Zesty Italian Pasta Salad (2024)

This fresh, flavorful, zesty Italian pasta salad is loaded with all the favorites – mozzarella, olives, tomatoes, salami, and of course, pasta! It is easy to make and oh so tasty.

This zingy pasta salad is perfect for those warm summer days. Enjoy as a main dish or serve as a side. It makes a great pot luck dish and is sure to please! Try some more divine pasta salads such as: Summer Veggie Pasta Salad, Chicken Caprese Pasta Salad, or Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad.

Flavorful Pasta Salad

While I love a good green salad, I have to say, pasta salad is where it’s at! This may seem like your basic Italian pasta salad, but I promise you it tastes soooo much better. I’ve added a few keyingredients to really make the flavors pop. I’m talking home grown parsley, shallot, and some freshly ground black pepper. And then of course, there’s the dressing!

This zesty Italian pasta salad comes together in just 25 minutes. While the pasta is boiling/chilling you can prep the remaining ingredients. Toss it all in a big bowl and it’s ready!

If you’re looking for a fresh, flavorful pasta salad to take to a summer BBQ, this is it!! Filling enough to eat as a meal or perfect as a side. Try it and let me know what you think.

Ingredient Tips

DRESSING: Instead of grabbing a generic bottle of salad dressing, I love to use the good stuff. This post isn’t sponsored or anything, I just LOVE Cindy’s Kitchen. These dressings taste fresh and aren’t loaded with a bunch of additives like the shelved kinds.

You will notice a difference in taste depending on the quality of dressing you use, so choose wisely!

SALAMI: Speaking of choosing wisely, grab quality salami as well. I prefer Creminelli, Columbus or Boar’s Head brand if I can find them.

If you don’t have salami on hand you can always use pepperoni instead. It is in the same “family” of meat types and may be better suited for kids’ tastebuds.

OTHER ADD-INS: To add some variation to your pasta salad, try doing a mix of salami and pepperoni or even ham, add cucumbers, or try different types of olives.

How to Make Italian Pasta Salad

PASTA: When it comes to choosing the pasta, make sure to grab a short noodle. I generally prefer bowties, rotini, shells or penne for pasta salad. These noodles are easy to eat and hold the dressing better than their longer counterparts.

TOSS & ENJOY: Toss everything together with minced shallot, freshly chopped parsley, coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and the dressing. You can enjoy it right away OR store it in the refrigerator overnight. The salad will marinate in the dressing and whoa will it be delicious!

Why do you rinse the pasta with cold water? You should rinse the pasta with cold water because it not only cools the pasta’s temperature down, but it also removes some of that extra starch that comes from boiling pasta.

Tips and Storage

We like to serve this pasta salad as a side, along with:

• Black Bean Burgers
• Mom’s Classic Potato Salad
• Perfect Baked Sweet Potato Fries
• Fruit Salad

You can easily make this recipe vegan or vegetarian. For a vegetarian recipe you just need to omit the salami. To make it vegan, omit the salami and cheese, and make sure that the vinaigrette you use is vegan.

Store: Pasta salad will last about 2-5 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Some people actually prefer letting it sit in the fridge for a day so the flavors can meld together well. Which means not only does this recipe have a decently long shelf life, but it can also be made ahead of time!

Freeze: You can freeze pasta salad really easily. Place the salad in an airtight ziploc bag and remove all the air before placing in the freezer. It will only last 1-2 months. Defrost the pasta in the fridge overnight and bring it to room temperature before serving.

For more pasta salad recipes, try:

• Summer Pasta Salad
• Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
• Chicken Caprese Pasta Salad