Easy Italian pasta salad that is bursting with color and flavor! Lots of veggies and tri-color pasta make this a beautiful side dish for a party.
This pasta salad is so super easy to make. Just grab yourself a bottle of Italian dressing ( you might have one already in your fridge!), some pasta, and whatever veggies you happen to have!
I do prefer using the tri colored pasta because it makes it so colorful, but you could really use any kind of pasta you want. One ingredient I always love putting in here are black olives! So I usually stock up on them since they are pantry friendly when they are in the can.
I LOVE black olives! I mean, I can just eat them alone, like the whole can! Crazy right! Must run in our family because my sister loves them too.
I remember when we were younger and helping my mom in the kitchen we would dig into the can of black olives and take out handfuls of them to eat. We would pop them on the ends of our fingers too before we ate them, so we could pretend we were some kind of olive monster! So this is the lovely memory that pops in my head every time I break out a can of black olives!
I usually use about ¾ of the bottle of salad dressing when I make it and reserve the rest for later, in case the pasta starts to suck up all the liquid as it sits.
I sometimes make this a day in advance of when I am going to eat it and that is where the extra dressing comes in handy, to freshen it up a bit before serving.
You can put whatever kind of veggies you prefer in here. There are a few that I always like to put in. Black olives for sure, and grape tomatoes, broccoli, carrots are some of my favorites.
I have also used green, yellow, or red peppers, cucumbers, or celery too. The key with any of the veggies is to cut them up pretty small so everything is bite size.
More delicious side dish recipes!
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Ingredients for Italian Pasta Salad
Pasta: 12 ounce box of Tri-Color Rotini, other small pasta can be substituted such as bow tie pasta or penne pasta. I prefer the tri-color rotini for the color that it brings to the dish.
Italian Dressing: 16 ounces of regular Italian dressing, I usually use the Wishbone brand.
Cherry Tomatoes: 1 pint cherry tomatoes sliced in half, or quartered if preferred.
Black Olives: 14.5 ounces (1 can) black olives, sliced in half.
Broccoli: 1 cup, chopped up into small pieces.
Carrots: 1 cup, chopped into small pieces, or you can use the shredded carrots if preferred.
Italian Seasoning: 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
How to make Italian Pasta Salad
Start boiling water in a large pot to cook the pasta in. Cook the pasta according to the box directions. Drain and rinse in cool water.
Chop up all the veggies into bite size pieces.
Add the cooked and cooled pasta to the veggies.
Add in the Italian seasoning and 3/4 of the bottle of Italian dressing. Save the rest of the bottle of dressing to add later in case it gets a little dry.
Mix everything together until dressing is evenly distributed.
Store in the refrigerator and let it chill before serving. Add more dressing before serving if it looks on the dry side.
Will keep in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
Italian Pasta Salad
Description
Easy Italian pasta salad that is bursting with color and flavor! Lots of veggies and tri-color pasta make this a beautiful side dish for a party.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Start boiling water in a large pot to cook the pasta in. Cook the pasta according to the box directions. Drain and rinse in cool water.
- Chop up all the veggies into bite size pieces.
- Add the cooked and cooled pasta to the veggies.
- Add in the Italian seasoning and 3/4 of the bottle of Italian dressing. Save the rest of the bottle of dressing to add later in case it gets a little dry.
- Mix everything together until dressing is evenly distributed.
- Store in the refrigerator and let it chill before serving. Add more dressing before serving if it looks on the dry side.
Notes
- Will keep in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
- Substitute or add in green pepper, yellow pepper, red pepper, cucumber, celery.
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Cream Puffs: Light and fluffy homemade cream puffs with a vanilla cream filling. Easy pastry dessert that everyone will love.
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Apple Pie Bars: Homemade apple pie bars, all done in a sheet pan. Made with apples, cinnamon, and a flaky pie crust, this will feed the whole family!
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies: Soft and chewy oatmeal peanut butter cookies made without flour. Super quick and easy dessert the whole family will love!
Blueberry Coffee Cake: Soft and moist blueberry coffee cake drizzled with vanilla icing. Delicious breakfast or dessert treat that everyone will love!
Strawberry Bundt Cake: Strawberry bundt cake filled with fresh strawberries and drizzled with icing. An easy and delicious dessert!
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