This easy Italian pasta salad is loaded with fresh vegetables, mozzarella cheese, salami, and tossed in a tangy herb vinaigrette. Make a big batch that’s perfect for serving as a side dish at your next potluck or barbecue.
Jessica’s Recipe Science
- Short-cut pasta like rotini has ridges and curves that help trap more vinaigrette for better flavor delivery.
- Cook pasta past al dente so it’s fully tender. This releases more starch, creating a stickier surface that helps the dressing cling.
- Mayonnaise and mustard extend the oil-vinegar emulsion. Mix them with vinegar first to help evenly suspend the oil for better dressing coverage.
Featured Comment 16
“This is so good! My wife and I could not stop eating this. I love the dressing!”—Soren
Why It Works
Don’t settle for store-bought Italian pasta salads that are often mushy and drowning in overly tart dressing. Instead, making it from scratch yields gourmet results without skimping on the mix-ins, so you can wow your friends and family. The two main components that need a little extra finesse when preparing are the dried pasta and dressing. My easy recipe techniques will guide you through the process with ease.
Cooking the noodles yourself allows you to control the level of doneness for maximum flavor absorption. This is important because this starchy base ingredient affects the overall taste experience. Furthermore, you could buy bottled Italian dressing for convenience, however, it only takes a few minutes to whisk together a more flavorful and balanced tangy herb vinaigrette.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
- Pasta: Use a short pasta with lots of twists and grooves, such as rotini, fusilli, or gemelli. This will grab and trap the vinaigrette more effectively. I prefer smaller-sized pieces of tender pasta to balance out the other vegetables and protein mix-ins. It’s also easy to serve and enjoy fork-sized noodles, instead of long strands for the salad.
- Cheese: Use fresh mozzarella balls, which are cherry-sized, also called “ciligine.”
- Meat: Just like a good antipasto appetizer, add slices of savory salami.
- Vegetables: Use freshly chopped colorful vegetables like red onion, green and red bell pepper for crunchiness. Cherry tomatoes add a nice juicy sweetness while sliced pepperoncini and black olives add pungent, briny flavors.
- Herbs: I’m a big fan of sprinkling in herbs like fresh parsley and basil for garden aromas.
- Dressing: I use my homemade Italian dressing recipe to make a larger batch for the pasta salad. It’s a light and tangy vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, minced garlic, dried Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and extra-virgin olive oil.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
The ingredients for Italian pasta salad are easy to customize! Try these tasty options:
- Pasta Substitutes: Other types of pasta can be used, like penne, cavatappi, elbow, farfalle, or stuffed pasta like my tortellini salad. The pasta shape affects how it catches the Italian vinaigrette.
- Meat Swaps: Add pieces of prosciutto, crispy bacon, soppressata, or bresaola
- Cheese Options: Add shaved or grated parmesan cheese, pecorino romano, or cubes of firm mozzarella.
- Mix In Options: Add veggies, marinated artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, and kalamata olives for bold flavors.
- Dressing Swaps: Switch up the pasta salad dressing with balsamic vinaigrette dressing for a sweeter and tangier taste. For a creamy sauce, use green goddess dressing or ranch dressing.
How to Make Italian Pasta Salad
Step 1: Cook the Pasta
Typically, pasta is cooked al dente, or “to the tooth,” with a slight chewiness in the center. For a cold pasta salad, it’s best to boil the pasta until it’s soft throughout, but not mushy. This adds just a few short minutes to the cooking time, but it allows for more of the starches to be released, creating a stickier surface for the dressing to cling to.
Step 2: Drain the Pasta
Right after draining the hot water, make sure to rinse the pasta with cold water to stop the cooking process and firm up the noodles before tossing.
Step 3: Mix the Salad
To make each bite more interesting, toss in colorful, Italian-inspired ingredients. Mixing the ingredients thoroughly ensures the dressing coats each component evenly, enhancing flavor distribution. It also helps release aromatic compounds from the fresh herbs and vegetables, making the salad more fragrant and flavorful.
Step 4: Make the Dressing
The key to a delicious homemade Italian pasta salad recipe is getting the dressing right. I use high-quality extra-virgin olive oil, pungent red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, a touch of honey to balance the acidity, and dried Italian seasonings. This combination gives that characteristic bold, tangy, and herbaceous flavor.
Step 5: Thicken the Dressing
Don’t be tempted to dump the oil into the dressing all at one time. Instead, slowly drizzle in the oil and consistently whisk. This process helps break the fat into small droplets, creating a uniform oil-in-water emulsion.
Tips for Perfect Execution: Properly dispersing the oil creates a thicker dressing that clings to the ingredients, evenly distributing the tangy vinegar and herbs. The worst thing is having a greasy pasta salad with all the flavorful vinegar pooling at the bottom of the bowl.
Step 6: To Serve
Tossing the salad with dressing just before serving helps evenly coat the pasta and mix-ins without oversaturating them. This preserves the texture of the vegetables and pasta while allowing the flavors in the vinaigrette to shine.
Frequently Asked Questions
The oil and vinegar emulsion is only temporary, lasting an hour at best before the layers separate. To prolong the uniform suspension, I add two emulsifying agents, mayonnaise and mustard. They prevent the oil and vinegar from separating when tossed with the pasta, but they should be mixed with the vinegar first to effectively coat the oil droplets when whisked.
The noodles, vegetables, cheese, and meat can be prepared and combined 1 day in advance. It’s best to make the dressing the same day to ensure uniformity. I also toss the pasta and dressing together right before serving so it nicely coats the surface. Letting the salad sit for too long causes the starchy noodles to absorb too much liquid, making the pasta dry. If you do have leftovers, save some extra dressing so you can drizzle more on top later to enhance the taste.
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If you tried this Italian Pasta Salad, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Italian Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Italian Pasta Salad
- 4 quarts water
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 pound rotini pasta
- 6 ounces mozzarella cheese balls, halved
- 4 ounces sliced salami, cut into ¼" thick pieces
- 1 cup baby tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup red bell pepper, ½" dice
- ½ cup green bell pepper, ½" dice
- ½ cup red onion, ¼" dice
- ½ cup black olives, sliced
- ⅓ cup sliced pepperoncini
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon sliced basil leaves
Italian Dressing
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons mayonnaise
- 1 ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
Instructions
- Cook the Pasta – In a large pot bring water and 1 tablespoon of salt to a boil. Cook pasta until slightly softer than al dente, about 9 to 10 minutes.
- Drain the Pasta – Drain pasta, rinse with cold water until cool, about 1 minute. Thoroughly drain excess water and then add noodles to a large bowl.
- Mix the Salad – Top pasta with mozzarella cheese, salami, tomatoes, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, red onion, black olives, pepperoncini, parsley, and basil. Stir to combine.
- Make the Dressing – In a medium bowl, whisk together red wine vinegar, honey, mustard, Italian seasoning, mayonnaise, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- Thicken the Dressing – Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, vigorously whisk until a thickened emulsified dressing forms. Taste and season with more salt and pepper as desired.
- To Serve – Drizzle 1 cup of the Italian dressing over the pasta and gently toss until combined. Add more as desired or serve the extra dressing on the side.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Recipe Yield: 12 cups
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Dressing Makes: 1 ½ cups
- Vinegar Substitute: White wine vinegar can be substituted for red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- Sweetener Substitute: Maple syrup can be substituted for honey.
- Homemade Italian Seasoning: ½ teaspoon dried basil, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, ½ teaspoon dried teaspoon parsley, ¼ teaspoon dried thyme, ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary.
- Storing: The pasta can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Add more dressing to enhance the taste.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Kasia says
Delicious and even better the next day!
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you for your feedback!
Robin R Winslow says
Wow! Truly excellent pasta salad. Made it 99% as written. Skipped black olives. Used colored rotini to make it more festive. Loved by family & friends.
Jessica Gavin says
I loved that you added colorful rotini for the pasta salad!
Soren says
This is so good! My wife and I could not stop eating this. I love the dressing!
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you so much!
Lisa Arnold Harrington says
Loved it!! Made the pasta salad added cucumbers but the rest was all yours! Thank you for sharing… my whole family loved it!
Jessica Gavin says
So happy to hear that your family loves the pasta salad, Lisa! The addition of the cucumbers sounds great!
Mary says
Hi Jessica! I’m making this Italian Pasta Salad this weekend to take to a BBQ… it looks delicious! Like all your recipes I Can’t Wait to try it! I’ve never been disappointed by any of your recipes!!!! Thanks ? I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Jessica Gavin says
I can’t wait to hear what you think about the pasta salad! I would wait to add the dressing until you’re ready to serve, and just whisk it again before adding.
Anne Bennett says
Made it over the weekend and took it to our socially distanced wine club. Everyone loved it! My husband who normally doesn’t like pasta salad said to make it again. Didn’t change a thing excerpt mad half the recipe and it was still a lot. We ate it up so no problem there.
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you for your feedback! I’m so thrilled to hear that your friends and family enjoyed the pasta salad, its great for sharing!
Carol Espie says
I made this, so so good. My daughter wants me to make it again. Thanks for sharing this. I think it will go in our family of favorites book.??
kellie says
I’ve been making similar pasta salad for years, but why the mayo in the dressing? I’ve never thought to add it in my dressing?
Jessica Gavin says
The mayo has emulsifying agents, helping the dressing stay uniform longer and not separate when you’re trying to toss the pasta salad.
Frank Jones says
Made it yesterday and it was fabulous as are all your recipes. Also I was looking for a different stir-fry and you provided it with the bourbon chicken, another winner. Many ,many thanks.