Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

We love this fresh, easy pasta salad recipe with crisp vegetables and mozzarella tossed with a simple homemade dressing. The perfect side dish!

Watch the Video

Easy Pasta Salad Recipe Video

Think of this pasta salad recipe as a mashup between Greek and Italian pasta salad. Thanks to our simple dressing, veggies, olives, and herbs, it’s loaded with flavor. This salad is

  • Fast & easy: Make this pasta salad in under 20 minutes, perfect for a last-minute lunch or side dish.
  • Flexible: Use seasonal ingredients or swap in your favorite veggies and protein.
  • Best dressing: Our simple and flavorful dressing perfectly complements the pasta and other ingredients. Want creamy? Check out our Macaroni Salad instead!

So many of our readers have made and loved this salad. It’s my go-to pasta salad and I’m so excited for you give it a try.

The Best Pasta Salad

What’s the Best Pasta to Use for Pasta Salad?

The best pasta to use for pasta salads are hearty pasta shapes like penne, fusilli, rotini, and farfalle (bow tie). These have the advantage of lots of nooks and crannies, which trap the dressing and bits of cheese.

Smaller shapes can work, too. in fact, even though it’s much smaller, we both love orzo pasta for salads. Here’s our recipe for orzo pasta salad.

Pasta salad ingredients

Everything We Love to Add to Pasta Salad

This pasta salad recipe is our ultimate potluck salad with all the add-ins we love. If something doesn’t spark your interest, leave it out. It’s your pasta salad, after all.

  • Veggies add color, flavor, and crunch to the pasta salad.
  • Cheese — I love fresh mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Since the parmesan is shredded, it almost melts into the dressing — just like when we make homemade Italian dressing. Try feta cheese for more of a Greek pasta salad, or swap the parmesan cheese for shredded sharp cheddar. For a vegan pasta salad, leave the cheese out.
  • Olives — I love this Greek-inspired pasta salad’s briny bite from olives. Use Kalamata or green olives.
  • Pepperoncini peppers — I love them in this salad!
  • Fresh Herbs — I love basil and parsley in this pasta salad. Experiment for yourself to see what you love.
  • Optional: Add protein with cooked chickpeas, rotisserie or roasted chicken, or flaked poached salmon. I also love the chopped salami in this Italian pasta salad.

The Best Pasta Salad Dressing

  • Red wine vinegar makes our dressing tangy. White wine vinegar or champagne vinegar are great alternatives.
  • Olive oil tones down the vinegar and adds richness to the dressing.
  • Dried oregano adds flavor and works so well with the vinegar.
  • Salt & pepper

I love how simple our favorite pasta salad dressing is to make. It only has 5 ingredients and tastes so good. We use a similar dressing to make our easy bean salad.

Make Ahead Tips

Pasta salad gets better over time. Letting the pasta and veggies sit in the dressing for a while makes a huge difference in flavor. We take the same approach when making potato salad. You can make pasta salad and keep it in the fridge for up to five days, which makes this the perfect side dish to prepare in advance.

Homemade Pasta Salad

Our Tips for Better Pasta Salad

  • Use our tangy dressing: Ditch the store-bought dressings and make our quick and flavorful dressing with red wine vinegar, oregano, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
  • Make it ahead: Pasta salad gets better as it sits. The flavors meld beautifully over time, so prep it in advance for stress-free meals or potlucks.
  • Add veggies: Toss in colorful veggies like bell peppers and tomato for a delightful crunch. Adapt to what’s in season. I stick with summer veggies like bell pepper, cucumber or zucchini, and cherry tomatoes most of the year. If you make this in the cooler months, consider sliced fennel, grated carrots, and roasted squash for a winter salad.
  • Add a few flavor boosters: Elevate your salad with fresh herbs like basil or dill, tangy pickled veggies, or a spicy kick from sliced pepperoncini peppers. Olives add a briny bite, and fresh mozzarella brings creamy richness.

More Easy Pasta Salads

  • Creamy Macaroni Pasta Salad made with a simple creamy dressing and crisp veggies.
  • Easy Orzo Pasta Salad made with a simple lemon vinaigrette, cucumber, olives, artichokes, tomato, and fresh herbs. Our readers love this one!
  • Pearl Couscous Salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. This is undoubtedly one of our favorites, with a lot of texture from crisp cucumber, sweet tomatoes, crunchy nuts, and raisins.
  • Greek Pasta Salad made with olives, red onion, feta cheese, and green bell peppers.
  • Italian Pasta Salad made with chopped salami, Italian herbs, and provolone cheese.
Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

This easy pasta salad is flexible based on the ingredients you have in your kitchen or the season. Start with a hearty pasta shape that has nooks and crannies to hold onto the dressing like rotini or penne. Then toss with our simple dressing and lots of colorful vegetables. We also love adding parmesan cheese, which melts into the dressing as well as a handful of fresh mozzarella balls. For more suggestions for what to add, read through our recommendations in the article above.

Makes about 10 servings

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

Pasta Salad

1 pound dried pasta like fusilli, penne, rotini or farfalle

1 cup sliced bell pepper, 1 medium

1 cup thinly sliced zucchini , 1/2 medium

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions, 5 to 6

1/4 cup sliced pepperoncini or banana peppers, optional

1 cup (4 ounces) halved mixed olives

1 cup (2 ounces) grated parmesan cheese or other hard cheese

1 cup (6 ounces) fresh mozzarella balls, chopped

1/3 cup fresh parsley or basil, optional

Homemade Dressing

1/3 cup red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, or champagne vinegar

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 to 3 tablespoons juice from pepperoncini jar, optional

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

    1Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, 6 to 10 minutes (check the package for recommended cook time). Drain and rinse well under cold water.

    2While the pasta cooks, make the dressing in the bottom of a large bowl. Whisk the red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, pepperoncini juice (if using), and olive oil until blended. Add the drained and rinsed pasta to the dressing and mix well.

    3Stir in the bell pepper, zucchini, tomatoes, scallions, pepperoncini (if using), olives, parmesan, mozzarella, and herbs (if using). Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper as needed. Serve, or for the best results, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 5 days.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • This gets better and better over time so making it a day in advance is a great idea!
  • Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
Nutrition Per Serving Serving Size 1/10 of the salad / Calories 363 / Total Fat 19.1g / Saturated Fat 5.1g / Cholesterol 18.3mg / Sodium 507.1mg / Carbohydrate 36.6g / Dietary Fiber 2.3g / Total Sugars 2g / Protein 11.7g
AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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114 comments… Leave a Review
  • Olivia C. February 5, 2024, 5:40 pm

    This is delicious. I used GF cheese tortellini and sundried tomatoes instead of cherry and it turned out great! So simple and fast. Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply
    • Joanne February 27, 2024, 3:20 pm

      So glad you enjoyed it! Tortellini sounds amazing.

      Reply
  • Kelly November 23, 2023, 6:18 pm

    Made this delicious pasta salad today and I love it! So flavorful and pretty too! I followed the recipe as written with one exception – I chopped the pepperoncini peppers finely so that the flavor and heat (medium heat) would be more distributed. Just my preference because I’m sensitive to heat. Thanks for sharing this recipe ~ definitely a keeper!

    Reply
  • M F October 14, 2023, 4:05 pm

    Okay this is the best pasta salad I’ve ever had. I only subbed bell peppers for more tomatoes because it’s what I had on hand, everything else I left the same.

    Reply
    • Adam October 14, 2023, 8:43 pm

      Love the bell pepper sub! That would be delicious. So glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂

      Reply

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