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This Classic Italian Pasta Salad is summer picnic comfort food at its best. Tri-color pasta, veggies, cheese and pepperoni fill this zesty Italian salad.

You know what my favorite part of a summer picnic is? The side dishes! Classic potato salad, creamy broccoli salad and sweet Snickers salad are ALWAYS a hit.

If there’s a picnic that I have to bring a side dish to? You can bet it I’m going to bring this pasta salad. It gets requested often. And it gets most requested by Braden. He loves it. Braden’s birthday is in January and although that’s the dead of the winter, he always requests pasta salad and pumpkin pie!

Easy Italian Pasta Salad

I love pasta salad because it is easy. No peeling potatoes or slicing too many veggies. We’ll talk below about how to prepare parts of this salad in advance to make this a quick and easy side dish recipe for all of your grilling nights.

Best Pasta for Pasta Salad

The base of our pasta salad is tri-color pasta. Could you use regular pasta? Yes. But tri-color is so much prettier. And maybe, just maybe, it is a teeny bit healthier for you since it has a bit of spinach and tomatoes inside to give it that pretty color.

Cook the pasta until is al dente. I don’t like mushy pasta salad, and I’m doubting that you will either.

How do you make cold pasta not stick?

Here are a few hints:

Don’t add the pasta to the water until the water is at a full boil.
Don’t overcook the pasta. Cook to al dente.
Rinse the pasta with cold water after cooking since you won’t be serving it right away.
Because you’re adding an oil-based dressing to the pasta, you can toss the cold pasta noodles with just a teaspoon or two of olive oil to prevent them from sticking. Don’t do this if you are serving with tomato sauce or the sauce won’t stick.

Pasta Salad Ingredients

tri color pasta
olives
cheddar cheese
pepperoni
tomato
cucumber
onion
pasta salad seasoning
dressing
green pepper and red pepper is optional!

Pasta Salad Dressing

We find it easiest to use store-bought zesty Italian dressing for our pasta salad. Sometimes we splurge and buy Olive Garden dressing….it’s so good!

If you’d like to try making your own, you can take the dressing from any of these recipes and add it to the salad:

How to Make Pasta Salad

Cook the pasta according to package directions and allow it to cool. Use our hints above for keeping the pasta from sticking.
Once the pasta has cooled to room temperature, add the olives, pepperoni, onion, cheese, cucumber and tomato. You can of course add other veggies or leave some out if you don’t like them. Mix well.
Just before serving, sprinkle the salad seasoning on top of the salad, then pour the dressing over the top.
Mix well. Add more dressing, if desired.

How do I make pasta salad taste better?

Have you ever added seasoning to your pasta salad? Our pasta salad seasoning recipe makes pasta salad stand out! If you have your own favorite pasta salad recipe, you’ll use three tablespoons of this seasoning per one pound of pasta.

Can you make pasta salad the day before?

If you’re making pasta salad the day before, we recommend keeping the pasta, pepperoni and cheese in one bowl and the veggies in another bowl. Right before serving, mix it all together with the dressing. This will help your pasta salad stay fresh.

How long can you keep pasta salad with Italian dressing?

This pasta salad will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. If the pasta salad has dried out, toss it with a few extra tablespoons of Italian dressing. This will freshen it right up!

Can you freeze pasta salad?

No. Just don’t. This pasta salad doesn’t freeze well. Gobble it up while you’ve got it!

What main dish goes with pasta salad?

Pasta salad goes with just about any grilled dinner.

What other side dishes go with pasta salad?

You may also love our Low Carb Italian Sub Salad!