Italian Pasta Salad
Quick and easy italian pasta salad recipe perfect for summer cookouts as a side dish.
Ingredients
- 12 oz Rotini pasta
- ½ Purple onion
- 6 whole Pepperoncini roughly ½ cup or more if desired
- 1½ cup Cherry tomatoes sliced in halves
- 1 whole Bell Pepper any color will work
- ½ cup Celery
- 8 oz Fresh mozzarella cheese
- 2 cups Salami thick cut, diced. I used Boar's head hard salami
- 1 cup Kalamata olives pitted and halved
- 1 cup Italian dressing
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tbsp Parsley Fresh. Use only 1 tbsp if using dried.
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to box instructions in heavily salted water. For rotini, I boil a 12 oz box for 9-10 minutes. Cook 7-8 minutes if you prefer al dente (firmer pasta).
- Chop your remaining ingredients while the pasta is boiling. This includes dicing half a purple onion, 6 pepperoncini (roughly ½ to ¾ cup), 1 ½ cup worth of sliced cherry tomatoes, 1 large bell pepper, 8 oz mozzarella, ½ cup celery, and 2 cups of diced salami.
- Drain the pasta and place in a large bowl. Add in your chopped ingredients, 1 cup of pitted kalamata olives, and 1 cup Italian dressing. Mix well until the pasta salad is fully coated with dressing and blended evenly.
- Top with chopped parsley, ½ cup grated parmesan cheese, salt and freshly cracked pepper. Allow to cool in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour for the pasta to chill.
- Enjoy!