Pasta Salad
Italian pasta salad with cherry tomatoes, olives, capsicum, bocconcini and basil in a shake-in-a-jar dressing. Ready in 25 minutes, feeds 8.
Spirals of tender pasta soaked in a tangy Italian dressing, with tomatoes, olives and bocconcini. The bowl that empties first at a barbecue.
Recipe inspiration
This is the bring-a-plate answer. A packet of pasta and a few jars feed eight, it travels in its own bowl, and it sits happily on a picnic table for the afternoon with no mayonnaise to worry about. Make it the night before and it's better the next day, which frees up the morning of the party. It's also the fridge-clearer: half a capsicum, the end of a jar of olives, a few cherry tomatoes going soft, the last of the basil. Go nuts.
About this dish
In Italy it's insalata di pasta or pasta fredda, cold pasta. Claudia Roden traces part of the idea to the cold pasta dishes Jewish communities cooked ahead for the Sabbath, when no cooking is done. Cold macaroni salads turn up in American cookbooks in the early twentieth century, and recipes called "pasta salad" were in print by the early 1960s, carried by Italian immigrant cooking. Two families grew from there: the creamy mayonnaise macaroni salad of the American barbecue, and the oil-and-vinegar Italian one. This is the second.
What you taste: sharp red wine vinegar and fruity olive oil soaked right into the pasta, salty olives, sweet tomato and capsicum, the bite of red onion, cool milky bocconcini and a hit of fresh basil. Spirals are the shape for it: dressing and herbs catch in every twist.
Additions & substitutions
- Vegan: leave out the parmesan, bocconcini and salami. Add a 400 g tin of rinsed chickpeas or white beans, an extra ½ cup olives and 3 tbsp toasted pine nuts or sunflower seeds. A pinch of nutritional yeast in the dressing stands in for the parmesan.
- Cheese: crumbled feta for the bocconcini makes it saltier and Greek-leaning; cubed provolone is closer to an Italian deli.
- Protein: 2 cups shredded cooked chicken, or a drained tin of tuna in oil.
- Vegetables: marinated artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumber, roasted capsicum from a jar, baby spinach or rocket.
- Herbs: flat-leaf parsley or a little mint with the basil. See fresh herbs.
- Pasta: any short shape that holds dressing: penne, farfalle, orecchiette, shells. Skip long pasta; it tangles.
- Creamy: stir 3 tbsp Greek yoghurt or mayonnaise into the reserved dressing for a richer bowl.
- Heat: the chilli flakes, doubled, or a sliced pickled chilli.
Expert tips
Shopping
- Spiral pasta (fusilli or rotini) from a good Italian brand. Bronze-cut pasta has a rough surface that holds dressing.
- Bocconcini are small balls of fresh mozzarella, in tubs of whey near the cheese counter. Baby ones (cherry size) halve neatly.
- Olives with stones taste better and are cheaper. Squash each one under the flat of a knife and the stone pops out.
- Real extra virgin olive oil. It's half the dressing, so you'll taste it.
Preparing
- Salt the water well, about 1 tablespoon per 4 litres. It's the only chance to season the pasta itself.
- Cook past al dente. Start tasting at the packet time and keep going until it's tender all the way through, about 2 minutes more. Cold pasta firms up; this is what stops it going chalky.
- Rinse briefly, then dress warm. A quick cold rinse stops the cooking and washes off sticky surface starch, but don't chill it: warm pasta soaks up the vinegar, cold pasta just gets coated.
- Slice the onion thin, or soak the slices 5 minutes in cold water if you want it milder.
- Basil goes in last, torn not chopped, so it stays green.
Make ahead, or for a crowd
- Keeps covered in the fridge for 3 days. Cold pasta tastes dull and dry, so bring it to room temperature for 30 minutes and toss with the reserved dressing.
- The night before: make it all except the basil and any rocket. Add those just before serving.
- For a crowd: double everything and use two bowls; it's easier to toss. A 500 g packet and the dressing at 1½ times is about right for 12 as a side.
Serving suggestions
- Beside sticky ribs, souvlaki or kebabs at a barbecue.
- With a Greek salad and tabbouleh for a salad spread.
- Packed in jars for lunch boxes and picnics.
- More bowls like this: salads.
Pasta Salad
Published 2 Oct 2026 · Updated 3 Oct 2026
Ingredients
Dressing
- 125 ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil
- 60 ml (¼ cup) red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp finely grated parmesan
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 garlic clove, finely grated
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Salad
- 300 g (10 oz) spiral pasta, such as fusilli or rotini
- 250 g (1½ cups) cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 red capsicum, cut into thin strips
- 1 small red onion, finely sliced
- 150 g (1 cup) pitted olives, kalamata or Sicilian
- 200 g (7 oz) baby bocconcini, halved
- 1 cup (loosely packed) fresh basil leaves, torn
- 150 g (5 oz) salami, cut into strips (optional)
Method
- Shake the dressing: everything in a jar, lid on, shake hard for 20 seconds until thick and cloudy. It smells sharp and garlicky.
- Boil a large pot of water with about 1 tablespoon salt. Add the pasta, stir once so it doesn't stick, and cook to the packet time, then taste. Keep cooking, about 2 minutes more, until it's tender right through with no chalky white core.
- Scoop out a mugful of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and rinse it briefly under cold water, just until it stops steaming and is cool enough to touch but still warm. Shake off the water.
- Loosen the dressing: add 2 tablespoons of the cooking water and shake again. Pour 3 tablespoons into a small container and set it aside for later.
- Dress the warm pasta: tip it into a large bowl, pour over the rest of the dressing and toss well. Leave 5 minutes; the pasta drinks it in and turns glossy.
- Add the tomatoes, capsicum, onion, olives, bocconcini and salami, if using. Toss gently so the bocconcini stay whole. Scatter over the basil.
- Taste and serve at room temperature. If it has been sitting, toss through the reserved dressing just before serving; it should look glossy again, not dry.
Notes
- Pasta hard or chalky? It was cooked al dente, or straight from the fridge. Let it come to room temperature and toss with the reserved dressing; next time, cook it 2 minutes longer.
- Dry the next day? The pasta drank the dressing. That's what the reserved dressing is for. No reserve? Shake 1 tbsp oil, 2 tsp vinegar and a pinch of salt.
- Bland? Under-salted water, or cold pasta. Add salt and a splash of vinegar, toss and taste at room temperature, not cold.
- Mushy? Overcooked past tender, or left soaking in hot water. Rinse straight after draining.
- Basil gone black? It sat too long in the vinegar. Add fresh basil at the table.
Sources
- "Italian Pasta Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing", RecipeTin Eats (Nagi Maehashi), https://www.recipetineats.com/italian-pasta-salad-with-homemade-italian-dressing/
- "You Should Be Overcooking Your Pasta Salad. Here's Why", Tasting Table (on Serious Eats' method), https://www.tastingtable.com/968647/you-should-be-overcooking-your-pasta-salad-heres-why
- "Pasta salad", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta_salad
- "Pasta Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Chicken", RecipeTin Eats, https://www.recipetineats.com/pasta-salad/
- "Easy Pasta Salad", Epicurious, https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pasta-salad-recipe
