Italian Pasta Salad

This Italian pasta salad recipe makes SUCH a delicious dish, and it is absolutely perfect to bring to a picnic or barbecue.

Y’all! It is a real crowd-pleaser. Literally everyone loves it!

Although you can make it any time of year, it screams summer to me. It just makes me think of pool parties, barbecues and picnics.

This recipe also happens to be a vegan recipe. This Italian pasta salad will make BOTH your herbivore and omnivore friends very, very happy!

How to make Italian pasta salad

First, gather your ingredients.

Ingredients

For tastiest results, always use the best quality ingredients you have access to.

To make this Italian pasta salad recipe, you will need the following:

• summer squash
• zucchini
• red onion
• broccoli
• red bell pepper
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• farfalle pasta
• grape tomatoes
• Italian dressing
• flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Roasting the veggies

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chop the veggies (except tomatoes) into bite-sized chunks.

Place them on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper.

Drizzle the chopped veggies with the olive oil, salt and pepper, and toss to coat evenly.

Roast the veggies (except for the tomatoes) for 20 minutes.

While the vegetables are roasting, cook the pasta according to package instructions (salt the water), drain and set aside. Make the dressing according to my recipe. Or use your favorite store-bought Italian dressing.

Assembling Italian pasta salad

Combine the pasta, tomatoes and cooked vegetables, pour on the dressing and toss to coat evenly.

Garnish with parsley if desired. Serve at room temperature, and refrigerate leftovers for up to a week.

Recipe tips

One batch of the dressing was just enough to coat the Italian pasta salad salad, but feel free to double the dressing recipe in case you want to have a little extra on-hand. I like to always have extra dressing on hand with pasta salad, just in case it looks a little dry to me when it is time to serve it.

I wrote the recipe with entertaining in mind, so it really makes a heaping bowl with a lot of servings. You can always half the recipe if you want to.

For example, sometimes I will roast up the veggies and use half of them (just the veggies) as a side dish to one of our regular dinners. Then I will use the other half of the leftover veggies to make a smaller batch of this Italian pasta salad the next day.

Tools Used to Make This Recipe

Note: These are Amazon affiliate links.

• Knife 
• Cutting board
• Baking sheet
• Tongs to toss everything together
• Strainer to drain the pasta
• Large pot to boil the pasta

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Note: Italian pasta salad originally appeared on A Pinch of Healthy June 27, 2016. It has been updated with new photos and clarifies instructions. Here is what it used to look like.