Italian Pasta Salad is always a winner with tri-color rotini pasta loaded with sliced cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, black olives, quartered salami, and diced mozzarella cheese. It's so versatile and always a winner!
ITALIAN PASTA SALAD RECIPE
I've always loved a delicious cold pasta salad in the summertime! It's perfect for potlucks, cookouts, pool parties; you name it. Pretty much any get together you can think of, and I guarantee you this pasta salad will be gone in no time. Seriously, it's that good. And have I mentioned how easy it is, yup, that too!
Italian pasta salad can be made up to one day in advance and then add the sliced tomatoes until it is ready to serve. I find it keeps them fresher a little bit longer.
Sometimes I even like adding diced chicken breasts, like these perfect oven baked chicken breasts (they are to die for and so juicy!).
WHAT GOES INTO A COLD PASTA SALAD?
I love this pasta salad recipe so much because of how versatile it is! The ingredients are pretty straightforward and you can customize it to how you like it:
- cherry tomatoes
- salami
- black olives
- bell peppers
- fresh basil
- red onions
- tri-colored rotini (adds so much color!)
- mozzarella cheese
HOW DO YOU MAKE A PASTA SALAD WITH ITALIAN DRESSING?
I've mentioned a few times about how easy this Italian pasta salad is and you will see why! I like to dice all of the ingredients and add them into a large mixing bowl, then add the Italian dressing. You can't go wrong.
WHAT DO YOU SERVE WITH ITALIAN PASTA SALAD?
If you are serving this pasta salad at a BBQ, I highly recommend my perfect oven baked chicken breasts but grill them instead of baking them, or even my sweet honey bbq grilled chicken.
Italian Pasta Salad is always a winner with tri-color rotini pasta loaded with sliced cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, black olives, quartered salami, and diced mozzarella cheese. It's so versatile and always a winner!
- 12 ounces tri-color rotini pasta
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 6 ounce can of black olives, drained and sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 8 ounces salami, diced into quarters
- ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, diced into cubes
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 cup Italian dressing
-
Cook the tri-color rotini pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse the pasta with cold water and set aside to allow pasta to cool.
-
In a large bowl, add cooled pasta, cherry tomatoes, black olives, bell pepper, red onion, salami, basil, mozzarella cheese, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and Italian dressing and mix together until combined.
-
Place a covering on the large bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to combine.
-
Serve immediately.
This was the best tasting pasta salad I have ever had!
So glad you enjoyed it, Meghan!!
Looks soooo good to this Kentucky gal! 🙂 Thank you so much! Merry Christmas! 🙂