Pair this Italian pasta salad with my Chicken Caprese Sandwich, a Classic Dark and Stormy Cocktail and Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes for dessert!
★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
This Classic Italian Pasta Salad, served chilled, is one of my favorite summer side dishes, but it can really be enjoyed year round.
This is our family's go-to pasta side dish. It's really easy to make, can be customized, and is always a hit at potlucks, barbecues, or parties. You can make this a no-meat, vegetarian side dish or add meat and/or cheese.
Leftovers make a great lunch!
This Italian Pasta Salad is similar to the Betty Crocker's Suddenly Salad boxed pasta salad yet it's homemade with fresh bell peppers, carrots, and black olives all coated in creamy Olive Garden dressing and finished off with Parmesan cheese and Salad Supreme!
Easy yet Homemade
I always really liked the simplicity of the Betty Crocker recipe but the boxes are so tiny when you're trying to feed a crowd, so I decided to make my own version one day and never looked back.
Flavorful
The featured flavors in this recipe are: carrots, black olives, bell peppers, Parmesan cheese and creamy Italian dressing.
Customizable
I go light on the dressing so the pasta isn't overly saturated or greasy but use enough for the pasta and vegetables to be coated in plenty of seasoning and tanginess.
This vegetarian pasta salad is served cold and is best after it has marinated in the fridge for a couple hours or overnight.
From Lunch to Potlucks
Often our family makes this Italian pasta salad to bring to a potluck where there are a number of different dishes.
We also make it frequently when we're hosting our own backyard barbecue or having people over for dinner.
My mom almost always had a batch of pasta salad in the fridge. It's great for a quick lunch or even dinner. You can add meat or cubed cheese to make it hearty for more of a meal in itself.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
You'll need just 8 main ingredients to make this Classic Italian Pasta Salad recipe, plus salt and pepper. Super simple!
Here are all the ingredients you'll need:
Cooked Rotini or fusilli pasta. You can use any shape you'd like, I just like how the dressing get trapped in between the coils of rotini pasta. You can use tri-colored rotini for added color and vitamins.
Fresh-shredded carrots. I'm a big fan of shortcuts but I do take the time to shred a full sized carrot. I think you get so much more flavor doing this vs. buying matchstick carrots that can taste dry.
Fresh parsley. Fresh vs. dried is key here too. I find that fresh chopped parsley adds a nice texture and "freshens" the flavor of all the other ingredients.
Red and green bell peppers. I just like how these two colors compliment the yellow pasta but you could go with orange or yellow bell peppers instead if you want. The colored peppers do tend to be sweeter and my mother-in-law swears they give you less gas. lol
Black olives. (optional but please give them a chance) Black olives bring a rich salty umami flavor to this dish which is great because I don't include any meat in this side dish. In case there are vegetarians at whatever event I'm going to or hosting, this is a nice filling dish for them.
Italian dressing. My favorite dressing is Olive Garden's creamy Italian. Why is it sooo good? Because it has a touch of milk and Romano cheese that give it a rich flavor. Shop Olive Garden Italian Dressing
McCormick Perfect Pinch Salad Supreme Seasoning. This is a secret ingredient my husband's side of the family uses to give pasta salad and extra flavor boost — not required but totally recommend. It's a blend of sesame seeds, paprika, poppy seeds, celery seed, pepper, Romano cheese, garlic, buttermilk powder, red and black pepper. Buy McCormick Perfect Pinch Salad Supreme Seasoning on Amazon.
Grated Parmesan cheese. I like to offer this as an optional topping. I typically leave a shaker bottle out next to the bowl pf pasta salad and let people add it if they want. I like the flavor and texture it adds.
Adding Protein
Chicken, steak, salami, pepperoni, ham... any of those would taste great and adds some protein if you aren't concerned about keeping this vegetarian.
Cubed cheeses also make a great addition.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
Even though this pasta salad is homemade with fresh vegetables, it's still an easy side dish to whip up for a potluck or for dinner. Here's how:
- Boil the pasta and drain when done.
- Add shredded carrots and bell peppers.
- Fold in black olives (optional) and fresh chopped parsley.
- Add Italian dressing.
- Sprinkle in my family's secret ingredient "Salad Supreme" seasoning.
- Toss. Then ideally chill for 2 hours before serving. This gives the flavors time to soak into the pasta.
I put out a shaker of grated Parmesan cheese for people to sprinkle on top of their serving if they want.
Watch the video beneath the full recipe (below) to see the full process in action!
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Any Italian dressing works with this pasta salad recipe. You can decide what's your favorite. There are several bottled dressings that taste really great. My favorite for this pasta salad is Olive Garden's creamy Italian dressing. If you prefer a zesty, non-cream Italian dressing, by all means, use that instead.
You can also buy the packets of Italian dressing seasoning and mix the dressing yourself, adding your own oil and vinegar. Sometimes if I'm making a big batch of this pasta salad, I'd do a packet of Italian dressing seasoning mixing it with oil and vinegar, and then I'll add a small bottle of the Olive Garden creamy Italian dressing. Kind of like, half creamy half not.
Or you can go fully homemade and mix your own Italian seasoning blend and add oil and vinegar.
So depending on what you like, how much time you have or what you have on hand, choose whatever option fits you best. There's truly no right or wrong, it's a personal preference.
Almost any vegetable is a great option. Black olives, cubed cheese, cubed meats like pepperoni, ham, or salami, and Parmesan cheese are great additions. I love Suddenly salad seasoning sprinkled on top.
Cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, mushrooms, artichokes, fresh spinach... pretty much anything you'd put on a pizza would work.
You can absolutely customize your pasta salad to your own preferences. Or just to mix things up to keep things interesting and fresh.
This is ultimately up to you but I use rotini or fusilli pasta because it's pretty hearty and holds the dressing well in all the little crevices. You can go with the tri-colored rotini, or choose any type of pasta that looks appealing. We like to get fun shapes sometimes, I've even used spaghetti because that's what I had. Mix it up! Use whatever you have! There's no right or wrong pasta. You can even use tortellini!
I can relate. I have many people in my family who do not like olives. So I just opt to put a bowl of olives on the side. Problem solved! And more olives for me. 🙂
My son loves this pasta salad. I often make it just for him to eat for lunch, especially over the summer. Make a great dinner to eat in the car on the way to sports on super busy weeknights as well because you can easily eat it with a fork.
Overall, most kids approve of the mild flavor and simple ingredients of this dish. It's not too heavy on dressing or overly oil either which appeals to kids. I do typically leave the olives out if making this pasta salad for kids.
Yes. Store this in the fridge and chill before serving.
This pasta salad tastes best when it has time to marinate overnight or for at least 2 hours. The dressing needs to soak into the pasta.
Before you serve, be sure to give this pasta salad a stir to evenly distribute the dressing after chilling.
Pasta salad is a great side dish for burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, kebabs, really anything grilled! I also find it's great with dishes that are low-carb or protein heavy.
Here are some main dish recipes that pair well with this pasta salad as a side dish:
Pulled Pork Sliders
Meatloaf or meatballs
Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad
Curry Chicken Salad
Browse all my main course recipes for more ideas!
McCormick Perfect Pinch Salad Supreme Seasoning. It's specially made for pasta salads so the spices don't need to cook to activate like other dry herbs do. The flavor complements Italian dressing really well even though there are some overlaps like both have Romano cheese, but is there really such things as too much cheese? You decide.
My personal favorite part about this topping is the little sesame seeds in this mix. They just add a subtle crunchy texture to this pasta salad that's so good.
Again, this is totally optional but usually gets people talking about how yummy the pasta salad is so it's a bit of a secret ingredient if you're looking for amazing flavor.
McCormick Perfect Pinch
Salad Supreme Seasoning
Parmesan cheese. You have some choices here. You can go with the dry shelf-stable Parmesan cheese that's a popular pizza topping. You can grate or even shave your own from a block. Or you can buy a tub of shredded Parmesan.
I recommend going with whatever you liked best or what's most convenient. The flavor is very similar, the texture is just a bit different with each.
I find grated Parmesan cheese will give you more of that all-over cheesy flavor, whereas the shredded Parmesan cheese will give you a bit more bite, tartness and burst of cheesy flavor. The texture tends to be a little waxy which I kind of like sometimes.
If you're into the pre-shredded, pre-shaved or pre-grated cheese or you can DIY. I am a fan of grating my own because I feel like you get so much more flavor when it's fresh. However, I'm also a big fan of convenience so I am not above buying the cylinder of grated cheese either. I just go with what time allows each time I make this dish.
Note: If you're using an Italian dressing that already has cheese in it, you may not need to add any extra cheese. Taste and see what you think! Like I tell the mister, you can always add things in, but it's hard to take things out. Taste first and then decide!
★ Storage ★
This pasta salad stores well in the fridge for 4-5 day before the vegetables start to become soft and loose a little bit of flavor.
Store in an air-tight container.
I do not recommend freezing this pasta salad. The vegetables become rubbery after freezing and defrosting and the pasta does not taste as fresh.
This classic Italian Pasta Salad recipe was featured on South Your Mouth!
Classic Italian Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 14.5 oz rotini pasta tri-colored or plain
- 1 red pepper seeded and chopped
- 1 green pepper seeded and chopped
- ¼ cup freshly shredded carrots 1-2 carrots
- 3.8 oz sliced olives
- ¼ cup dried or fresh chopped parsley
- 16 oz Italian dressing or make your own
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded or grated
- Few dashes of McCormick Perfect Pinch Salad Supreme Seasoning Optional but highly recommend
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Boil pasta according to package and drain. Place pasta in a large bowl and toss a few time to cool.
- While pasta is cooking, chop peppers and shredded carrots then add to drained pasta. Add olives and parsley and finally stir in Italian dressing.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Ideally chill for at least 2 hours or overnight but OK to serve right away too.
- Before serving, add Parmesan cheese and toss to distribute evenly or offer Parmesan on the side as a topping.
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