Easy Pasta Salad Recipe

Easy pasta salad is perfect to feed a crowd on a budget. It’s full of fresh ingredients and delicious pasta for a great side dish option.

 

Easy pasta salad

This Easy Pasta Salad Recipe is my go to Summer dish. It’s perfect for pot lucks and BBQ’s and easily serves a crowd.

Veggies are plentiful during the summer making this a budget friendly side dish. This dish is just bursting with flavor. You are going to love it!

You might also like this quick and easy cucumber tomato salad recipe for another easy and tasty recipe to try.

There is nothing like fresh veggies in the Summer. I love using them for this simple pasta salad recipe. It’s so forgiving and you can use what you have and omit what you don’t.

This is so simple and truly the best pasta salad recipe. We love serving this with grilled chicken. Yum!

Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• Rotini Pasta
• Italian Dressing
• Cucumber, sliced and quartered
• Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• Pepperoni, cut in halves
• Red Onion, diced
• Parmesan Cheese

How to make easy pasta salad:

First, heat a large stockpot of water to a boiling and cook pasta according to package directions. I prefer to cook this al dente.

Feel free to use any type of pasta  you have in the pantry or can get on sale. Other ideas include bowtie, penne, elbow and more.

When pasta is cooked to your liking, drain and rinse immediately with cold water until pasta is cool.

Second, mix cucumbers, tomatoes, pepperoni and red onion together in a large bowl with pasta. Pour in dressing and mix well. You can use homemade dressing or store bought.

We have a delicious and easy recipe for Italian dressing mix.

Sometimes, I add a little olive oil. We love the Parmesan cheese but sometimes use mozzarella cheese or feta.

Just use what you have. It’s all delicious. Try adding olives to the salad. The ideas are endless for this easy pasta salad.

Finally, refrigerate the pasta salad. It is best if you can do this at least for an hour or overnight until ready to serve. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

How long can you store pasta salad

I like to keep it in a glass Rubbermaid storage container. Stored properly, it should last up to 3-4 days in the fridge.

Tips for easy italian pasta salad:

This recipe like many calls for diced onions. Another time saving tip is to use a small food chopper or food processor to quickly and easily chop the onions.

If you do not have one of these, I highly recommend them. They are such a time saver and you can get the veggies really fine if you have children that are picky.

I usually just chop the entire vegetable and freeze what I don’t need. It’s so nice to be able to just take the diced onion out of the freezer for recipes.

This is how I meal prep. It’s so quick and easy and helps get dinner on the table fast.

Sometimes, I also toss in a handful of bell peppers in the pasta salad. Yum!

Learn and  how to freeze onions and also how to freeze peppers to save so much time in the kitchen!