The Best Easy Italian Pasta Salad Recipe is the most flavorful pasta salad! The secret ingredient is dry Italian dressing mix sprinkled over the pasta and vegetables!
Ingredients
1lbpasta, any shape
1/3cupBermuda (red) onion, chopped
1yellow pepper, seeded and sliced
2carrots, thinly sliced
2small zucchini, thinly sliced
2-3cupsbroccoli flowerlettes
1/2lbmushrooms, sliced
1large can pitted olives, black or green
112-14 oz canartichoke hearts, drained well and quartered, may use marinated or packed in water
1 .07 ozpackage dry Good Seasons Italian dressing mix OR recipe attached for homemade dry mix
116 oz.Bernstein's Cheese and Garlic Italian dressing* see recipe notes, or other good quality Italian bottled dressing I have also used "Ken's Simply Vinaigrette"
1cupfresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
To make dry Italian seasoning:
1tablespoongarlic powder
1tablespoononion powder
3tablespoonsdry Italian seasoning
1teaspoondehydrated onion flakes, optional
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2teaspooncelery seed
1teaspoonground pepper
2 tablespoons sea salt
Instructions
Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cold water, drain and set aside.
Wash and cut vegetables, place in a large bowl. Add cooked, cooled pasta and sprinkle with dry seasoning mix (packaged or homemade). If using homemade dry mix, use 3-4 tablespoons.
Add a generous amount of fresh ground pepper. Pour bottled dressing over all, toss and refrigerate.
Just before serving, grate fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese over the salad.
Notes
I use about 1/2 of the well shaken bottle of dressing to start. Let it sit (preferably) for at least 2 hours. Then add more bottled dressing as needed, tossing before serving. The longer the dressing sits on the pasta before serving, the more it will be absorbed into the pasta. This is great for flavor, but needs to be adjusted to make sure the pasta salad does not taste dry before serving!
For make-ahead, if waiting more than 3 hours to serve, add the mushrooms and grated cheese just before serving.
For tender, bright green broccoli, place the washed broccoli on a microwave safe plate. You may chop the broccoli before or after cooking. Add 2-3 tablespoons water to the plate. Cover with paper towel and cook the broccoli for about 2 minutes or just until the broccoli turns bright green. Carefully remove from microwave. Drain hot water from plate and rinse the broccoli briefly with cold water to stop cooking process. Drain well (I like to give it a good shake or two) and add to the salad. The same may be done with cauliflower.