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I have made this basic pasta salad meal several times, to the point of losing count. Fresh veggies, olives, herbs, mozzarella, and a zesty homemade dressing give the meal great taste. You will really like it.
One can make this basic pasta salad in less than twenty minutes! In the same time it takes you to boil your pasta, you can get ready all the required components for this salad.
The vinaigrette-style dressing is simple, vivid, and tart! Presumably, you conveniently have all the ingredients you need to make it right in your kitchen. I advise you to try this macaroni salad if you would like a creamy pasta salad.
Fundamental Elements
Our official potluck salad is this pasta salad, with all the extras we like. Exclude everything that fails to pique your curiosity. Your spaghetti salad comes first.
Penne, fusilli, rotini, and farfalle—bow ties—are the strongest pasta types fit for pasta salad. These have the advantage of numerous nooks and recesses that catch the dressing and cheese bits. Orzo is one of my favorite foods; we make this delicious lemon orzo pasta salad from it.
To the pasta salad, vegetables provide vivid colors, unique flavors, and a pleasing texture. Cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, zucchini—which I tell you is delicious—and green onions—which have a softer taste than usual onions really appeal to me.
Cheese: Fresh mozzarella and parmesan cheese have great taste and appeal to me. Like homemade Italian dressing is produced, the parmesan’s shredded texture causes it to almost melt into the dressing. Leave out the cheese to create a vegan pasta salad.
Olives: I like their sour and salted flavor really much. Either Kalamata or green olives.
When pepperoncini peppers are part of this salad, I really like them! I also put a little bit of brine from the jar into my dressing.
My taste in herbs is rather strong for basil and parsley. Experiment on yourself to find your own tastes.
Pasta salad ingredients call for:
One pound of dried pasta—penne, rotini, fusilli, or farfalle
One cup of bell pepper pieces; one medium-sized
One cup of finely sliced zucchini, half of a medium-sized zucchini
One cup of cherry tomatoes split in half
One third cup of finely chopped scallions, five to six
If preferred, one quarter cup of chopped banana peppers or pepperoncini
One cup (four ounces) of varied olives, halfed
One cup (two ounces) of grated parmesan cheese or any kind of hard cheese
One cup six ounces of chopped fresh mozzarella balls
One third cup fresh parsley or basil, depending on taste
DIY dressing
One third cup of either white, red, or champagne vinegar.
0.5 teaspoon of fine sea salt; more is optional based on taste.
0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper
0.5 tsp. dried oregano
Optional: Two to three teaspoons liquid drawn from a jar of pepperoncini.
½ cups extra-virgin olive oil
