Pair this pepperoni pasta salad with some homemade pineapple zucchini bread, grilled honey barbecue chicken, and puff pasty blueberry pie for dessert!
★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
A Crowd Pleasing Side Dish
This Pepperoni Pasta Salad is an easy side dish for any gathering. Perfect for potlucks! Served cold.
This pasta salad is made with pepperoni and cheese cubes, plus broccoli and carrots all tossed in Italian dressing for a quick toss-together side dish that is hearty and tasty.
Great for lunches, too.
This is a family favorite make-ahead dish for easy lunches as well. You'll love the classic Italian flavor and simple prep. It stores well for several days, chilled in the fridge.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
You'll need just 8 ingredients total.
This pasta salad only requires a handful of ingredients and prep is super easy. In this dish, you'll find: rotini or fusilli pasta, mini pepperoni, broccoli florets, matchstick carrots, and cubed Colby Jack and Monterey cheese all tossed in creamy Olive Garden Italian dressing.
Several hearty shakes of Salad Supreme seasoning finishes things off and creates mega flavor.
You can find Salad Supreme seasoning at most grocery stores or buy it on Amazon. It's out family's secret ingredient for extra tasty pasta salad.
Optional Ingredients
You can mix things up by changing out the vegetables or adding additional veggies to this pasta salad.
Bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, hot peppers, artichokes, and black olives all play well with the Italian flavors.
Serving meat lovers? Add some extra meat! Chopped or sliced salami or ham make great additions to this salad.
Really, anything you'd put on a pizza works.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Mozzarella and Colby jack are great cheeses to use in this pasta salad. They are sturdy and mild in flavor. I have used cheddar or Havarti too. You really can't go wrong. So feel free to choose your favorite cheese or cheeses to toss in. Cubed offers a nice texture compared to shredded.
I really love Olive Garden Italian dressing. It's flavorful and slightly creamy, not too tangy or sharp. Wishbone dressing is also good, less creamy but still really flavorful. I've used and enjoyed the Hidden Valley Italian dressing mixes as well (add oil and vinegar).
Rotini or fusilli pasta for a cold pasta salad works well because there are lots of little creases to capture the dressing.
However, you can definitely use any kind of pasta you'd like from elbow macaroni to linguine or even spaghetti. Orzo and tortellini would work here too. Totally up to you.
And again, you can mix things up and choose a different pasta each time you make it to give this dish a new texture if you make it often.
Love pasta salads?
Check out my other pasta salad recipes
Want more easy side dish ideas?
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This pepperoni pasta salad was featured on South Your Mouth!
Italian Pepperoni Pasta Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 oz rotini or fusilli pasta
- 5 oz mini pepperoni
- 18.8 oz matchstick carrots
- 1 crown broccoli, chopped
- 16 oz Italian dressing
- 4 oz Colby-jack cheese, cubed
- 4 oz mozzarella cheese, cubed
- 2 tablespoon Salad Supreme seasoning, more or less to taste
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Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package, drain, and set aside to cool.
- Chop broccoli into small pieces.
- Cut Colby-jack and mozzarella cheese into small cubes.
- Add mini pepperonis, matchstick carrots, broccoli, Italian dressing, and cheese cubes to cooled pasta. Toss until well mixed. Add Salad Supreme seasoning to taste.
- Chill in fridge or serve immediately.
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