The perfect potluck salad! Pasta salads are my kryptonite in the summertime. A one-bowl wonder with tender pasta, bright and crisp veggies, and a zingy homemade Italian vinaigrette that gets into the little grooves of the pasta and leaves a flavor explosion in your mouth! And a big bowl of this stuff will easily feed a dozen people. But it’s such an easy recipe that you can easily double, triple, or even quadruple without having to do any hard math! I don’t know about you, but when the weather starts turning warm, I want an ice-cold, zesty, and bright Italian pasta salad on all the holidays between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It also just happens to be the best way to clean the fridge and serve alongside grilled chicken or a light and easy weeknight dinner. And the pasta salad will hang out in the refrigerator easily for a few days, so you can make a box and take it to lunch during the week too!
Ingredients to make a homemade potluck Italian pasta salad:
Pasta: You can use any medium-cut pasta you like. I like to use tri-colored pasta to add a bit more color to the salad. Remember, we eat with our eyes first!Garbanzo beans: my antipasto pasta salad is actually completely vegetarian-friendly! There’s a note about adding deli meats at the bottom (if you’re interested), but to bulk up this salad, I used a can of rinsed and drained garbanzo beans.Fresh veggies: fresh cherry tomatoes, diced green bell peppers, and red onions give this salad tons of color and freshness.Black olives: add a nice briny flavor. You can swap the black olives for green olives if you like those better, but black olives add the perfect flavor.Pepperoncini peppers: another hit of briny goodness! I’m a sucker for pepperoncini chicken, and this little ingredient adds a ton of flavor to this pasta salad!Fresh cheese: fresh pearl mozzarella balls add creaminess to the salad. Feel free to use a large mozzarella ball cut into small cubes if you can’t find the tiny mozzarella balls! Grated parmesan adds nuttiness and brings salt to the salad. I use freshly grated parmesan, but you can certainly buy shredded parmesan if you’d like it to be more visually noticed in the salad.Fresh parsley: brings freshness and a pop of bright green to the salad. You can add up to double the parsley if you’d like to bring more color and flavor.Italian dressing: I use my homemade dressing when I make this salad. But, if you’re in a pinch and don’t want to spend the extra 5 minutes making the dressing, you can use a cup (or more) of this dressing instead.
How do you make Italian pasta salad at home?
Other salad recipes to try:
Mediterranean Pasta SaladAddicting Macaroni SaladLemon Basil Arugula Pasta SaladClassic Summer ColeslawSour Cream Chive Potato SaladMarinated Feta Greek SaladMarinated Mozzarella Tomato SaladSesame Chicken Pasta Salad
Feel free to add up to 8 ounces of salami to this if you’d like, I kept it vegetarian so that everyone can enjoy this!Store leftover pasta salad in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You may want to make an extra batch of dressing to have on hand if you have leftover salad. Refreshing the salad before serving makes it taste just as good as new!
