Name: Homemade Pasta Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 138 min
Ingredients: 12 ounces tri-color rotini pasta (1 package); 1 red bell pepper (diced); 1 green bell pepper (diced); 1 medium cucumber (diced); 4.5 ounces sliced black olives (2 (2.25 ounce cans), drained); 1 cup cherry tomatoes (halved); 8 ounces pepperoni (1 package, cut into fourths); 8 ounces Colby Jack Cheese (1 package, cubed); 1 red onion (minced); 16 ounces Italian dressing (1 bottle)

How to Make Homemade Pasta Salad

Cook your pasta according to the package instructions. You want your pasta cool when you mix it with the other ingredients.

While my pasta was cooking, I chopped up all the other ingredients going in my homemade pasta salad. I added pepperoni, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, red onion, sliced olives and Colby Jack cheese.

I drained and rinsed my pasta after it was done cooking. If you rinse your pasta with cold water it will wash away extra starches so your pasta doesn’t stick and it cools it down so you can toss it in with the other ingredients. You don’t want to melt that cheese with warm noodles!

Once your pasta is rinsed and cool, toss it with the prepped vegetables in a large mixing bowl and pour Italian dressing on top.

Toss until all the pasta salad ingredients are evenly coated in dressing.

Refrigerate pasta salad until it is time to serve. I like to make my pasta salad earlier in the day so the pasta has time to soak up all the delicious flavors!

Recipe Notes

We love using Italian dressing for pasta salad. You can use whatever Italian dressing your family prefers, but our absolute favorite dressing for pasta salad is Kraft Robusto Italian Dressing. Pasta salad is only as good as the pasta you are using to make it! I love using Ronzoni^® pasta in my recipes because it is non-GMO and is so delicious.

Enjoy More Delicious Pasta Recipes

Want to add more veggies to your meals? Browse our comprehensive list of salad recipes.

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Questions & Reviews

Christine Mazeski says:

i do this recipe almost the same way.and its one of my favorite recipes. I always make this in the summer. I never thought to add the olives or cucs! Great idea! I pinned this so i dont forget :)
Rachel Lawrence says:

I just made this and oh my gosh it is awesome! So yummy!!
Nadette says:

I just found this recipe and plan to make it this weekend (need to get to the market for fresh produce!). The only thing different I would do is pour a little ranch dressing with the italian! We all love both dressings, so I thought mixing them together might make it even better - if that's possible - right?!?! Thanks for sharing!
Cyd says:

That sounds really good! We'll have to give that a try! Thanks so much!
Brock says:

Good recipe! I've tweaked it a little and added McCormick's Salad Supreme dry seasoning, chopped pepperoni, and sliced pepperoncinis.
Lynda says:

Can this be made in advance and refrigerated for 2 days?
Cyd says:

One day is great. We've eaten leftovers 2 days out. It still tastes great, but not quite as fresh as one day. Give it a good stir before serving. Add the cubed cheese right before serving.
Suzie says:

Made this today for a party tomorrow. I couldn't find Kraft Robusto Italian dressing as suggested. But I did find Wishbone. After looking at your pictures. I think that is a Wishbone bottle. Anyways. super easy to assemble.