This pasta salad is made with the same ingredients as a muffaletta sandwich. It is a fantastic salad to bring along for a picnic and each bite leaves your tongue with a pleasant variety of flavors! It is a mainstay of our summertime picnics!
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 cups |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package rotini pasta
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 cup chopped pepperoncini (Optional)
- ½ pound Genoa salami, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- ½ pound Cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- ⅓ pound provolone cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- ½ sweet onion, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- ½ cup 1/2-inch pieces pitted green olives
- ½ cup 1/2-inch pieces Kalamata olives
- ½ cup 1/2-inch pieces pepperoni
- ½ cup 1/2-inch pieces celery
- ½ cup chopped green bell pepper
- ½ cup chopped red bell pepper
- ½ (6 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 (8 ounce) bottle Italian-style salad dressing, or more to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook the rotini in boiling water until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes; drain. Rinse pasta with cold water until chilled; drain.
- Mix carrots, pepperoncini, Genoa salami, Cheddar cheese, provolone cheese, sweet onion, green olives, Kalamata olives, pepperoni, celery, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and artichoke hearts together in a large mixing bowl. Pour Italian-style salad dressing over the salad and toss to coat; add pasta and stir.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Stir salad and add more Italian-style dressing as needed if you find the salad too dry.
- Instead of rotini, try fusilli pasta in green, white, and orange colors, or even a mixture of the two to total one pound.
- Kalamata olives can be replaced with canned black olives.
- Mix the salad all up again just before serving and add more of the Italian dressing, if the salad seems dry because the pasta absorbed the dressing.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 721 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 53 g |
| Cholesterol | 87 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 30 g |
| Saturated Fat | 17 g |
| Sodium | 2597 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 43 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this recipe as written, except I used sliced pepperoni and salami cut into quarters. This makes a lot of salad, but it is very good. We had Muffaletta salad for 4 days, but at least we all liked it. I did use the optional pepperoncini, and thought it added a great acidity and slight spice. This is a repeat.
made it just like it said and all my neighbors want the recipe
This is delicious! The only thing I changed was I sautéed the whole mixture after it was made because the raw onion was a little too powerful for me. As far as too much chopping; no problem I used my food processor…done in minutes;). It made a lot so we ate it once as pasta and then again on French bread. Yummy both ways.
Tastes just like a muffaletta – minus the bread of course. I loved it. Unfortunately, my family doesn’t like pasta salad apparently. My coworker’s were grateful though 😉 Also, I used black olives because kalamata olives trigger migraines for me. Still tasted like a muffaletta.
Admittedly I am a rookie cook, but there are LOTS of ingredients and a lot of chopping in this salad. Well worth it. Excellent.
This is a Family Favorite!
Loved it!!! This recipe made a lot of food, which I enjoyed for a few days. It was even better on day 2 than on the day I made it. Next time, I’ll make it the day before I serve it. It was a lot of chopping and took some effort to make, but it was worth it. Yum Yum Yum!!
I could just eat this salad as the main course. So many different flavors all in one dish. I love it!
Best pasta salad I have made in a long time. I used Wishbone Italian Dressing! Made it the night before and it was great the next day. Will probably leave the cheddar out next time but otherwise will not change a thing! Thanks!