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Our homemade Italian Pasta Salad is bursting with mix-ins, like salami, pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and more! The homemade Italian dressing adds a bright, zippy flavor to this simple pasta salad recipe!
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I have been a long time lover of the almighty pasta salad. Which probably comes as no surprise, considering we’ve shared recipes for our southwest pasta salad, tortellini pasta salad, and my mama’s classic macaroni salad.
This Italian pasta salad is a classic that’s perfect for potlucks and cookouts. It’s great in the summer on a hot night, but it’s so flavorful and adds a pop of freshness to a winter or holiday dinner, too!
We also love this broccoli salad with bacon and Amish broccoli salad, if you’re looking for more vegetables in your life.
♥ What We Love About This Recipe:
This pasta salad with Italian dressing is basically a big ol’ bowl full of heaven. There is SO much good stuff packed into one pasta salad. I bet you won’t want to share!
This one is easy to customize – add more of whatever you like and skip what you don’t. As long as you keep a similar amount of pasta + mix-ins + dressing, you’re good to go!
This Italian Pasta Salad is great for meal prep or to make ahead for your next event. It’s best served cold and can easily be made a day or two in advance.
What Readers are Saying!
“My husband made this salad, it was so good, it made so much we were able to have it for several meals. Thank you so much for sharing.”
-Ruth
????Pasta Salad Ingredients:
Tri-Colored Rotini – Any small shape of pasta will work here, but we love the color and texture of this rotini.
Mozzarella Balls – Shredded mozzarella will also work, if that’s what you prefer.
Pepperoni & Salami – They’ll add a savory, slightly spicy and meaty flavor to the dish that tastes so good with the Italian salad dressing!
Cherry Tomatoes
Spinach
Red Onion – Rinse in cold water to take out some of the bite, if desired!
Pepperoncini – Adds a little heat and zing to the dish!
Helpful Tip!
Swaps & Substitutions:
Skip the pepperoni for extra salami, or swap the pepperoncini for mild banana peppers! Use grated mozzarella instead of fresh mozzarella. Add some olives! It’s hard to mess this one up, though in my opinion, the recipe is perfect as written. 😉
????Pasta Salad Dressing Ingredients:
Olive Oil – Some good quality olive is the base for many Italian dressings and it’s just what you need to bring everything together in this pasta salad.
Lemon Juice – Use a fresh squeezed lemon, it really brings out the flavor!
Garlic – Freshly minced garlic is going to add a lot of flavor to the dressing.
Salt & Sugar – A little bit of both is going to round out the flavors for our simple Italian pasta salad dressing.
Herbs – Oregano, basil, and rosemary.
Step by Step Instructions:
Boil: Boil your pasta to al dente in salted water.
Chop: Next, you’ll dice up all the goodies going inside. We try to keep things similar in size for pasta salads.
Dress: Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the pasta salad.
Chill: Pop this in the fridge for a few hours, stir, and season with extra salt if needed.
Helpful Tip!
This Italian dressing is pretty darn good as is. But if you were looking for more of a vinaigrette type dressing you could also mix in a little red wine vinegar with the dressing to add that slightly tangy flavor!
What Goes With Pasta Salad?
Try this serving pasta salad with some of my other favorite Italian recipes. I bet it would go great with this Air Fryer Chicken Caprese, or my Italian Beef recipe!
Pasta salad is also a great choice to serve with just about any meat and we especially enjoy it with BBQ, like our grilled BBQ chicken or smoked baby back ribs!
FAQs:
Keep this Italian pasta salad stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days.
Technically yes, but I wouldn’t do it myself. The texture of the pasta is not going to be the same at all after freezing and thawing. This Italian pasta salad is best enjoyed fresh from the fridge!
Sure! Pasta salad is an easy dish to customize. Some other great ingredients would be black or green olives, diced bell pepper, other varieties of cheese like cubed cheddar, etc.
Italian Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the pasta salad
- 1 pound tri-colored rotini
- 8 ounces mozzarella balls
- 8 ounces salami
- 8 ounces pepperoni
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup spinach
- 1/2 cup sliced red onion
- 1/2 cup pepperoncini
For the dressing
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 clove garlic minced
Instructions
- To make the pasta salad, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the rotini and cook until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water until pasta is cool.
- While the pasta is cooking, cut the mozzarella balls in half. Cut the salami and pepperoni into small pieces. Halve the cherry tomatoes and roughly chop the spinach. Dice the peperoncini into small pieces.
- Add the pasta to a large mixing bowl with the prepared mozzarella, salami, pepperoni, tomatoes, spinach, onion, and pepperoncini.
- To make the dressing, whisk together all of the ingredients until well combined.
- Pour the dressing over the pasta salad and stir well to coat.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes prior to serving.
- Taste and add additional seasoning as desired.
Mary Lou Romero says
Why does my pasta have a strang tast
Debbie Long says
Could you use 24 ounces of the pasta?
Karly says
If you increase the pasta, you’ll also want to increase the other ingredients accordingly.
Karen says
1 Tablespoon of salt in the dressing???
Karly says
Oh goodness, that should read 1 teaspoon! Thanks for catching that!
Cooki says
I noticed thick chunks pieces of salami? in the picture So how big are these pieces. It certainly isn’t slices that you cut up like the pepperoni that you buy in a package of 50 or so. Does look oh so good. A nice dish to bring to a pot-luck brunch for Mother’s Day.
Karly says
I cut them a bit smaller than the mozzarella balls.
Judy says
Hi Cooki! I haven’t made this recipe yet but when I put salami in pasta salad I usually go to the Deli and ask for a 1 or 2 inch slice/chunk of salami, also sometimes referred to a as a hockey puck of salami. Then dice it up.
Pamela says
How many days can this be kept? In making a lot for school lunches as well as side with dinner.
Karly says
I think it’d last fine for 5 days or so.
Karl Woods says
The recipe for the Italian Pasta Salad says that it serves 10. What is the serving size.
Thanks!
Karly says
I didn’t measure out the serving size. Just divide by 10 if you’re concerned about the nutrition values – otherwise, a serving can be as big as you like. 😉
Amy Ehlerding says
Just made this for my husband and he LOVED it??. I added only black olives to the recipe. Will DEFINITELY be making this again. Thanks for sharing.
Karly says
Glad it was a hit!
Janine says
Wow this is an excellent salad. I really love it, tastes very Italian with all the add in’s. The balance of pasta to other ingredients is perfect, the dressing delicious and I love the bite of flavour with the meat and pepperoncini. You could add other things like red pepper etc but honestly why mess with perfection
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Janine! 🙂
Rebecca Ros says
I made the salad yesterday and followed the recipe fairly closely (for me!) It was very tasty. It was a challenge to find the ingredients in the size listed. I used fresh herbs since I had them. Note that 1 T. Fresh equals 1 t. Dry. I thought the salt was a bit much, even though I tend to over salt. I did substitute 1 T. Molasses for the sugar, as I’ve read it helps the vinaigrette stay emulsified. I don’t believe it impacted the flavor. I look forward to using the basic recipe with other meat and vegetable combinations.
Cheryl says
This is my favorite pasta salad. I do add more veggies (cucumbers, red peper) in addition I use feta cheese so ce I always have it on hand. The dressing is fabulous! I used less meat
Feliz says
Would pesto sauce be an unreasonable substitution for dressing? Especially if the pasta salad will be a meal prep dish?
Karly says
I haven’t tried it myself, but it sounds good to me!
Ruth Woods says
My husband made this salad, it was soon good, it made so much we were able to have it for several meals. Thank you so much for sharing.
Karly says
Glad to hear that!
Stephanie says
Quick question – for the dressing – fresh oregano, basil and rosemary?
Karly says
I use dried, but you could add in fresh if you have it.
Sarah says
Just looking at these pictures is making me hungry! Will for sure be making soon!
Karly says
I hope you love it!
Mac says
If I wanted to make this the night before, would you suggest mixing everything except the dressing, refrigerating over night, and then mixing 30 minutes prior to serving? Or would this hold up well enough to just make it the night before?
Karly says
I would add half of the dressing to the pasta salad when mixing and reserve the other half for just before serving. Adding a little will help keep the pasta from sticking and adding the rest before serving will keep all of the dressing from soaking into the pasta. 🙂
Andi says
So, serious question, could I chop up string cheese instead of using mozzarella balls or shredded mozzarella? I don’t care for cheese in pasta salads, so I want it to be pick-out-able, but tiny mozzarella balls are so expensive!
Karly says
I think I would use a block of mozzarella and chop that into small cubes rather than chop up string cheese. The texture of string cheese is a bit different. 🙂