Easy Pasta Salad

A traditional pasta salad means spiral pasta paired with broccoli, cauliflower, red onion, and topped with a simple Italian dressing. All that and it takes less than thirty minutes to make! It’s really simple, it’s quick to make, and it’s perfect for summer.

This may be the best pasta salad you’ve ever had.

There’s an unspoken rule when it comes to pasta salad: it needs to be full of flavor or no one will bother to eat it. And at its core, this classic recipe is a simply a side dish that’s made with ingredients we often have in the pantry. The magic happens when a quick homemade dressing is mixed together, one that uses dried herbs, white wine vinegar, and lemon juice. The result is a bright, Italian-style dressing that blows away any store-bought bottle. When the dressing is mixed with the pasta and fresh vegetables, you’ll taste why this is a must-make for any summer party.

If you’re looking for other summertime side dishes, make sure to try my fresh herb pasta salad, my grandma’s truly homemade baked beans recipe that’s incredibly flavorful, or my easy-to-make macaroni salad. You’ll love them all!

Why make homemade dressing when buying a bottle from the store is so easy?

It’s no lie: dressing purchased at the store is convenient. Growing up, we always had some form of dressing from the store in the refrigerator. So why bother to make it at home? When you chose to make dressing at home, you’re choosing better ingredients, less artificial ingredients, and best of all, more flavor. Making dressing becomes muscle memory and after a few times making it, you’ll know all the steps and not even think about buying any. This pasta salad dressing is simple and since we can handpick each flavor, the outcome is far superior to any mass-produced dressing.

Everything you’ll need to make this recipe.

Since this recipe is simple and somewhat customizable, the ingredients are pantry staples. But each ingredient is handpicked for a specific reason. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

• Dijon mustard is added as an emulsification agent. One warning on this: you will not achieve perfect emulsification with this dressing, but that’s the point. A small amount of mustard will help bind the ingredients for a short time before everything’s mixed with the pasta.
• Shallot is the traditional allium of choice for a dressing. It has a lighter, sweeter flavor than other onions and mixes well into the dressing without being too strong.
• Garlic is essential in an Italian-style dressing. By pressing or smashing the garlic, you release the most pungent flavor. The acidity from the other components in the dressing will temper the strong flavor of the garlic so it marries easily into the dressing.
• White wine vinegar, as opposed to distilled white vinegar, is sweeter and adds something more than just acidity to the dressing.
• Honey is the element of sweetness that’s used to balance out the sharpness of the other flavors in the dressing. But know that a little bit goes a long way. If you don’t have honey on hand, a small amount of sugar will do the same thing.
• Olive oil provides the base for the entire dressing. Since there’s a large amount in the dressing, it’s the dominant flavor. Thus, it’s important to choose a good olive oil.

Here’s how to make this recipe.

1. Cook the pasta. Boil water in a large kettle on the stove. Before adding the pasta, add a bit of salt. This helps to season the pasta and is the only time at which the pasta can be salted. Add in the pasta and allow it to cook until al dente. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the dressing.
2. Prepare the Italian dressing. In a small bowl or a salad shaker, combine the Dijon mustard, dried oregano, dried thyme, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, shallot, minced garlic, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, honey, and olive oil. Whisk (or shake) everything to make sure the dressing is emulsified. Once combined, set aside until ready to assemble the pasta salad.

3. Drain the pasta and slice up the vegetables. After draining the pasta, place it in a large bowl. Place the chopped broccoli, cauliflower, red onion, and parsley on top.

4. Pour the dressing over the pasta. Even though it may seem like a lot of dressing, make sure to use it all. The dressing will soak into the still-warm pasta, so there will end up being less once combined.
5. Mix all of the ingredients together. Make sure the dressing coats all of the ingredients so that no bite is left without the Italian flavoring.

These pro tips will make this recipe a success.

• When combining the pasta, vegetables, and dressing, the pasta can still warm to the touch but not hot. Hot pasta would soak in too much of the dressing but slightly warm pasta will allow the pasta to soak in some of the dressing once it’s poured over the pasta and vegetables.
• When chopping up the broccoli and cauliflower, do not throw at the stems. These stalk-like pieces work so well when thrown into the pasta salad along with the florets. Rather than waste, these pieces are completely edible.
• Make this recipe a few hours before serving and place it in the refrigerator. The entire mixture will cool down and the dressing will have time to soak into the pasta. This will make the dressing more robust as it combines with all of the ingredients.

Other summertime recipes that you’ll love making.

• Family favorite potato salad
• Sweet barbecue baby back ribs
• Easy macaroni salad
• Fresh herb pasta salad
• Grandma’s truly homemade baked beans
• Beer brats with sautéed peppers
• White sangria with summer fruit
• Spicy margarita

Watch how to make this recipe

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