How To Make Italian PASTA SALAD with Homemade ITALIAN DRESSING

Hey , everybody .

It's Natasha of Natasha's kitchen dot com .

And today I'm gonna show you how to make an Italian pasta salad .

This is loaded with all the best ingredients .

This is so satisfying and it keeps really well in the refrigerator .

So it is perfect for meal prep .

And I'm gonna show you how to make a homemade Italian dressing that'll make you fall in love with salad .

So let's get started .

We'll start with the simple dressing in a mason jar combined one half cup of extra virgin olive oil and three tablespoons of white wine vinegar .

Next add 1/4 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese and one tablespoon of real mayo .

Also add one teaspoon of sugar to balance out that vinegar and finally grate in one large garlic clove .

You can also use a garlic press for our seasonings .

We use half a teaspoon each of oregano , parsley and basil .

Also 3/4 teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper .

Most store bought salad dressings are saltier .

So if you do like more salt , you can add the salt to taste , cover that tightly with the lid and shake it up until it's well combined .

I love making this in a mason jar because you can make it ahead and it keeps really well in the refrigerator .

Then before serving , just give it a good shake .

Try that yummy dressing and you can add more salt to taste .

At this point .

We'll set that aside and make our Italian pasta salad to cook the pasta .

Bring a large sauce , pan of water to a boil casually , add salt to the water , then add eight ounces of rotini pasta and cook according to the package instructions until it's al dente or firm to the bite .

It's super important that you don't overcook the pasta while the pasta is on the stove , you can prep the rest of your ingredients .

Slice up six ounces of salami into thin strips .

Next cut in half 10 ounces or about three cups of cherry tomatoes .

And I find it's easiest to use a serrated knife to get through those tomato skins .

And if you have a trick for quickly cutting up cherry tomatoes , let me know in the comments .

Next , dice up half of an English cucumber .

And what I love about this salad is you can change it up based on what's in your refrigerator .

If you don't like cucumbers , you can also try bell peppers .

You'll see me using this food scraper tool , a ton .

It is one of my favorite kitchen tools and it's very inexpensive .

I will link to ours in the notes next .

Finally dice one medium bread onion .

And I do like to finely dice so that it still has all of that great onion flavor , but it disappears into the salad .

Next , you'll need eight ounces of fresh mozzarella .

I'm using mozzarella pearls because they're easy and you don't have to cut them .

But you can also use mozzarella balls and cut those in half or use an eight ounce block of fresh mozzarella and just dice it up .

We're using half a cup of black olives and you can buy those pitted and sliced already to save yourself some time .

I also love to add half a cup of kalamata olives .

Make sure you get the ones that are pitted and just cut them in half .

Also add one half cup of roasted red peppers coarsely chop those up and you can use store bought roasted red peppers in a jar or you can roast your own .

If you're feeling adventurous , I will leave a link to our tutorial on how to roast sweet peppers .

And last but not least .

Finally , chop one third cup of fresh parsley .

Now make sure you have your timer set for your pasta and turn it off as soon as it reaches al dente , then drain off the hot water right away and rinse under cold water until the pasta is completely cooled down .

Rinsing the pasta in cold water does three important things .

It stops .

The cooking process , removes excess starch and cools down the pasta now , just layer everything into a large salad bowl starting with the pasta as a base .

I love arranging things in a ring .

That way you can see all the tasty and beautiful ingredients and it just looks irresistibly good .

I love that .

You can really customize this salad .

And if there's something special that you put into your pasta salads , let me know in the notes who's excited .

All that's left to do is to dress it up and serve it .

And if you wanted to make it ahead for a party or for meal prep , you could just cover it with plastic wrap , pop it in the fridge and it'll last longer that way before adding the dressing or you can dress it a couple of hours before your event .

Uh , it just gets better as it stands .

So let's do this right .

And then with the dressing , just like with any dressing , there is some settling and that's normal .

It can separate .

So just before serving , give it a good shake to combine everything back together .

Make sure it's really smooth and then , oh .

Oh , that smells good .

Oh , this and it's had some time to meld .

Oh , my goodness .

Seriously , this gets better with time too .

All right , let's do this and be generous .

Just add the dressing to taste right now that we've added a generous amount of dressing .

We just have to toss this together so that every bite is coated in that scrumptious dressing .

My mouth is totally watering for this and I'm hungry and this is perfect because it is a meal in itself .

It's loaded with grain and protein with salami and cheese and then tons of fresh veggies .

This is such a treat also perfect for parties because it is .

Make a head .

Oh , my goodness .

Make this and watch people's eyes light up .

This is so good .

Ok .

I'm gonna get right to this .

Seriously , I'm so hungry .

Right .

Here we go .

Oh , and it's just a nice blend of everything .

I don't like pasta salads where it's just a ton of pasta .

I like a ton of everything .

Ok .

Here we go .

Try to get a little bit of everything on my fork , which is like good luck to me because there's a lot of stuff .

Ok .

Here we go .

Mhm .

Hm .

That is so good .

I love the different textures in there too .

You've got the tender plump noodles and the cheese , of course .

And then the crisp veggies , the cucumber and tomato .

It is such a treat .

It just feels so fresh and so so satisfying .

And then seriously this dressing , you have to try this dressing not just for the salad but for all of your salads , I'll leave a link to it .

The print friendly version in the description .

It is just such a good Italian dressing .

Also before you add the dressing , this is perfect for meal prepping and we love to use these containers .

I'll link to these , our favorite .

We reuse them .

They're washable , which is awesome if you just want to put in the salad before the dressing and just put the little dressing in a little cup and mix it together and serve it when you're ready to eat it .

It's perfect for work .

Lunch , school lunch .

So delicious and satisfying and there's no need to heat it .

And I love that you can change it up based on what you have in the fridge .

So you could add some fresh bell pepper .

You could change up the cheese .

A feta cheese would be really good here or Parmesan at a different kind of veggie .

It's just really up to you make the salad your own .

This is just our favorite pasta salad .

If you guys love this recipe and you're looking for more meal prep ideas that you can make ahead , check out some of our favorites right over there and right down there and make sure before you go , you click below to subscribe and when you do make sure you hit that little bell icon .

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