This Italian Pasta Salad is so quick and easy that you can make it for a weeknight meal, lunch, or even for a crowd. It combines penne pasta, salami, black olives, mozzarella cheese, artichoke hearts, grape tomatoes, sweet red onions, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese tossed lightly with homemade Italian dressing.
Serve it as a main dish for lunch or a light dinner during the hot summer months. Or serve it as a side dish with grilled chicken or grilled shrimp. Whatever you choose to serve it with, it is always delicious and a huge hit.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
See the complete list of ingredients below on the recipe card.
- Red wine vinegar: You can substitute white wine or champagne vinegar
- Pasta: Use penne, cellentani, corkscrew, rotini, bowtie, or elbow pasta
- Italian salami: Such as Genoa, Calabrese, or Napoli.
- Mozzarella: Use balls or cubes of soft whole milk mozzarella
- Artichoke hearts: Look for the canned ones packed in brine. If you can not find the quartered ones, look for the whole ones and quarter them.
- Tomates: Use grape or cherry tomatoes.
- Parmesan cheese: Freshly grated is always best.
Preparation Tips
- Don’t overcook the pasta. It should be cooked fairly firm so it does not break apart when tossed or absorb too much of the Italian dressing.
- If you don’t like something, make a substitution. For instance, if you don’t like artichoke hearts, substitute chopped bell peppers. As I always say, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
- In a hurry, use your favorite bottled Italian dressing.
- This pasta salad can be made up to a day in advance. However, you might want to add a couple of tablespoons of Italian dressing to freshen it up.
Serving Suggestions for Italian Pasta Salad
This is always delicious with lemon pepper baked cod or shrimp salad. Or serve with an open-faced tuna melt, traditional club sandwich, or grinder sandwich. It is also delicious with crusty French bread, crostini, or cheddar pull-apart bread.
More Pasta Salads
Italian Pasta Salad with Italian dressing
Ingredients
Italian Dressing
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- ¾ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Italian Pasta Salad
- 16 ounces uncooked penne pasta
- ⅔ cup diced Italian salami
- ¾ cup sliced black olives
- 1 cup mozzarella balls
- 1 cup drained and quartered artichoke hearts
- 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
- ⅓ cup thinly sliced red onion
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, sugar, oregano, parsley, basil, salt, and black pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil.
- Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain well and rinse lightly with cool water to stop the cooking process.
- In a large bowl, combine the cooked penne pasta, salami, black olives, mozzarella cheese, artichoke hearts, grape tomatoes, red onions, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Toss with the Italian dressing and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- This pasta salad can be made up to a day in advance. However, you might want to add a couple of tablespoons of Italian dressing to freshen it up.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
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Clarice
It was so good! We had this yesterday for lunch and my family was very impressed. Thank you for always sharing easy to prepare recipes. You’ve been a life-saver.
Beth Pierce
That is so sweet, Clarice! Glad that I could help!