Easy Pasta Salad With The Best Italian Dressing

I love this simple pasta salad – it’s so easy to customize to whatever you’ve got in. Make a double batch of the Italian dressing so you can use it all week!

How long do you think it took this carbivore and her equally carb-loving family to devour this 8-person salad?

Let’s just say it didn’t last the day.

One lovely meal, then constant trips back to the fridge until there was one solitary slice of red onion left.

It’s my summer go-to meal – great to eat in its own right, or as a side dish as part of some meal-prep lunches.

The easy Italian dressing adds that lovely touch of zesty, salty, garlicky flavour to lift every single bite.

I make up a big batch of the dressing and store it in a jam-jar in the fridge so I can use it throughout the week.

What do we need?

• Pasta – Use large-ish pasta shapes. I like to use fusilli as the salad dressing clings to those little spirals beautifully
• Veggies – We’ve got crunch with the cucumber and red onion, juicy tang with the tomatoes (plus pretty colours) and freshness with the pea shoots and parsley. You can swap out the pea shoots with spinach, lambs lettuce, watercress or rocket if you like.
• Cheese – I’ve added some mini mozzarella balls to give a creamy bite that compliments the crunchy veggies. You can leave out if you want it dairy-free, or you could replace with feta, goats cheese or even cubes of cheddar.

How to make this pasta salad

Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

1. Cook the pasta as per the pack instructions. Drain and run under cold water to cool and prevent from sticking.
2. Transfer the cooked pasta to a large serving bowl. Add in the tomatoes, mozzarella, cucumber, red onion, pea shoots and parsley.

Make the Italian style salad dressing by mixing together all of the dressing ingredients in a jug or jar until combined.

Drizzle over half of the dressing and toss everything together, then serve the pasta salad with the remaining dressing.

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Ingredient swaps

This pasta salad is super versatile – you can make lots of swaps, depending on what you have in.

• Swap out pea shoots for spinach, lambs lettuce, watercress or rocket if you like.
• Swap out the mozzarella with feta, goats cheese or cheddar.
• Add in sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, olives, and anchovies for a Mediterranean-style salad.
• Add cooked shredded chicken, crumbled crispy bacon, or little slices of salami/chorizo/coppa/prosciutto for a meaty addition.

I love hearing about other peoples food choices!

What would be your perfect picnic to go with this pasta salad?

Are you a one-course picnic person? or has it got to be like a giant buffet on a blanket? (yes to the giant buffet from me).

Watch how to make it

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