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Nothing says summer like a Refrigerator Pasta Salad! Colorful, light and best of all, no oven, for those ‘too hot to use the oven’ days! Great for a crowd, picnic or meal prep! Omit the meat and cheese and make it vegetarian or vegan!
I call this a Refrigerator Pasta Salad because I use whatever veggies, meat and cheese I have in the refrigerator! 🙂 But for the sake of this post, these are the ingredients I typically use but you can swap or add based on your vegetable drawer!
First, cook the pasta according to the packaging. While that’s cooking, prepare all your ingredients. I typically chop about a cup of each.
I would let the pasta cool a little before adding all the ingredients, especially the cheese, so it doesn’t melt. You can cool in a colander with some ice cubes. But make sure the ice melts or you remove the remaining cubes before adding everything so your salad doesn’t get soggy.
Add the cooled pasta and all the ingredients to a large bowl and toss with about half of the salad dressing at first. I like to reserve the dressing and add more before serving. I think pasta salads tend to taste better the next day after all the ingredients have had time to marinate in the dressing.
Enjoy!
Recipes you might like:
- 8 oz Pasta Noodles
- 1 cup Red Pepper, chopped
- 1 cup Yellow Pepper, chopped
- 1 cup Cucumber, chopped
- 1 cup Black Olives, chopped
- 1 cup Green Olives, chopped
- 1 cup Tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup Provolone or Jack Cheese, diced
- 1 cup Pepperoni or Salami, diced
- 1 cup Chickpeas
- 1 bottle Italian Salad Dressing
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Cook pasta according to package instructions.
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Cool pasta with ice cubes in a colander.
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Chop all vegetables, meats and cheeses.
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Place cooled pasta in large bowl, add in all the chopped ingredients.
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Pour half a bottle of salad dressing over ingredients and toss.
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Refrigerate overnight if desired, add more salad dressing before serving.
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Enjoy!