Quick Italian Pasta Salad

  4.7 – 127 reviews  • Italian Pasta Salad Recipes

Presented with potatoes and mushrooms that had to be prepared immediately. This idea was mine.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 25 mins
Servings: 12

Ingredients

  1. 1 (12 ounce) package tri-color rotini pasta
  2. ¾ pound Italian salami, finely diced
  3. ½ green bell pepper, sliced
  4. ½ red bell pepper, sliced
  5. ½ red onion, chopped
  6. 1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives
  7. 8 ounces small fresh mozzarella balls (ciliegine)
  8. 1 cup Italian-style salad dressing
  9. 3 (.7 ounce) packages dry Italian-style salad dressing mix, or to taste
  10. ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook rotini pasta at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water until cool.
  2. Combine pasta, salami, bell peppers, onion, mozzarella balls, and olives in a large bowl. Add salad dressing and toss to coat.
  3. Season pasta salad with dry salad dressing mix and stir to combine. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 371 kcal
Carbohydrate 29 g
Cholesterol 46 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 15 g
Saturated Fat 7 g
Sodium 1893 mg
Sugars 5 g
Fat 21 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Mark Tran
3 packets of dressing??? Way too much. Had to rinse everything off and just added the cup of Italian dressing.
Sharon Valentine MD
I put in my own fresh tarragon, thyme and a bit of rosemary. It was amazing!
Victor Lang
Fantastic. I don’t like peppers, so I omitted them. I used sun dried tomato’s instead.
Terry Klein
Everyone loved it.
John Moreno
I took it along on a recent road trip. It traveled well, was delicious, a definite hit!! My friends kept asking for more. I substituted pepperoni for the salami. It was delicious. I will make this again.
Christina Duncan
Great recipe! I followed the recipe with only a few exceptions. I used red and yellow bell peppers. I misread the recipe and only used one package of the dry Italian salad mix but later read that this is recommended by a lot of commenters. I also had a bunch of cherry tomatoes, so I roasted some of those in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper and added. Also, didn’t have enough Italian dressing, so I made up the difference with a good olive oil and red wine vinegar. May use less onion next time. Will definitely make again!
Rachel Brown
The best recipe ever. My husband was licking the empty bowl. I added cherry tomatoes and will go lighter on the red onion next time.
Tanya Medina
Delicious! Looking for a recipe for a summer family reunion, with no mayo. This was perfect! Even looks nice. Did add halved grape tomatoes, put it over the top!! Did not add dry packet, was afraid of too much salt! Hubby also loved it! Oh and it was gone after the party! So much flavor going on!!
Kimberly Freeman PhD
Loved this! I kinda use it more as a measurement system than anything, since I changed a few things. Only one italian seasoning packet (as others have done), replaced mozzarella with provolone, added a half cup extra of italian dressing, and also added pepperoncinis. I use it as meal prep and I never get tired of it!
William Hughes
Yummy and easy. I don’t worry about the colour of the peppers – I use whatever I have on hand. Hubby isn’t a fan of raw onions, so I add chopped chives instead which are much milder, but still give a hint of onion taste. A good 1/2 cup of parmesan – it is the salt. I throw in small bocconcini if I have them (yum!) . I probably use more veg overall, I add oregano, and I don’t use the dry dressing mix.
Amanda Walker
I only used 1 package of dry Italian dressing mix, otherwise I followed recipe exactly. Personal preference? I would use a high quality pepperoni instead of the salami and I would only use 1/2 pound. I did not care for the dressing at all, but the body of the salad was excellent. I will find a dressing I like better, use pepperoni, but keep the rest of the recipe intact. It was a beautiful presentation.
Suzanne Knight
Okay, before I review this, I have to add that my boyfriend made a recipe up in his head at work, and it turned out to be remarkably close to this one. I was at home looking on here for a recipe that would fit our tastes and found this one. While he was preparing the ingredients, I happen to notice that they were very similar to the ingredients in this recipe. Only a couple of things were different. He added pepperoni and cucumbers instead of the black olives and parmesan cheese and used a 16oz bottle of dressing and 1pkg of the dry instead of what this one called for. It was delicious. We loved it! We plan to follow this recipe next time so we can compare. I was just amazed at how much alike this recipe and his recipe were. Thanks so much to “both” creators. Soooo tasty!
Karen Huff
One of my favorites. Delicious!!! Made it exactly like the recipe says.
Andrea Cox
First time making this type of salad. It was so good. I used red bell pepers instead of green ones. I didnt use olives or dry itailian mix. I only used about 1/2 cup dressing or less to my liking. Red onions gives it a bold spice but I love red onion so amount was great. Awesome recipe my family loved it. I will make again or for potluck for Thanksgiving. Yummy
Robert Torres
it is great the only change was salami replaced with sausage
Kevin Holt
I cut back on the Italian dressing but it was still too strong for me, otherwise I liked at the ingredients. Would try them with a different type of dressing.
Jasmine Hill
I cut back on the Italian dressing but it was still too strong for me, otherwise I liked at the ingredients. Would try them with a different type of dressing.
Colin Castaneda
Excellent recipe. Super simple. It sounds silly but for years I tried to figure out how people made their pasta salads taste so good as the Italian dressing taste seemed to disappear. The dry packets are magic. I tasted the salad after each dry packet addition. You really need all 3. I followed this to the letter. Will make again.
Dr. Sarah Lambert
This will be my go-to pasta salad recipe. I kept all ingredients but only added the liquid salad dressing and one packet of dry. It’s easy and delicious!!
Nicole Smith
Family loved it, even The Hubs and he likes nothing that is good for him.
Karen Marquez
I used to fresh ingredients. Instead of using a green pepper I used red and orange. it was a hit at my granddaughter’s first birthday party I’ve been asked to make it again for other parties.

 

Leave a Comment