This easy Italian Pasta Salad recipe is the perfect classic dish. Tomatoes, olives, artichokes, bell peppers, and an easy home-made dressing! What's not to love!
Course Appetizer, Main Dish, Pasta, Salad
Cuisine American, Italian
Keyword easy pasta salad recipe, italian pasta salad recipe, quick pasta salad, vegan pasta salad
In a large pot with boiling salted water cook the pasta al dente. Rinse with cool water and drain. If you pre-cooked the pasta, add a drizzle of olive oil and toss to keep pasta from sticking together. While the pasta is cooking, continue to prep the veggies & dressing.
In a small bowl, prepare the dressing by whisking the dressing ingredients together.
In a large bowl, combine cooked cooled and drained pasta, olives, artichoke hearts, peppers, tomatoes, and dressing. Toss gently to mix together.
If possible, chill in the refrigerator before serving. Flavors will develop as you let it sit.
Notes
This pasta salad tastes best chilled. The longer all the flavors marinate together, the better.Make-Ahead Tips - Prep all the veggies and dressing ahead of time. If making all at once, to save time, prep the veggies and dressing while boiling the water and cooking the pasta.Artichoke Hearts - For this recipe, avoid using the oil-stored artichoke hearts. I get the canned non-oil variety.Pasta - If you don't have tri-colored pasta, use whole wheat or regular rotini pasta. For a gluten-free version, I use quinoa or brown rice pasta.
If you cook the pasta ahead of time, be sure to cook completely with cold water and pre-toss with a tiny amount of olive oil to avoid sticky cooked pasta.
Alternate Version - If you do not have artichokes or olives, you can easily substitute 1 cup finely chopped spinach, one more bell pepper, and 1/4 cup finely chopped basil. I've made this version and it tasted just as great!