Easy Italian Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is easy to make, colorful, and delicious. It's the perfect salad for picnics, barbecues, or last minute occasions! Your whole family will love it and you will love how quick it is to make. 

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In a medium sauce pan, bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Then, add in 3 cups of rotini pasta. Cook these for 8-9 minutes, stirring frequently.

Drain the noodles and then run some cold water over them just to help stop them from continuing to cook.

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Then, add in your chopped green bell pepper (about ½ of the pepper), black olives (1 cup), and italian dressing (1 cup) to a large bowl.

Stir this up and let it set in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Insider tips for making the best pasta salad

• Any noodles will work when you make pasta salad, but my favorite are the rotini because they have a lot of surface area which allows the Italian dressing to coat them even more than a bowtie noodle.
• Make sure to cook the pasta al dente, if you like your salad with a bit of a crunch.
• Like with the noodles, we like to keep the black olives whole because they get coated in that delicious italian dressing, but if you prefer you can also slice the olives in half.
• You can use any italian dressing, but my FAVORITE is this one from Olive Garden. It's available in most grocery stores, and it really makes this pasta salad top-notch!
• In my opinion, pasta salad is best served cold, so if you have the chance, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes before serving.

What other things can you mix in with this pasta salad?

My recipe is a simple version of a pasta salad, but the sky is the limit on what you can add to yours! We always put green peppers and black olives in ours but you could also try adding these:

• diced ham
• cherry tomatoes
• shredded cheese
• green onions
• cucumbers
• salami

Print

Easy Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is easy to make, colorful, and delicious. It's the perfect salad for picnics, barbecues, or last minute occasions! Your whole family will love it and you will love how quick it is to make. 

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword easy pasta salad, pasta salad

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

let it refrigerate for 15 minutes

Total Time 28 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author Joanna Stephens

Ingredients

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 3 cups noodles I prefer rotini pasta
• 1 cup black olives
• ½ green bell pepper chopped
• 1 cup Italian dressing

Instructions

Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan, add in your 6 cups of water. Let this boil and then add in your pasta. Cook for 8-9 minutes or unitl al dente.

2. Drain the pasta, and the rinse it in cold water. Then, place the rinsed noodles in a large bowl.

3. Add in the chopped green pepper, black olives, and Italian dressing. Mis this until everything is well-coated.

4. Place it in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before serving.

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