Tri Color Rotini Pasta Salad is a classic, light and refreshing salad for a hot summer day. It’s fun, irresistible, and so quick and easy to make.
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Why this Tri-Color Rotini Pasta Salad Recipe is a Keeper
This is a great recipe because it’s fun and easy to make; perfect for summer! It is full of fresh seasonal flavors that everyone will love.
- 20 Minute Side: This irresistible pasta salad is made in an easy 20 minutes.
- Easy Ingredients: All of the ingredients are super easy to find in your local grocery store or even around your kitchen.
- Family Friendly: Everyone loves pasta salad, making it a family favorite recipe!
- Adaptable: This recipe is super easy to customize to make it your own.
- Makes Great Leftovers: Make a big batch to have a delicious side to go with dinner all week.
If you’re looking for more summer salad recipes, try these Bacon Pasta Ranch Salad, Grilled Panzanella Salad and Hellmann’s Macaroni Salad with Egg.
How to Keep Pasta Salad Side Dish from Drying Out?
To keep pasta salad from drying out make sure to add enough dressing and to store it in an airtight container. If your pasta salad seems dry, add a little more dressing.
Ingredient Notes for this Easy Pasta Salad Recipe
You’ll need just a few simple ingredients that are all easy to find at the grocery store. You will be so glad you came across this recipe. This salad is a family favorite as it so full of Italian flavor.
- Pasta: I love using tri color rotini pasta in my pasta salad to add a little color!
- Tomatoes: Use a grape or cherry tomato. They even come in wonderful colors.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Variations and Substitutions to Make Pasta Salad Side Dish
- Different Veggies: Add different vegetables such as red and green bell peppers, grape tomatoes and kalamata olives.
- Protein Pasta: Use protein pasta to add some protein and to make this salad a little healthier.
Pro Tip for the Best Pasta Salad
Just after draining your cooked pasta (don’t rinse it!), toss it with a bit of olive oil while it’s still warm. This creates a light coating that helps the dressing adhere to the pasta for maximum flavor in every bite.
How to Make Tri Colored Pasta Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing
Make this easy recipe for dinner by following 3 simple steps. You will make this favorite pasta salad again and again.
These are the basic steps for making Tri Color Rotini Pasta Salad. Refer to the full, printable recipe card below for detailed instructions.
1. Make the Salad Dressing
Make the dressing by mixing together olive oil, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, sugar, minced garlic, salt and pepper to make the zesty Italian dressing. Then, add the diced red onions to the homemade dressing.
2. Cook the Pasta
Cook pasta according to package directions in a large pot of boiling, heavily salted water. Prepare the onion, cucumber and cherry tomatoes while pasta is cooking.
When cooled pasta is ready, drain the pasta water. Dunk the strainer of pasta in an ice bath (equal parts ice and water in a large bowl) to get it cold fast or rinse with cold water.
3. Chill the Salad
Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and refrigerate the salad for at least 30 minutes before it’s ready to serve at potlucks.
Italian Pasta Salad Recipe FAQs
Store the best ever summer side dish in an airtight container in the fridge.
Yes! After being made, this summer pasta recipe stays good for up to 5 days.
Sure! Different types of pasta to make this recipe by using a gluten free pasta, shells or bowties.
Absolutely! Add some heat to this salad by adding chopped spicy peppers and use pepper jack cheese in this easy recipe.
Expert Pasta Salad Tips
- Protein: This is the best pasta salad on it’s own, however, adding some grilled chicken or crumbled bacon takes the best pasta salad recipe to the next level.
- Cheese: Crumble some feta cheese on top for a great flavor boost.
- Other Add-Ins: To make this salad supreme, feel free to add some sliced black olives, chickpeas or roasted red peppers.
- Alternate Ingredients: Roasted vegetables such as broccoli, zucchini or squash are fabulous in this salad.
- Pepperoni: Meats such as pepperoni, salami or pancetta are a great topper.
- Tip: Cook noodles until they’re almost done, drain and place in a container with enough Italian dressing to coat the pasta. Place in the fridge to chill cold pasta salad before adding other ingredients.
What to Serve with this Delicious Pasta Salad
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Tri Color Rotini Pasta Salad
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Ingredients
For the Dressing:
- ½ cup Olive oil
- ¼ cup Red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dried Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon Granulated sugar
- 1 clove Garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
For the Pasta Salad:
- ¼ Red onion, medium, finely chopped
- 8 ounces Dried short pasta, such as rotini
- 8 ounces Cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 English cucumber, small, quartered lengthwise, then thinly sliced
- 4 ounces Fresh mozzarella , drained and chopped
- Fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Mix together the dressing ingredients first, then add the diced red onions to the dressing.
- Cook the pasta for 12 min in boiling heavily salted water. Prepare vegetables.
- After draining, dunk the strainer of pasta in an ice bath (equal parts ice and water in a large bowl) and get it cold fast!
- Mix all the ingredients together and chill the salad for at least 30 minutes
Christina’s Notes
- Protein: This is the best pasta salad on it’s own, however, adding some grilled chicken or crumbled bacon takes the best pasta salad recipe to the next level.
- Cheese: Crumble some feta cheese on top for a great flavor boost.
- Other Add-Ins: To make this salad supreme, feel free to add some sliced black olives, chickpeas or roasted red peppers.
- Alternate Ingredients: Roasted vegetables such as broccoli, zucchini or squash are fabulous in this salad.
- Pepperoni: Meats such as pepperoni, salami or pancetta are a great topper.
- Tip: Cook noodles until they’re almost done, drain and place in a container with enough Italian dressing to coat the pasta. Place in the fridge to chill cold pasta salad before adding other ingredients.
- Scale the recipe: Simply adjust the serving size in the recipe card and the ingredients will update automatically.
- Make your own All Purpose Seasoning: When a recipe calls for All Purpose Seasoning, you can use my homemade All Purpose Seasoning recipe or substitute salt and pepper to taste.
- Meat doneness: I always use a meat thermometer to test for doneness when cooking meat.
- Use unsalted butter: I use unsalted butter so I can control the salt level in the recipe.
- Preheat the oven: Unless otherwise noted, always preheat your oven before baking.
For more helpful information about this recipe, such as variations, substitutions and other pro-tips, check out the blog post.
My mom used to make a similar pasta growing up, this dish reminded me of it. It was so good!
One of my all-time favorite salads! I love the light and zingy dressing as a complement to the pasta and veggies. I could eat this for lunch every day.
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing color pasta salad recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!