Name: The Best Pasta Salad
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 10, 10+ - this yields more than 15 cups
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/2 cup olive oil; 1/4 cup white vinegar (red wine vinegar works too); 1/4 cup water; 2 teaspoons kosher salt (see notes); 2 cloves garlic (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder); 1 tablespoon sugar; 2 teaspoons each dry oregano and dry basil; black pepper to taste; fresh herbs if you want! sometimes I add fresh parsley, basil, or chives.; 1 pound uncooked pasta (preferably rotini); one 10-oz. package cherry tomatoes, halved (2 cups); 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese balls, cut in half if needed; 8 ounces salami, cut into cubes or thin strips (see notes for types); 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced; 1 cup sliced pepperoncini; 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion; 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Super easy Pasta Salad – with pasta, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, spicy salami, pepperoncini, olives, and easy Italian dressing. DANGEROUSLY GOOD.

The Best Pasta Salad 7

We made this for Memorial Day and it was a huge hit! The dressing is absolutely delicious and goes perfectly with this salad. Thank you for sharing!!

Meet your new summer bestie: A stupidly easy pasta salad with pasta, juicy tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, red onion, salami, olives, herbs, and a drench of quick homemade dressing.

If you want to know what I’ve eaten for 4 of my last 5 meals, it’s THIS SUMMER ESSENTIAL. We are kind of having a moment here.

Let’s have a moment together, shall we?

Video To Make This Pasta Salad

In my mind, a nice classic pasta salad serves one of two scenarios:

Attending a picnic, potluck, or other end-of-summer-everyone-bring-something type party when you need to bring a side dish;
Addressing the leftover meat, cheese, and vegetables in my fridge and making them into a meal that I pretty much want to eat 24/7.

This delicious little number will do both for ya.

the best pasta salad 3 — All the ingredients for the pasta salad laid out in individual bowls.

Ingredients You Need

Pasta salad really is a choose-your-own adventure situation. All you need are the basic components (pasta, veggies, meat, dressing) to then make it your own!

Here’s what I love the most:

Pasta: The best pasta to use for pasta salad are hearty shapes like rotini, penne, or farfalle (bowtie). These have lots of nooks and crannies to soak up all that delicious dressing and cheese! You could also use a smaller shape like orzo, which I use in this lemon orzo pasta salad .
Veggies: Using veggies adds all the color, crunch, and flavor! I love using cherry tomatoes andtinly sliced red onion, but you could also add bell pepper, roasted zucchini, or fresh corn.
Cheese: My picks for cheese in this are fresh mozzarella balls (the mini one) and grated Parmesan cheese. If you want to make this vegetarian or vegan, you can leave the cheese out!
Meat: I love this pasta salad with salami or summer sausage. It adds more flavor, some smokiness, some salt, and bulks everything up with some protein.
Olives and Pepperoncini: I strongly believe every pasta salad needs something briny and salty – olives (black, kalamata, or green) and some pepperoncini.
Herbs: I love basil and parsley in this to add another touch of freshness and brightness!

the best pasta salad 4 scaled — Quick homemade Italian dressing blended in a jar, ready to toss with pasta salad.

Using Homemade Dressing

We need a tangy Italian dressing (no mayo here!). Here are our ingredients.

olive oil
white vinegar
salt and pepp
dried oregano and basil
little bit of sugar
fresh herbs (like parsley, more basil, or chives)

Homemade, in a blender or food processor, so it takes approximately 60 seconds. You made that dressing, you pasta salad boss, you. ♡

the best pasta salad 5 — Tossing the pasta salad with the homemade Italian dressing in a large bowl.

How To Make Pasta Salad (4 Steps!)

Okay, it’s summer, so you know we’re not spending all day in the kitchen. We’re bringing this beauty to share with friends, family, neighbors, post office workers, daycare providers, pretty much whoever can get their hands on a fork stat. Let’s make pasta salad!

Cook your pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse. Allow it to cool slightly and toss a bit of olive oil in there.
Chop all your veggies , cheese, meat, and other fixings.
Blitz up your dressing in a blender or shake it up in a jar.
Toss together , taste and adjust, and exercise every self-control muscle in your body so as not to eat the whole thing before everyone comes over.

Storage and Prep

The beauty of pasta salad is that the flavors get even better the longer it all sits and lingers together!

For storing: After I make this pasta salad, whether making it ahead or storing leftovers, I just pop it in the fridge and it will keep for 2-3 days.
For making ahead: I love to make pasta salad 12-24 hours ahead of time. This gives it time to absorb the dressing but not get mushy!

the best pasta salad 6 — The finished pasta salad in a large serving bowl, ready for a summer gathering.

May I offer one last tidbit of advice? You do not need to wait to be invited to a picnic or potluck to get some pasta salad magic in your life.

This is a weeknight’s dream meal.

Stop at the store on the way home and pick up some good salami and cheese, some olives, and a few fresh herbs. Cook up some pasta, toss it all together, and voila. Cold pasta salad + a glass of rose for dinner, and colder pasta salad as leftovers for lunch all week.

I will be over in a flash.

Best Easy Pasta Salad: Frequently Asked Questions

I like to use Morton’s coarse Kosher salt for this recipe. You can check out the notes in the recipe card for more information about salt. If you are using iodized table salt, you’ll need to reduce the amount!

By all means, customize this salad – that’s what it does best! Try adding blanched green beans, fresh spinach, artichokes, red bell peppers, chickpeas, broccoli, etc. for a more veg-forward version. Or different types of cheese (feta cheese? parmesan cheese?), or different shapes of pasta (penne? fusili? maybe even some tortellini?)… the possibilities are endless. I love this salad as-is but I also love its flexibility!

While we’d all love to have pasta salad always at the ready, unfortunately, this cannot be frozen! The pasta will get especially weird and mushy, as well as the veggies too.

Since this is served cold, you should either remove it from the table once 2 hours have passed (putting it back in a fridge/cooler or tossing out), OR find a way for it to be served in a larger container of ice so that it stays at 40 degrees or less. Lots of good safe food practices for picnics and potlucks here !

If you are making this more than one hour ahead of time, make a double batch of the dressing recipe because the pasta will absorb the dressing in the fridge. When you make it, pour half of the doubled batch of dressing on the pasta salad and toss. Store salad and remaining dressing in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. Right before serving, add 1/4 cup of the remaining dressing and toss again. Add more dressing until it’s as saucy as you’d like.