The Classic Italian Pasta Salad is getting a serious makeover. Prepare yourselves for the best, yes, the BEST, version you've ever tasted. Full flavor, good for you, and easier than ever with the assistance of our favorite appliance, the Instant Pot.
I don't know about you guys, but if there's a big family get together, there's gonna be a pasta salad. You know the one – pasta, pepperoni, olives, and bland oily dressing.
You feel obligated to take a big scoop of it, after all, the pepperoni and cheese in there are always worth eating. Plus whoever brought it made a TON and you want to be grateful for their hard work.
Am I speaking truth? Or do you all think I'm a food snob now? An honest answer to both would be “yes, yes I am.”
I've discussed before that I have a strong opinion that life is too short to eat flavorless, boring food, so of course, this popular Italian Pasta Salad is getting a TIDBITS makeover.
WHY YOU WILL LOVE THE ITALIAN PASTA SALAD RECIPE
- More goodies to pasta ratio. Goodies meaning tomatoes, pepperoni, olives, pepperoncini slices, soft mozzarella, cucumbers, fresh parmesan, and kale.
- Yes, I said, KALE. Don't run, I wasn't immediately in love with kale either, but I'm going to show you how to make it the yummiest green you've ever seen in just a sec.
- Homemade Italian Salad Dressing! I decreased the oil a bit and supercharged the flavor so that every bite could shine.
- The Instant Pot cooks your pasta while you do some quick and easy chopping. Cooking the pasta is no longer the most dreaded part of pasta salad.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST ITALIAN PASTA SALAD
- Add Italian Dressing ingredients to a mason jar
- Shake until fully combined
- Cook pasta in the pressure cooker using this Instant Pot Pasta Formula
- Add drained and rinsed pasta to a large bowl, toss with some of the dressing
- Chop/prep all the ingredients
- Add chopped ingredients, pasta, and all but 2 tablespoons of dressing into a serving bowl and toss
- Add kale to a different bowl, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of dressing and a pinch of kosher salt; massage it for 1 – 2 minutes until it's soft and tender
- Add kale to pasta bowl and stir to combine
- Top with a sprinkle of parmesan and serve
Pasta Salad + Kale Salad = Best Food Baby Ever
HOMEMADE ITALIAN DRESSING
I know you might be tempted to grab a bottle of store bought salad dressing for this, but DON'T! The ratios of oil to vinegar to seasonings here create a flavorful, punchy dressing that isn't overly oily or heavy. It'll take you five minutes to throw together and I promise it's 100% worth the extra effort.
TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST PASTA SALAD
- Use rotini shaped pasta noodles. The dressing gets soaked into all those curves – mmmm, it's just a must. This Gluten Free Brown Rice Rotini is my favorite.
- Cut all the ingredients so they are about the same size. This makes it easier and more enjoyable to eat
- Less pasta, more goodies. This is personal preference, but I encourage you not to let the pasta dominate the bowl!
- Massage the Kale. Kale gets a bad rap because it can be a tough chew. After massaged it is tender and almost juicy – it's crazy good!
- Use fresh mozzarella. The soft bites are so much better than the drier, hard mozzarella.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CLASSIC PASTA SALAD
Recipes that contain every food group in one bowl can sometimes be a little challenging to figure out a great pairing. For me, Pasta Salad means summertime cookouts, so naturally my favorite accompanying dishes are:
- Hamburgers
- Steak
- Grilled Chicken
- Watermelon
- Corn on the Cob
- Potato Salad
HOW TO STORE LEFTOVER PASTA SALAD
Most pasta salads end up a little dry by the next day because the dressing is soaked up by the pasta. For whatever reason, this particular pasta salad was just as good on day four as it was on day one. Kale is a more sturdy green so even it didn't turn soggy. In fact, the longer the salad sat, the more flavorful it became. Miracle pasta salad? I think so.
VARIATIONS OF PASTA SALAD
The great thing about a classic pasta salad is that you can add and subtract your favorite add-ins. Here are some of my favorite alternatives:
- Use cheese filled tortellini instead of rotini
- Add a jar of artichoke hearts – my mother in law's idea and it is fabulous!
- Your favorite cheese diced small
- Fresh corn off the cob
- Chickpeas
- Make it vegetarian pasta salad by omitting the pepperoni
- Your favorite Italian meats instead of pepperoni like salami, soppressata, prosciutto, etc
MORE HEALTHY PASTA SALAD RECIPES
- Satay Chicken Noodle Salad
- Chicken Caeser Pasta Salad
- Strawberry Caprese Pasta Salad
- Zippy Orzo Summer Salad
Let the summer-lovin' salad recipes begin! You are going to love love love this version of the popular Italian Pasta Salad! It's fresh, vibrant, and new. Keeping the classics exciting around her, that's what we do.
Enjoy!
EXTRA TIDBITS
HOW TO MASSAGE KALE
It's easy and not as weird as you might think and makes ALL the difference
- Strip the kale away from the tough stem. This is easily done by holding the stem with one hand and curling the other hand over the leaves to quickly and easily pull it from the stem
- Chop kale into small bite size pieces
- Add a splash of oil and a pinch of kosher salt
- Get both hands into the bowl and squeeze and pinch the kale for 2-3 minutes
- You'll know it's ready when it's dark and nearly half the volume
- Season to taste and serve
TOOLS USED TO MAKE CLASSIC ITALIAN PASTA SALAD
- Instant Pot
- My favorite Cutco Knife
- Brown Rice Rotini Pasta
Classic Italian Pasta Salad
Classic Italian Pasta Salad gets a veggie and flavor boost with the addition of kale and homemade Italian Salad Dressing
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
For the Italian Salad Dressing
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasonings
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1–2 teaspoons honey
For the Pasta
- 8 ounces whole grain rotini pasta (or your favorite bite size pasta)
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon butter or oil
For the Salad
- ¾ cup mini pepperoni or regular pepperoni chopped
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- ⅓ cup sliced pepperoncini peppers
- 1 cup mozzarella pearls halved
- 1 pint tomatoes halved (about 2 cups)
- 1 cucumber chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 cup black olives, halved
- 4 cups kale, roughly chopped, stems discarded
Instructions
- Prepare Italian Salad Dressing: Combine all of the ingredients in a mason jar. Screw the lid on tightly and shake well to combine. This can be made up to a week in advance.
- Make the pasta: Place pasta, water, 1 tsp kosher salt, and 1 tablespoon of butter or oil in the pressure cooker pot.
- Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position. Cook at high pressure for half of the pasta package cooking time minus 2 minutes (see notes for examples of this).
- When pressure cooking is complete, use a quick release. If liquid sprays from the knob, close knob, wait 30 seconds then release pressure again.
- Drain and rinse pasta with cool water. Add to a large bowl and toss with a splash of the Italian Dressing.
- Prepare the salad: Add pepperoni, parmesan, peppers, mozzarella, tomatoes, cucumber, and black olives to the bowl of pasta. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of dressing and pour the remainder over the salad ingredients and toss to combine
- In a separate bowl combine the kale, 2 tablespoons of dressing and a pinch of kosher salt. Massage the kale (in other words – squeeze and pinch the kale) for 1 – 2 minutes until it’s soft, dark, and reduced in volume by nearly half.
- Add kale to the salad bowl and toss to combine.
- Serve immediately or store in the fridge for a few hours before serving.
- Stores well in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
- When cooking pasta in a pressure cooker take the lowest cook time on the box, divide it by 2, then subtract 2. For example, if a box asks for 10-12 minutes cook time, divide 10 by 2 (5 minutes), then subtract 2 (3 minutes). The cook time for the pasta is 3 minutes
- Cut all the ingredients so they are about the same size. This makes it easier and more enjoyable to eat
- Massage the kale, don't skip this step! It makes it soft and easy to eat with the rest of the ingredients
- Buy mozzarella pearls or if you can't find them, buy a ball of soft mozzarella and cut it into bite size pieces
Keywords: Italian Pasta Salad, Italian Salad Dressing, Instant Pot
Welcome! I’m Marci, wife to my motorcycle dream man and mother of 3. I have a passion for creating and cooking delicious masterpieces in my kitchen and am ecstatic to share my discoveries on TIDBITS! I like my food tasty, wholesome, memorable, and always, ALWAYS followed by dark, salty chocolate.
This sounds absolutely delicious! I’m going to make it and add artichoke hearts as mentioned. Thanks for the recipe!
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Charline, that’s what I’m doing Monday! Oh, it’s so good!
I made this pasta salad and it definitely is much more flavorful than the usually boring potluck pasta salads. We did make a number of changes based on what we had, but the dressing was mostly the same (other than Dijon, which I replaced with regular mustard and honey, which I replaced with coconut nectar). We ate it with your grilled chicken recipe you linked with organic thighs as that is all we can find these days. (Boneless skinless is a bit of a convenience food we no longer can have.) It was also really yummy. So I borrowed some ideas from the Mediterranean Rice recipe that was with the chicken to combine the pasta and the rice recipe somewhat. I made it with pepperoni, freshly grated parmesan cheese (a lot more than the recipe because I didn’t have mozzarella), sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, kale, artichokes, and I think that might be everything. My husband and I loved it; the kids weren’t as sure, but there were a few new things in there (artichokes) and they are at stages where they are more picky. We will still be making it again. Thank you!
★★★★★
Rebecca, I can tell you are an amazing cook just from your comment! Your tweaks and adjustments were so intuitive and it sounds like a whole new recipe that I’m just dying to try. I’ve got leftover artichokes in my fridge and I can’t wait to try this out. Thanks for your ideas!
Could this be done with spinach instead of kale? I am trying to find new, healthier recipes, but nobody in my house likes Kale.
Katy, for sure! That will work great, you just won’t want to massage the spinach like you do for kale.
Marci, I made a double batch of this pasta salad and I’ve got it in the fridge for Father’s Day. I added oregano, basil, and tarragon to the dressing in place of Italian seasoning. I ended up doing two batches of the dressing. For the first, I reserved the salt and garlic and mixed that in with the pasta after it was cool, then tossed it with a good amount of dressing while I prepared the rest of the salad. I also added blanched broccoli florets as well. I tossed it all together with more dressing and I have a bit more to add tomorrow. I can’t wait to taste it tomorrow!
★★★★★
Melanie, Oh yum, I wish I was at your house about now! I love when dressing seeps into broccoli florets. Let me know how it goes over!
Love your upgrades to the traditional Italian pasta salad and agree they’d really ramp up the flavor. One small disagreement re. “good for you”. Pepperoni isn’t good for you, but of course one could omit it or substitute something else. I have another small upgrade suggestion. Regular canned black olives aren’t nearly as tasty as the Greek Kalamata, the French Niçoise or any number of other choices from the olive bars now available at many supermarkets. Why not try a mix of several different olive varieties? Since you can buy as few or as many olives as desired, it’s not too expensive. One might also substitute feta cheese for mozzarella.
Razzy, you make a good point, thank you. I adore kalamata olives and would happily make that swap because it would add yet another layer of flavor. My family, however, is pretty particular about this one. And I’ve swapped for feta before, also quite delicious. Sounds like we both like strong flavors!
Hi Ladies! Applegate makes an uncured turkey pepperoni that tastes delicious, no one would be able to tell the difference in a pasta salad. It’s a healthier substitute for regular pepperoni for sure!
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How have I never seen this! It’s on my list!