Easy Italian Pasta Salad

Easy Italian Pasta Salad is always a hit during summertime bbq’s, potlucks and parties.

It’s filled with colorful al-dente rotini pasta, cherry tomatoes, lots of Parmesan cheese and it’s all tossed in a light, zesty, Italian dressing. And it’s just so easy to make!

The mild and buttery Italian green olives, crisp red onion and creamy mozzarella cheese balls swim in the Italian vinaigrette making each bite decadent and bursting with flavor.

Other summer salad favorites include this Chopped Chicken Salad, Healthy Potato Salad, Broccoli Salad, and this Kale Blueberry Salad.

Ingredients you’ll need:

You’ll need just about 10 ingredients for this easy salad! Scroll to the recipe card for the full list of ingredients and measurements.

• Tri-color rotini: I think this pasta salad is so pretty with the twirly tri-color noodles, but you can use your favorite pasta. Other good options include: bow tie, small shells, or radiatore pasta.
• Italian dressing: I love a good ol’ store bought zesty Italian dressing, Sir Kensington’s Pepperoncini Italian is really delicious or a homemade dressing if you have a favorite recipe. 1 cup is plenty, or add to taste.
• Cherry tomatoes (I LOVE cherry tomatoes so I include 2 cups, you may want less).
• Julienned summer sausage: you can swap this for salami, sliced into strips.
• Italian green olives: we like the Castelvetrano olives but you can also use black olives or even kalamata if you prefer.
• Red onion: be sure to finely dice it so you don’t have big chunks of red onion in the salad.
• Shredded Parmesan: I always, always recommend buying a block and shredding it yourself for best results.
• Fresh Mozzarella: the pearl mozzarella works great for easy Italian pasta salads, or you can buy a fresh mozzarella log and slice it into cubes.
• Parsley/basil for garnish

How to make it:

Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe instructions.

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the rotini pasta until al dente. Typically, 7-9 minutes.
2. Drain the pasta and be sure to rinse with cold water. This will help to stop the cooking process of the noodles and prevent mushy noodles. Another reason to rinse is to remove some of the starch which sometimes causes the noodles to stick together.
3. In a large bowl, combine the pasta with the remaining ingredients.
4. You can serve right away, but I always love prepping this in advance, so the pasta salad has some time to sit in the fridge to really soak up all of the flavors. Pasta salad will last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.