This is The BEST Homemade Pasta Salad and it is always a hit at parties, potlucks and barbecues. This easy pasta salad is made with rotini pasta, cucumber, tomato, olives, pepperoni, cheese, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, red onion, cheese and Italian dressing for plenty of flavor!
What is the best dressing for pasta salad?
We love using Italian dressing for pasta salad. You can use whatever Italian dressing your family prefers, but our absolute favorite dressing for pasta salad is Kraft Robusto Italian Dressing.
How to make homemade pasta salad:
First things first, when it comes to making pasta salad you want to cook your pasta so it is cool when you mix in all the other ingredients.
Pasta salad is only as good as the pasta you are using to make it! I love using Ronzoni®pasta in my recipes because it is non-GMO and is so delicious.
For this pasta salad recipe, I used Ronzoni Garden Delight®because I love the beautiful colors of the pasta when it is tossed together with all the vegetables. I also love that just 4 ounces ofRonzoni Garden Delight®has a serving of vegetables!
This pasta is enriched with dried carrot, tomato and spinach and tastes so amazing that my kids didn’t even realize they were eating extra veggies.
While my pasta was cooking, I chopped up all the other ingredients going in my homemade pasta salad. I added pepperoni, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, red onion, sliced olives and Colby Jack cheese.
I drained and rinsed my pasta after it was done cooking. If you rinse your pasta with cold water it will wash away extra starches so your pasta doesn’t stick and it cools it down so you can toss it in with the other ingredients. You don’t want to melt that cheese with warm noodles!
Once your pasta is rinsed and cool, toss it with the prepped vegetables in a large mixing bowl and pour Italian dressing on top.
Toss until all the pasta salad ingredients are evenly coated in dressing.
Refrigerate pasta salad until it is time to serve. I like to make my pasta salad earlier in the day so the pasta has time to soak up all the delicious flavors!
Be sure to check out all the different types of pastaRonzoni®has to offer! My family especially loves the Ronzoni®Smart Taste®pasta (for extra fiber) and theRonzoni®Healthy Harvest®pasta (made with 100% whole wheat).
related article: if you love this pasta salad, Then you’ll want to try our Loaded Broccoli Salad! so easy and delicious!
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Other homemade pasta salad recipes:
- The Best Creamy Pasta Salad
- Grilled Chicken Bow Tie Pasta Salad
- Spaghetti Salad
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Serves: 12
The BEST Homemade Pasta Salad Recipe
This pasta salad is perfect for parties, barbecues and potlucks! It is easy to make and tastes delicious.
Prep Time 2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 8 minutes mins
Total Time 2 hours hrs 28 minutes mins
Ingredients
- 12 ounces tri-color rotini pasta 1 package
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 medium cucumber diced
- 4.5 ounces sliced black olives 2 (2.25 ounce cans), drained
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 8 ounces pepperoni 1 package, cut into fourths
- 8 ounces Colby Jack Cheese 1 package, cubed
- 1 red onion minced
- 16 ounces Italian dressing 1 bottle
Instructions
Nutrition
Calories: 393 kcal · Carbohydrates: 30 g · Protein: 13 g · Fat: 25 g · Saturated Fat: 8 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 5 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 8 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 38 mg · Sodium: 992 mg · Potassium: 289 mg · Fiber: 2 g · Sugar: 7 g · Vitamin A: 669 IU · Vitamin C: 25 mg · Calcium: 159 mg · Iron: 1 mg
Equipment
large pot
colander
Large Mixing Bowl
Recipe Details
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
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Watch the video below to see how to make our Barbecue Pasta Salad. It is always a crowd favorite!
Join The Discussion
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Christine Mazeski says:
i do this recipe almost the same way.and its one of my favorite recipes. I always make this in the summer. I never thought to add the olives or cucs! Great idea! I pinned this so i dont forget :)
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Rachel Lawrence says:
I just made this and oh my gosh it is awesome! So yummy!!
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sandi says:
can this be done in slow cooker ?
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Cyd says:
This cannot be done in a slow cooker. It is a cold pasta salad.
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Nadette says:
I just found this recipe and plan to make it this weekend (need to get to the market for fresh produce!). The only thing different I would do is pour a little ranch dressing with the italian! We all love both dressings, so I thought mixing them together might make it even better - if that's possible - right?!?! Thanks for sharing!
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Cyd says:
That sounds really good! We'll have to give that a try! Thanks so much!
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Brock says:
Good recipe! I've tweaked it a little and added McCormick's Salad Supreme dry seasoning, chopped pepperoni, and sliced pepperoncinis.
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Lynda says:
Can this be made in advance and refrigerated for 2 days?
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Cyd says:
One day is great. We've eaten leftovers 2 days out. It still tastes great, but not quite as fresh as one day. Give it a good stir before serving. Add the cubed cheese right before serving.
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Suzie says:
Made this today for a party tomorrow. I couldn't find Kraft Robusto Italian dressing as suggested. But I did find Wishbone. After looking at your pictures. I think that is a Wishbone bottle. Anyways. super easy to assemble.
About The Author:
Camille Beckstrand
Camille Beckstrand is married to Jared and they have 4 kids. She is a certified life coach that loves helping women become "unstuck" in their lives and is the host of the podcast "Moms On The Rise". She also loves a good true crime podcast, a big plate of cheesy loaded nachos, and going on adventures with her family.
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