Caprese Pasta Salad

Caprese Pasta Salad

Caprese Pasta Salad is easy, fresh and perfect for summer potlucks and BBQ’s.  Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Pasta come together to make this Italian inspired pasta salad!

We just love caprese salad. So much so that we probably have it at least every other week with our dinner. We are always looking for the best tomatoes we can find in the wintertime. When summer rolls around and the garden tomatoes are abundant we eat them almost every night.

Do you love easy and light weeknight options when the weather is warmer?

This Caprese Pasta Salad is so easy to make and the perfect summer salad.  It is made with simple ingredients that you can toss together in no time. Serve it alongside some grilled chicken or burgers and you have a delicious meal. Feel free to add some chicken or grilled shrimp for a complete meal if you don’t want to use it as a side dish! 

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This salad is scrumptious served just made or cold. Leftovers are perfect the next day for lunch.   It’s made with lots of cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella pearls, salt, pepper , rotini pasta and olive oil. We don’t add balsamic vinegar as we normally would to a sliced tomato ,mozzarella and basil since it tends to discolor the pasta if it’s not eaten right away. So we serve it on the side so you can just drizzle a bit on yourself if you want some. 

If you don’t mind the color being “off” you can add about 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar or use white balsamic vinegar. You can find it in the grocery store next to the regular balsamic vinegar. We are used to serving ours on the side so that’s how we always do it now.  

You can use any pasta you like of course. I sometimes use ziti or cavatelli.  It just depends on what I grab usually.  If you have a favorite pasta you can use that one. It’s all good in the end. 

Besides the fact that this caprese pasta salad is a tasty salad, I also love the fact that it doesn’t have mayonnaise so it is great for summer time potlucks, gatherings and BBQ’s.    

If you love caprese anything as much as we do, then you’ll definitely love this simple caprese pasta salad!

MORE SIDE DISHES YOU MIGHT LIKE:

Asparagus with Feta and Tomatoes

Broccoli Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Lemon Butter Green Beans with Parmesan and Garlic

Easy Creamy Pasta Salad

Slow Cooker Spicy Pinto Beans

Caprese Pasta Salad

Caprese Pasta Salad is easy, fresh and perfect for summer potlucks and BBQ's.  Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Pasta come together to make this Italian inspired pasta salad!

5 from 1 vote

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Course: salads, Sides

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 9 minutes minutes

Total Time: 14 minutes minutes

Author: Rob

Ingredients

• 2 cups rotini pasta or pasta of your choice
• 8 oz fresh small "pearl" mozzarella balls (you can use more if you like)
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh basil leaves
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions

• 1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and let pasta cool completely. 

  2. Place the pasta in a large serving dish.

  3. Slice up the tomatoes and add to the serving dish along with  pearl mozzarella balls.

  4. Stack up the basil leaves on top of the other, roll them up, then cut into thin slices and add to the dish.

  5. In a small bowl mix together the olive oil, salt and ground black pepper.

  6. Pour the caprese salad dressing over the ingredients and mix until combined.

  7. Serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.

  Don't forget to serve some balsamic vinegar on the side to drizzle on top if you like.

Disclaimer

Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.