Zesty Italian Pasta Salad combines rotini pasta, hard salami, fresh mozzarella cheese, black olives, tomatoes, red onion, peppery arugula, and a creamy Italian Dressing. This salad is packed with flavor and is one the whole family will love!
Course Salad
Cuisine Italian
Keyword creamy Italian Dressing, Italian pasta salad, zesty Italian pasta salad
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 10servings
Calories 467kcal
Author Sue Ringsdorf
Ingredients
For the pasta salad:
1lbrotini noodles- boiled to al dente
6oz canblack olives- halved
1cupcherry tomatoes- sliced in half
1/2cupred onion- sliced thin
8oz.fresh mozzarella pearls
4oz.hard salami- sliced
1/4cupparmesan cheese- freshly shredded
1-2cupsarugula
For the dressing:
3/4cupextra-virgin olive oil
6Tablespoonsred wine vinegar
1 1/2Tablespoonsdijon mustard
3teaspoonssugar
1teaspoonoregano
1teaspoongarlic powder
1teaspoonred pepper flakes
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Cook noodles. Boil noodles on the stovetop over medium-high heat to al dente. Add plenty of salt to the water for flavor. Strain noodles and cool slightly.
Combine ingredients. In a large serving bowl, add the pasta noodles, red onion, cherry tomatoes, arugula, black olives, hard salami, fresh mozzarella pearls, and freshly shredded parmesan cheese. Toss to combine.
Make dressing. In a mason jar, combine the dressing ingredients – olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, sugar, oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Shake well to combine.
Add dressing to the salad. Drizzle about 3/4 of the dressing into the pasta salad. Stir to combine.
Chill. Place the Italian pasta salad in the refrigerator to chill.
Serve. Serve the pasta salad with extra Italian dressing and some more parmesan cheese, if desired.
Notes
Always boil your pasta to al dente. Over-cooked pasta tastes mushy and we don't want that.
Add plenty of salt to the noodles as they cook to add even more flavor.
Adding some of the dressing to the warm pasta adds incredible flavor to the salad. Give it a try.
I recommend freshly shredding the parmesan cheese. No powdered stuff, please!