No-Fuss Italian Pasta Salad Recipe You’ll Love

Whip up a speedy summer favorite with this Easy Italian Pasta Salad. Spiral rotini pasta, cherry tomatoes, red onion, black olives, and mozarella balls dressed in Italian flavors, ready in minutes.

This classic Italian pasta salad is a great recipe to have in your back pocket for summer picnics, BBQs, camping trips, road trips, and vacation meals. It’s quick to prep, and my kids always ask for seconds, making it one of my family’s favourite meals.

This will easily become an essential summer meal in your family too. Though we unapologetically eat it all year round it’s that good.

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Summer is the time for epic family adventures, which leaves little time to make involved recipes.

Which is why this cold pasta salad recipe is ideal. We’ve found that using a ready made Italian dressing is the way to go. Especially if you need to whip up a quick last minute meal, for the hungry hoards.

We’ve found it’s also a great way to use up some leftover pasta, veggies & meat in the fridge. Plus it’s so easy to substitute ingredients & dressings to your family’s tastes.

It’s always on our salad rotation year round along with these tasty goat cheese & beet salad, this Arugula Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad, our classic potato salad recipe and family favorite Hoagie sub pasta salad.

Why You’ll Love This Tri Colored Rotoni Pasta Salad Recipe

Zesty Italian Pasta Salad Ingredients You’ll Need

This pasta salad recipe only requires a handful of simple ingredients:

• 12 ounces ( 3 ¾ cups) dry tri-color rotini pasta
• 9 ounces (2 cups) dry salami diced into cubes
• 10 ounces (2 cups) cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1 (8 ounce) tub of Perlini mozzarella balls, drained
• 1 (3.8 ounce) can of sliced black olives
• 1 large (about 1 cup) yellow bell pepper chopped
• ½ large (about 1/2 cup) red onion diced
• ¼ cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
• ¾ cup Italian dressing
• Salt and pepper to taste

Here are a few of our go-to substitutions & additions you can try:

• Instead of salami: Smoked tofu, roast chicken, cooked spicy sausage

• Other veggies to add / substitute: Cucumbers, sweet potato cubes, green onions, orange or red peppers, artichoke heart pieces, broccoli, chickpeas

• Switch out the pasta: Cooked bow tie pasta, penne, radiatore, rotelle (wagon wheels), or tortellini. Pasta with grooves will hold the dressing better.

• Best store bought Italian Dressing: , or Primal Kitchen Italian (their balsalmic or greek dressings also work well with this pasta dish).

Tips & Notes 

• Rotini Suggestions: Most tri-color rotini come in 12-ounce boxes. If your pasta comes in a 16-ounce box, feel free to use it all and increase the amount of dressing to 1 cup or to taste.

• Peppers: Any color of bell pepper can be used in this recipe.

• Tips for packing to go: If packing for camping / road trips, we like to keep the dressing & tomatoes separate in our summer pasta salads & add right before serving. Make sure to keep in a cold cooler.

• Mozzarella Balls: I like the perlini-sized mozzarella for this recipe as it is similar in size to the other ingredients. You can also cut fresh mozzarella into ¼ inch pieces. 

• Salami Tips: I prefer slicing the salami into pieces myself, so I can control the thickness of the meat. However, pre-sliced salami can be used instead.

• For a vegetarian version: This salad can easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the salami. 

• For a vegan version: Leave out the salami and cheese, and up your veggies. We like smoked tofu as a substitute for meat. Be sure to use a vegan friendly Italian dressing.

• For a gluten-free version: Use a gluten-free pasta and dressing.