Italian Pasta Salad
Whether you're looking for the perfect picnic dish or just an easy and delicious lunch or dinner, Italian Pasta Salad is just right! And the homemade Italian Dressing is so easy and so good, you'll always want to have it on hand!
Servings 6 people
Ingredients
Homemade Italian Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 medium clove garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Italian Pasta Salad
- 10 ounces dried rotini pasta or other short pasta
- 4 ounces provolone cheese diced small
- 4 ounces salami sliced into thin ribbons
- 8 oil packed sun-dried tomatoes coarsely chopped
- 8 ounces cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup castelvetrano olives pitted and coarsely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups cooked cannellini beans or 1 15-ounce can drained
Instructions
- To make the Italian Dressing, combine first 5 ingredients (red wine vinegar through thyme) in a blender; blend until combined. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and blend to combine. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente; drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking process. Transfer to a large serving bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients to pasta (cheese through cannellini beans). Pour desired amount of homemade Italian Dressing over and gently toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours to allow flavors to meld before serving. Serve.