Italian Rotini Pasta Salad

If you like Italian-style garden salads, you’re going to love this Italian Rotini Pasta Salad. It’s simple to make and full of great flavor.

Video: Making Italian Pasta Salad

Italian Pasta Salad Ingredients

This pasta salad is a true Italian pasta salad and its inspiration comes from the classic Olive Garden Tossed. So if you’re like me and you love that salad, you going to love this pasta salad because it has all the same ingredients, with some rotini thrown in. If your store sells Olive Garden Salad Dressing, use that for the dressing. If not, any store-bought or homemade Italian dressing will do. Greek dressing also will work well here. Either way, I like to add in a good helping of shredded Parmesan cheese.

For the vegetables, like I said, it’s all those favorites! We have cherry or grape tomatoes, black olives, pepperoncini peppers, red onion, and lettuce. I like romaine lettuce for this, but iceberg works as well. You want a lettuce with a little crunch that won’t wilt too much.

In addition, I like to include croutons to really bring that Olive Garden salad taste, and to give it some texture from the crunch. Note though, both the lettuce and the croutons will get a bit soft if you let this pasta salad sit. I therefore recommend that you always stir in those items just before serving.

A lot of Italian pasta salads also have meat like salami in them. It’s delicious in here if you’d like to add it in. Add 2-3 cups of roughly chopped salami slices.

What Kind Of Pasta?

I love using rotini for this Italian pasta salad recipe. Either the regular kind or the tri-colored rotini if you want some extra color. Why? Because the grooves in the pasta shape are perfect for grabbing onto the dressing and cheese. It makes sure that each bite is full of flavor. It’s also my pasta of choice for my Creamy Garlic Pasta Salad.

If you want a different shape, try for another pasta with grooves or spirals such as fusilli, farfalle (bowtie pasta), or penne.

Tips For Pasta Salad

The most important thing is that you cool the pasta before adding the other ingredients. This is for two reasons. The first is that the pasta will soak up too much of the dressing, leaving the outside of the pasta a bit gummy. Second, even slightly warm pasta will cause the vegetables will soften and wilt.

I therefore like to run cold water over the cooked pasta to help it cool down. It’s okay if the temperature of the pasta is about room temperature, but you don’t want it warm or hot when you mix the other ingredients in.

Also, as mentioned earlier, you do not want to add the croutons and lettuce until you’re ready to serve, otherwise they get soft and wilted as well.

You may also notice that the recipe calls for you to initially just add one cup of salad dressing, with the option to add more. This is because if you’re not serving right away, the pasta tends to soak up some of the dressing and it may need more added.

I honestly do find it best to make this salad the day before, or a few hours before, so that it can really cool down in the fridge and the flavors can blend. But, if you cool the pasta well, you can serve it immediately.

Try serving this easy pasta salad recipe with grilled chicken breasts and the best ever garlic bread.

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