The Best Italian Vegetable Pasta Salad

Name: The Best Italian Vegetable Pasta Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 cup chopped broccoli; ½ cup chopped red bell pepper; ½ cup chopped green bell pepper; ¾ cup chopped yellow squash; ¾ cup chopped zucchini; ½ cup chopped red onion; 12 ounces your favorite pasta (, gluten-free if needed); ¼ cup balsamic vinegar; ¾ -1 teaspoon sea salt; ½ teaspoon lemon pepper; ½ teaspoon garlic powder; a drizzle of your favorite oil (, I prefer olive oil (Use broth for oil-free))

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This Italian style vegetable pasta salad is the perfect addition to picnics, bbq's, or just a summer poolside meal. Super easy and versatile!

Top view of a black bowl filled with vegetable pasta salad

I love quick and easy recipes, especially those that you can bring to a poolside party or barbecue and don't require a lot of effort. Because let's be real, I'm dealing with crazy kiddos before we need to get anywhere and low effort is all I have!

Pasta Salad Basics

The key to a good pasta salad is taste. And this recipe here has some easy tricks to get in all the amazing flavors! All you need are your favorite veggies and some good quality pasta.

Ingredients

There are only three main ingredient groups to make this awesome pasta salad: pasta, veggies and dressing.

Veggie options

Anything really goes in pasta salad, so it all depends on what you like. Here is a list of ideas that I think work best:

Broccoli
Summer squash
Zucchini
Bell pepper, any color
Onion, red or yellow
Tomatoes
Mushrooms

Pasta for salad

The important thing with your pasta choice is that it has good texture when cold. This especially comes into play with gluten free pasta.

While many different gluten-free pasta's don't have the best texture cold, there are plenty that do. So make sure to test out the brand you use. I tend do find that gluten-free pastas that use a mix as the base, versus all one ingredient, have better texture cold or the next day.

How to Make Veggie Pasta Salad

To get the best flavor, I highly suggest planning ahead and marinating the raw veggies overnight. This helps soften them in an almost pickle like fashion. They absorb the dressing ingredients to give the end result a perfect punch in flavor.

Marinate the veggies in the dressing ingredients.
Add everything into a bowl.
Mix well!

Tips and Tricks

Here are some things to keep in mind while making this veggie pasta salad:

Chop the vegetables small and bite sized. They will soften better with the dressing.
Let the veggies sit in the dressing for at least a few hours for best flavor.
Make sure your pasta has good texture when cold.
You can switch up the vinegar and seasoning to change the flavor, just keep it to the same amounts.
To make it really easy, use prechopped veggies. You can even use a bottled dressing.

Common Questions

How far in advance can you make pasta salad?

Due to the texture of the pasta, I wouldn't make this more than 2 days in advance. While the flavor does marinate and get better the next day, much longer than that will break down the pasta.

Do you rinse pasta for a cold pasta salad?

Yes! Rinsing the pasta after you cook it, will help stop the cooking process so the pasta doesn't get too soft. It also removes some of the starch.

How do you store pasta salad?

This is best stored in an airtight container in the fridge to prevent the pasta from hardening.

Recipes to serve with