This Easy Pasta Salad recipe is perfect for potlucks and picnics. The recipe is flexible, allowing you to change up the ingredients. You can even make this pasta salad the night before serving.
Prep Time 20 minutesmins
Total Time 15 minutesmins
Servings 15servings
Ingredients
1 12ozbox rotini pasta
1 16ozbottle Italian salad dressing
1/4-1/2cupextra virgin olive oil
1 6ozcan black olives
1cupsliced or grated carrots
1pintapproximately 10oz container cherry or grape tomatoes (cut in half if desired)
1cupchopped broccoli floretsbite size pieces
1bell pepperchopped
1/4cupfinely chopped red onion
1/2cupfinely shredded parmesan cheese
1cupmozzarella cheese chunks
Instructions
Prepare rotini according to al dente package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
While rotini is cooking, prepare ingredients by cutting, slicing or chopping as needed.
After draining and rinsing pasta with cold water, transfer to a large bowl. Add olives, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, bell pepper, onion and cheeses. Add salad dressing and 1/4 cup olive oil and stir well to combine.
If pasta salad will be served the following day, add an additional 1/4 cup of olive oil just prior to serving and stir to combine. 1/4 cup of salad dressing can be used in it's place if you have an open bottle of salad dressing on hand. This helps compensate for any liquids absorbed overnight by the pasta.