This Classic Italian pasta salad recipe is perfect for family picnics, BBQ cookouts, cocktail parties, and more. Made with a variety of vegetables, tri-color Rotini noodles, and Italian Dressing.
Are you a salad lover but don’t like Mayo, well this is the salad for you. A versatile and healthy salad healthy eaters will enjoy!! You’re gonna love this recipe and make it a regular at your summer cookouts!!
It’s springtime and the weather’s finally warming up so what better way to bring in the season than to make a classic salad recipe? We’ve all had Italian pasta salad before at family cookouts, birthday parties, and social events.
It’s a popular salad during the summer and it’s very versatile because there’s so many different vegetables you can use. Ima talk about the ingredients I like to use and give you some options on how to make it.
What makes this a good recipe:
There are so many things I love about this salad, so many that I don’t even know where to start. So, let me simplify the many things I love about myself with this list below.
- The color: I love the color of this salad. It reminds me of spring and really brightens and beautifies a table of food. So if you’re superficial like me and dont just like good food but beautiful food, this is the salad for you. Lol!
- The dressing: Italian dressing is a fan favorite. I dont know too many who have a problem with italian dressing. I cant say the same about mayo or other dressings we put in salads.
- Weight loss friendly: This is definitely a low-calorie salad, especially in comparison to tuna macaroni and salads with fatty condiments like mayo. So while you will get some carbs from the pasta, it’s a pretty healthy dish overall.
- A fan favorite: 1 of the reasons being, what I just mentioned above, it’s weight loss friendly so even folk trying to lose weight will welcome it. And it’s filled with a bunch of vegetables and pasta, who doesn’t like veggies and pasta?
With seafood salad, someone may be allergic to seafood. With tuna salad, they may not like tuna or mayo – remember I spoke on the anti-white club, which I refer to as a group of people who dont eat white condiments? Lol!
Vegetarians won’t have a problem with this salad either and it’s the perfect salad for ANY EVENT! So yes, you won’t have anyone turning this salad down, it’s truly a fan favorite. - Lightweight: You wont get full eating this salad. Other salads like some of the ones I mentioned above can be too heavy on the stomach at times. This is lightweight and something you can eat shortly before bed.
- Can withstand hot weather: You can sit this salad on a picnic table in 100-degree weather and don’t have to worry about a thing whereas that may be a concern with salads with mayo in it.
- Long shelf life: I always recommend finishing salad by 3 days but because this salad doesn’t have mayonnaise in it, it will stay fresh longer and stand the test of time.
Cookware and utensils you’ll need:
- Large pot: To boil the pasta and blanch the broccoli.
- Strainer: To blanche the broccoli.
- Colander: To drain the pasta.
- Large Serving Bowl: To combine in and to serve out of.
- Potato Peeler: To peel the cucumber skin.
- Knife: To chop the vegetables
- Big Spoon: To combine the salad and serve.
- Measuring Cups: To accurately measure vegetables, dressing, etc.
- Measuring Spoons: To accurately measure seasoning.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- Pasta: Tri-colored Rotini/Fusilli noodles
- Add-in: Grated Parmesan cheese
- Vegetable add-ins: Red Onions, Cucumbers, Broccoli, Grape Tomatoes, and Black Olives.
- Seasonings: Italian seasonings, Black Pepper, and Parsley Flakes
- Dressing: Zesty Italian Dressing
Common questions about the rotini/fusilli
What are the best brands of pasta?
Barilla, Mueller’s, and Ronzoni, De Cecco, and San Giorgio. Some people are big on brands but I’ve used all these top brands and they haven’t negatively affected the outcome.
Do you have to use rotini/fusilli noodles?
Absolutely not… I like to use the colored noodles for aesthetic purposes. You can you regular rotini noodles or your favorite pasta like macaroni, spaghetti, bow tie, or penne.
Should you boil the pasta with oil?
Once you add the noodles to a big mixing bowl, add in the dressing, and ingredients, and start folding everything in, any pasta sticking together will definitely come apart.
So no, oil isn’t necessary. I like to use it for long stringy pasta like spaghetti, fettuccine, and linguine though because they’re harder to detach once stuck together.
Why do you add salt to the pasta water?
I add salt to the pasta water for flavor and it limits the starch. The salad taste better when the pasta has flavor. It enhances the overall deliciousness of the salad.
How to know when the pasta is done?
Whenever you’re boiling pasta, no matter which kind, you want to cook it until it’s al dente. Which means cooked til tender but firm. You don’t want it to be soggy, bloated, and limp!
Should I rinse the pasta once it’s done?
I do this just to stop the cooking process because with it still being very hot, if you leave the noodles in a colander and just let it sit, the heat will continue cooking it.
About the Parmesan cheese
If you don’t have grated parmesan cheese or don’t like it grated, you can use shredded parmesan cheese from the store or get a block and shred it yourself which is the better option. Or, you can simply omit it from the recipe altogether.
Why I chose these vegetables
- Red onions: I use red onions to add more color to an already beautiful colorful salad but I use red onions aka purple onions because of their mild flavor which I do for all my salads.
But it’s especially important here because this salad is pretty bitter and tangy because of all the acidic vegetables we use in addition to the zesty dressing. This is the very reason I opted not to add green peppers.
I felt green peppers were just too pungent and added too much acidity to the salad. And if you struggle with acid reflux like I do, you’re going to need some Tums on hand for a salad like this. Lol! - Cucumbers: These are a must in salads of this kind with a lot of vegetables. I won’t even make it without cucumbers. I love cucumbers and the crunch it brings to the salad. It’s also a good choice because it’s neutral in flavor.
- Grape tomatoes: Grape tomatoes are sweet, not cherry tomato sweet but they’re not very acidic so I love what they do for this salad in terms of providing some balance because lord knows it doesn’t need to be any more acidic.
- Broccoli: Broccoli brings some crunch to the salad along with the cucumbers. The florets beautify the salad with it’s beautiful rich green color. The florets look like pretty small bushes in the salad. Lol!
- Black olives: Ok so these are a fruit often mistaken for vegetables because they’re salty and not sweet. But I love olives and believe it or not they were the latest addition to this recipe.
I love them most for their color… it’s so unique and is the one ingredient that stands out the most. Why? Because it’s not often you come across food that’s semi-black in color so that alone makes it a great add-in.
But the salty, fruity, vinegarette/wine flavor it gives this salad just takes it up a notch. Besides the cucumbers, it’s the one ingredient I can eat a whole bowl of by itself.
More on the olives
I wasn’t always a fan of olives but they grew on me with age. My family wasn’t a big fan of them either but my Nana would always put a few in her Italian salad. My cousins were not fans of olives at all. Lmbbo!
I remember being at the family cookouts and seeing them picking them out their salad and throwing them in the grass. LMBO! And I knew of green olives before black olives and some of you may ask if using green olives are an option.
My answer would be, ABSOLUTELY! There’s no major difference in taste, the black olives are just darker and will stand out in the salad whereas the green ones won’t so much in a salad that already has a lot of green in it already.
Fresh vs Frozen Broccoli
I’ve gotten this question a lot. I’ve used both believe it or not and while it doesn’t drastically change the outcome of the salad, I definitely try to get fresh broccoli if I can.
- Fresh broccoli: It’s fresh so it just tastes better and is more potent in flavor. Another benefit is that it has more of a crunch because it hasn’t been sitting in ice which can make it sorta limp and because it’s fresh it has lost as many nutrients.
You definitely want to blanch them a little so they’re not too crunchy and brighten in color. Steaming or boiling them can have the opposite effect and give the broccoli a greyish color. - Frozen broccoli: All is not bad with frozen broccoli though. The outcome won’t be drastically different. It just won’t have the same freshness, potency, and crunch.
About the seasonings and spices
- Italian seasoning: Herbs in this salad take it up a notch and Italian seasoning is nothing but a bunch of good herbs all combined into one seasoning. I only use a little a lot isn’t needed.
- Black pepper: Black pepper makes everything taste a little better but only very little is necessary just to add a hint of spice. Using too much will ruin the salad honestly so just a sprinkle or two would do.
- Parsley flakes: We’re just using this for decoration purposes… the flakes spread throughout the salad giving it a nice look and making it picquiresque! Parsley has a way of making salad more appetizing.
About the Italian dressing
I like to use Zesty Italian dressing. I prefer creamy Italian dressing but that’s for another salad recipe altogether – I’ll do a recipe for that another time. But make sure you use Zesty Italian dressing because it has more flavor than original.
Add-ins & variations:
Ok so this is a delicious but pretty basic Italian dressing salad recipe. I personally don’t like to overdo it with the add-ins with my Italian dressing pasta salad.
But if you want to DO THE MOST, or fancify things, here are some meat, vegetable, and cheese options you can add to your salad that you might like that I didn’t add to mine.
- Meat add-ins: Want to add some meat, try chopped pieces of ham or sliced pepperoni.
- Vegetable add-ins: If you want a lil heat, you can add some banana peppers.
- Cheese: Mozzarella and feta are commonly used.
How to make Italian pasta salad
1. Boil the pasta
2. Blanch the broccoli.
3. Meanwhile chop up the vegetables
4. Once noodles are done, sit in a colander, rinse, and sit until chilled.
5. Once chilled, add to a big salad bowl.
6. Add in all the chopped vegetables and seasonings, then fold well.
7. Add in the dressing and fold well again.
8. Sprinkle and stir in the grated Parmesan.
9. Wrap with plastic wrap and sit in the refrigerator to chill.
The Best Zesty Italian Pasta Salad Recipe 2019 Video
What to serve with Italian pasta salad
- Fried chicken: Crispy fried chicken goes great with almost anything especially salads. But when a lil bit of that italidan dressing gets on that crispy skin?? Lawd have mercy… and let me tell yall something…
I really love it when my crispy chicken bumps shoulders with creamy Italian dressing. Talking about good eating? Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven… heaven is where I’ll be… - Grilled meats: The zesty flavor of this salad with the grilled taste of ribs, chicken, or burgers are a combo made in heaven. This is exactly why this salad is perfect for cookouts because grilled meat is all they make at cookouts.
- Steak: This salad will taste lovely with steak. Never had them together before but I’m suddenly in the mood for both now and know it would go perfectly together. Especially pan-seared steak smothered in garlic butter sauce.
Making it ahead of time
Well as I mentioned earlier, this is a salad that will maintain its quality for quite some time and therefore can be prepared for an event etc 4 days in advance.
So feel free to prepare this on a Sunday evening for a Thursday party with friends if you can’t be around for whatever reason to make it the day of. Just make sure you tightly seal it with plastic wrap and keep it in a cool refrigerator.
Frequently asked questions
How to store Italian pasta salad?
To preserve and keep the salad as fresh for as long as possible, keep it tightly covered with plastic wrap in a tupperware bowl in the refrigerator!
How long does Italian pasta salad last?
Unlike salads that have mayo in it, this salad has a longer shelf life and will be good and maintain its goodness for up for 5+ days as long as it’s stored properly.
Other salad recipes you might like:
- The BEST Macaroni Salad Recipe Ever (With Video)
- THE BEST Tuna Macaroni Salad Recipe EVER (With Video)
- Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad To Die For (Video)
- Easy Classic Chicken Salad Recipe (With Video)
This recipe is perfect for this time of year, folks. Like I said, people love to make it for parties and family cookouts. So check it out and tell me how you like it. Share the recipe if you like it, and don’t forget to subscribe for new recipes.
Enjoy, later!
PBJ~
The Best Zesty Italian Pasta Salad Recipe (With Video)
Classic Italian pasta salad recipe, perfect for family picnics, BBQ cookouts, cocktail parties, and more. Made with a variety of vegetables, tri-color Rotini noodles, and Italian Dressing
- Total Time: 30 Mins
- Yield: 8
Ingredients
16 oz Tri-Color Rotini Pasta
4 Qts Water & 1 Tbs Salt
16 oz Zesty Italian Dressing
1 Large Cucumber, Chopped
1 Cup Fresh Broccoli Florets, Chopped
1/2 Cup Red Onions, Chopped
1/2 Cup Grape Tomatoes, Sliced
1/4 or 1/2 Cup Sliced Black Olives
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Tsps Parsley Flakes
1/2 Tsp Italian Seasoning
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
1. Fill a large pot with cool water and salt, then place over high heat (9).
2. After 10 minutes, or once the water comes to a boil, add the pasta and boil for 10 minutes then strain the water. Rinse the pasta with cold water and set pasta aside in a mixing bowl to chill.
3. Meanwhile, peel the cucumbers and onions, then chop them into small pieces. Make sure to cut around the seeds in the cucumbers.
4. Slice the Broccoli stalk as high as possible, then break off individual pieces of broccoli and slice into small florets.
5. Slice the grape tomatoes into pieces of 3.
6. Add the seasonings and cheese to the dressing then stir well.
7. Add the chopped vegetables to the dressing then stir in well again.
8. Add the pasta then fold well.
9. Cover with plastic wrap then place in the refrigerator to chill.
- Prep Time: 25 Mins
- Cook Time: 5 Mins
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
by
3 Responses
Your food is so good all l can say is mmmm good
Thank you so much k
Jay pick up some McCormick Salad Supreme spice and add to your pasta salad. OMG it takes it over the top..I say over the top hahaha. We miss you and I love the way you burn in the kitchen💜
Will do!!!