Italian Pasta Salad

This is the best Italian pasta salad! It’s quick to make with a classic, zesty flavor and an easy pasta salad dressing (with a vegetarian and gluten-free option!). Serve as a yummy dinner side or take to your next potluck.

As a kid, my mom would make pasta salad recipes from a box. She’d add a little bit of this and a little bit of that and in just a few minutes, dinner was done.

I really like that concept, especially when it’s hot outside. In fact, not wanting to heat up the house while cooking dinner is how my Cobb Pasta Salad recipe came about, as well as my Greek Quinoa Salad.

Although I don’t cook from a box anymore, sometimes I still crave that delicious cold pasta salad flavor that I grew up on – a copycat Suddenly Salad of sorts. And that’s exactly what my favorite pasta salad is!

ZESTY ITALIAN PASTA SALAD

When you want super easy recipes that the family loves, this Italian pasta salad is everything you’re looking for:

• it can be made ahead of time
• it comes together really quickly (even if you have nothing prepared)
• it’s PACKED with the classic Italian flavor you love
• can be customized to what you like and what you have in the fridge
• made with bits and pieces, so it’s a frugal way to use up odds and ends

It’s the perfect recipe to put at the end of the meal plan when you need to use up leftovers from the week, or for when you come home to an empty fridge after vacation!

EASY ITALIAN PASTA SALAD INGREDIENTS

Here are the usual players for my classic easy pasta salad recipe:

• Medium-Sized Pasta. Other than long noodles like spaghetti and fettuccine, any type of noodle will work. I recommend using smaller noodles that fit in a spoon, such as penne, rotini, fusilli, and farfalle. Gluten-free rotini works to make a gluten-free pasta salad.
• Sliced Olives. I love black olives, but you can use green olives too. If you want to substitute with kalamata olives, start with half the amount, as the flavor is stronger.
• Cherry tomatoes. Halved cherry tomatoes are the quickest to prepare, but any tomato will work. If you use a big tomato, cut it into pieces about the size of the noodle you’re using.
• Cheddar Cheese Cubes. This is optional, but it adds a bit of protein. You can also substitute mozzarella cheese. Remember that cheese is almost always cheaper when you buy the bricks instead of the bite-sized cubes.
• Cucumbers. Chopped cucumbers add a cool refreshing bite to this Italian pasta salad. If you don’t have any, leave them out, or replace them with another crunchy veggie.
• Pepperoni. Choose a nitrate-free version if there’s room in your budget (consuming too many nitrates is not healthy). Salami or deli sliced ham also works if you prefer those over pepperoni. If you don’t want processed meat, cubed chicken or turkey will work great too!
• Sun-dried Tomatoes. Totally optional, but they help get that copycat flavor.
• Parmesan Cheese. Again, optional but it adds a big flavor punch. (Feta cheese and fresh mozzarella pearls are tasty too!)
• Homemade Italian salad dressing (recipe here). Any time I make this dressing for pasta salad, I also put a green salad on the menu for later in the week to use up any leftover dressing, since you don’t need a full batch here.

If you have veggies to use up, or your garden is overflowing, these are also great fresh additions:

• Green bell pepper
• Yellow summer squash
• Small broccoli florets
• Red onion
• Spinach
• Fresh herbs

HOW TO MAKE PASTA SALAD WITH ITALIAN DRESSING

Step 1. Cook pasta according to the package’s instructions. Drain and rinse briefly with cool water.

Step 2. Combine the Italian salad dressing ingredients in a jar that holds at least 2 ½ cups. Cover and shake well. Note that the dressing recipe makes about 2 cups of homemade Italian vinaigrette, and you only need ¼ cup for this pasta salad recipe.

Step 3. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the olives, tomatoes, cheese, cucumbers, pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes, and parmesan and place them in a large bowl.

Step 4. Combine the cooked pasta with the remaining ingredients and mix well. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve, although this salad will be fine if it’s left outside at a picnic. This salad can be prepared earlier in the day or the day before.

Store leftover Italian pasta salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Stir before serving leftovers, and add a bit of leftover dressing if the pasta salad seems dry.

THE BEST PASTA SALAD RECIPE TIPS

VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD WITH ITALIAN DRESSING

My easy pasta salad includes meat, but you can easily add more vegetables and/or garbanzo beans to make it vegetarian! Great northern beans or navy beans would also work well. (Here’s how to make Instant Pot beans so you can keep the kitchen cool.)

HOW MUCH PASTA SALAD PER PERSON?

This is a popular dish to bring to summer potlucks and barbecues because it goes perfectly with steak, burgers, chicken, or salmon! And it’s really easy to make for a crowd!

• I allow 2 ounces of pasta per person when it’s a side dish.
• When the pasta is mixed with the vegetables and other add-ins, it comes out to roughly a heaping cup of pasta salad per person.
• One batch of pasta salad is roughly 8 servings.

ITALIAN PASTA SALAD FOR A BIG CROWD

What about feeding 50 people? Or 100? If we use the 2 ounces per person rule, you need:

• 100 ounces of pasta if you’re serving 50 people (that’s this recipe 6x),
• 200 ounces of pasta if you’re serving 100 people (that’s this recipe 12x).

Consider how many other dishes will be on the table as well. If there’s just one other side dish, you’ll likely need all this pasta. If this Italian pasta salad is just one of MANY side dishes, you can get away with allotting about 1.5 ounces of pasta per person.

EASY ITALIAN PASTA SALAD FAQS

MORE REFRESHING SALAD RECIPES

• Greek Pasta Salad
• Greek Quinoa Salad
• Cobb Pasta Salad
• Vegetable Pasta Salad
• Classic Broccoli Salad
• Easy Caprese Salad
• Kale Caesar Salad

WATCH HOW TO MAKE EASY ITALIAN PASTA SALAD