This is one of my family’s very favorite summer salads. We have it as a main dish with fruit salad and bread or muffins, but it is also great served as a side dish. I usually make my own Italian dressing so I can add less oil, but you can just use the kind in the bottle. This stuff is really awesome later on in the season when we have garden fresh tomatoes. Yummy!
Italian Pasta Salad
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 green onions, sliced
2-3 celery stalks, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
1# broccoli, chopped
1 can olives, sliced
2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
Italian dressing
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cook pasta in salted water. Rinse with cold water to cool. Stir in vegetables, olives, and parmesan cheese. Add Italian dressing and salt and pepper to taste.
Notes:
-You can add whatever veggies your family likes. If we have red or yellow peppers, I like to add those.
-I have also seen this salad served with ham, salami, pepperoni, or cheese cubes. It really is quite versatile, so give it a try!
Are you gearing up for the 4th of July? Our tiny town does a celebration the week before the actual holiday, so we will be doing that this weekend. Tonight is the parade, tomorrow is the fireman’s breakfast and the carnival. It is a fun tradition that my boys look forward to every year.
I will be posting lots of fun Independence Day recipes next week, so make sure you check back often. I love cooking for holidays, it is so much fun!!
How many servings is this recipe?
It usually serves 8-10, unless some of the eaters are teenage boys. Then it serves 6. 🙂
How much Italian dressing is added to salad
You add it to taste. I don’t like an overly saucy salad, so I usually use between 1/3- 1/2 a cup.
La ensalada de pasta se ve muy rica voy a prepararla.Gracias
Can you make this dish and leave it overnight inthe fridge or is it best tossed and served right away as I was thinking of making this for a potluck lunch at work.
You can mix everything the night before except for the dressing. Add that just before serving and it will work just great!
Can’t wait to try this pasta salad. Looks yummy! Thanks!
I love your salad! I make one similar to it, but since I don’t like olives and my family thinks they HAVE to have meat in every meal, I use turkey pepperoni (they don’t know the difference if you hide the package 😉
I bet my family would love pepperoni in it as well! (and love the sneaky idea of hiding the package.) LOL!
Replace black olive by blueberry, it’s really good too.
Not sure if my olive loving kids would go for it, but it sure sounds good to me!
I’d rather know your recipe for your own Italian than use the bottled stuff! Can you share?! Thanks and can’t wait to try!
How much Italian Dressing is added?