad dressings are to die for! Thank you so much. You are a dear!
You’re welcome Genny! I’m so glad your family is enjoying this recipe!
Fantastic! I am so glad you loved this salad. It’s one of our favorites too and I’m so glad you loved it, Genny.
You asked for a tip about cutting cherry tomatoes … I saw Gordon Ramsey lightly press a small plate over top of the tomatoes (could use anything flat) to hold them still, and then slice through them all at the same time with a sharp knife. Brilliant!!
Also, I think pepperoncinis would make a fabulous addition to this amazing salad 😋
That’s a fab idea, thanks for sharing that with us!
Hi Natasha. I love all your recipes especially the salads
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m all smiles
Where did you get your food scraper
Hi Terri we use this food scraper here.
this salad is Amazing.
Thank you, Carmen!
OMG Natasha this is the best Italian pasta salad ever. It’s simply delicious
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi Natasha,
I added sun-dried tomatoes, too. Very good. Added a different texture.
Yum! That sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing that Brenda!
This is our new favourite salad recipe. The dressing is what makes it shine. I have tried multiple variations of this recipe – varied the vegetables and tweaked the dressing as well..each time it smelled and tasted amazing. The recipe is so forgiving. Natasha, thank you so much for sharing this! It is a super hit like your other recipes.
That’s just awesome Leya! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
On a hot day it made a great dinner with garlic bread. love it
Yes, that sounds perfect!
We love this salad! The dressing is a perfect balance of sweet and savory. We serve it on a bed of baby arugula and that takes it to another level.
Great idea! Thank you for sharing that wonderful review with us!
This salad is delicious! Love all the veggies and the salami & cheese make it extra yummy.Then you add the Italian dressing…….so good!!!!
Your videos are so much fun to watch
I’m so glad you’re enjoying our recipes and our videos! Thank you for that lovely review, Debbie!
to cut the tomatoes, place between to small plates and cut all the tomatoes together !!
Great idea! Thank you for sharing that with me!
This pasta salad is super delicious!!!!!
Thank you for your wonderful feedback!
Our family enjoyed this salad. My daughter helped me to make the salad. We added mini bell peppers, artichoke hearts, and homegrown cherry tomatoes. Thank you for this recipe.
Sounds great and fun! So great to hear that you and your family enjoyed this salad.
Where can I get that steel scoop you use to pick up the chopped things.
Hi Gloria! You can find our favorite tools in our Blog Shop or our Amazon Shop Here. I hope that helps
How about artichokes or pepperoncini’s.
I think that’s a good idea. Please let us know how it goes if you try it!
Natasha, I would love to purchase some of the prep tools that you use, such as the scrapper and the garlic press but I can’t find them on your blog. I know you said their In the notes but I don’t see the notes. Please help, Thanks.
Hi Barbara, have you tried our blog shop here?
When I slice cherry tomatoes I place them between 2 deli lids and run my knife between lids.slicing all tomatoes at once. Super easy
Thank you for sharing that with me!
So disappointed! This salad looks sooo delicious but there are too many competing flavors. Actually felt ill after eating. Perhaps leaving out or reducing the amounts of roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, and parsley would have helped.
You could leave out the roasted peppers – it sounds like maybe they don’t agree with you? You can definitely change up the salad with your favorite add-ins.
Ohmygoodness, Natasha!! So simple, but SO good!!! I can’t stop eating it!!! 🙂
Sounds like you found your favorite salad recipe! I am so glad you loved it.