Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- One of the greatest aspects of pasta salad is you can add just about anything you want to it. Ingredients like chopped broccolini, sugar snap peas, sliced carrots, canned artichoke hearts, fresh mozzarella, you name it! So once you get comfortable with making this dish I highly recommend you get creative with the ingredients you use.
- Similarly, the type of pasta you use in your pasta salad is entirely up to you. Today I will be using rotini because it’s what I had in my pantry. But you can use any type of short pasta that has a lot of nooks and crannies like penne, macaroni, fusilli, and farfalle to name a few.
- Feel free to use your favorite store bought brand of Italian dressing. However, I highly recommend that you try out our recipe for homemade Italian dressing. It is incredibly easy to make, and full of flavor.
- This pasta salad will stay good if refrigerated for 3 to 5 days.
Pasta Salad Recipe
Total time: 30 minutes
Servings: 12
Ingredients
1 Lb of dried pasta
1 Cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced into thin coins
1 Small red onion, julienned
1 Green bell pepper, julienned
½ Cup of fire roasted red pepper, julienned
½ Cup of sliced pepperoncini peppers, optional
½ Cup of pitted Kalamata olives, halved
¼ Lb of salami, peperoni, or soppressata, julienned
¼ Cup of parsley, minced
1½ to 2 Cups of Italian dressing
Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta: Get out a large pot, fill it ¾ with water and add enough salt so that the water has a salty taste. Place this over high heat and let the water come to a boil. Toss in your pasta and cook it until it is done to your liking. Strain the pasta in a colander, but don’t rinse it,
and set aside.
- Toss the pasta in the dressing: Get out a large mixing bowl and add the still warm pasta along with 1 cup of the salad dressing. Use a big spoon to toss these ingredients together until all pieces of pasta are coated in the dressing. Set this aside and let it cool to room temperature.
- Add the remaining ingredients: Once the pasta is cooled down to room temperature, toss in the tomatoes, onion, peppers, olives, salami, cheese, and parsley. Pour in another ½ cup of dressing and toss the ingredients until everything is throughout incorporated.
Let the pasta salad sit for a couple of minutes then toss it again. Taste the pasta salad and add salt or more dressing if you feel it needs it.
- Cover the pasta salad and let it rest in your fridge for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.
- Toss the salad once again before serving and enjoy!
Pasta Salad Recipe
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1 Lb of dried pasta
- 1 Cup of cherry tomatoes sliced into thin coins
- 1 Small red onion julienned
- 1 Green bell pepper julienned
- ½ Cup of fire roasted red pepper julienned
- ½ Cup of sliced pepperoncini peppers optional
- ½ Cup of pitted Kalamata olives halved
- ¼ Lb of salami peperoni, or soppressata, julienned
- ¼ Cup of parsley minced
- 1½ to 2 Cups of Italian dressing
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta: Get out a large pot, fill it ¾ with water and add enough salt so that the water has a salty taste. Place this over high heat and let the water come to a boil. Toss in your pasta and cook it until it is done to your liking. Strain the pasta in a colander, but don’t rinse it, and set aside.
- Toss the pasta in the dressing: Get out a large mixing bowl and add the still warm pasta along with 1 cup of the salad dressing. Use a big spoon to toss these ingredients together until all pieces of pasta are coated in the dressing. Set this aside and let it cool to room temperature.
- Add the remaining ingredients: Once the pasta is cooled down to room temperature, toss in the tomatoes, onion, peppers, olives, salami, cheese, and parsley. Pour in another ½ cup of dressing and toss the ingredients until everything is throughout incorporated. Let the pasta salad sit for a couple of minutes then toss it again. Taste the pasta salad and add salt or more dressing if you feel it needs it.
- Cover the pasta salad and let it rest in your fridge for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.
- Toss the salad once again before serving and enjoy!
