Pepperoni Pasta Salad
Pepperoni Pasta Salad is loaded with pepperoni, mozzarella, tomatoes, olives, and a light, zesty sauce of Italian dressing and vinegar.
This delicious pasta salad is loaded with Italian flavor, but it’s not loaded with work. It uses simple ingredients to create the classic party side that we all know and love.
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This pasta salad is quick, easy, and filled to capacity with flavor. It pairs well with just about anything you can think of, too. What’s not to love?
- It comes together in just a few minutes and all the ingredients are easy to find at your local grocery store.
- It has everything we love about pasta salad including cheese, pepperoni, olives, and tomatoes.
- It uses a light, Italian dressing base so you won’t feel like you swallowed a boulder after you eat it.
- Picky eaters will love this cold pasta salad recipe.
🛒Ingredients
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- Bow tie pasta cooked to al dente
- Olive oil
- White wine vinegar
- Italian seasoning
- Minced garlic
- Thinly sliced string cheese
- Drained and rinsed sliced black olives
- Mini pepperoni slices
- Quartered cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes
See the recipe card below for quantities.
🔪 How to Make Pepperoni Pasta Salad
Making this recipe is a super simple affair. It only takes a few minutes and a few easy steps.
Step 1: Make the Dressing
Whisk the olive oil, white wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, and minced garlic together in a bowl and set aside.
Step 2: Combine the Ingredients
Gently stir the cooked pasta, cheese, black olives, pepperoni, and cherry tomatoes together in a large bowl.
Step 3: Add the Dressing
Pour the dressing over the ingredients and gently stir to combine. Chill for an hour before serving.
📝Variations
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Spicy – Add red pepper flakes for a kick of heat.
- Italian Dressing – Make things even easier and just use a bottled Italian dressing.
- Parmesan – Add even more cheesy flavor with some shredded parmesan.
If you think this sounds tasty, then check out another zesty Italian pasta salad that we created.
🥄 Equipment
You need almost nothing to make this quick and easy recipe. It only takes a few simple kitchen staples.
- Pot
- Medium mixing bowl
- Large mixing bowl
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Can opener
🥫 Storage
Store leftover pasta salad in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days in an airtight container. I think this great recipe tastes even better the next day. For longer storage, you can freeze it for up to 3 months in an air-tight, freezer-safe container or heavy-duty freezer bag.
💭 Tips
This is an incredibly simple recipe, but we do have a couple of tips to help you make it as delicious and pretty as possible.
- Never cook your pasta past al dente. Al dente pasta has the best texture for pasta salad, and it stands up better to being mixed with the other ingredients. Check the package directions for al dente on your box for the brand of pasta that you use.
- Always be gentle when mixing your pasta salad to avoid breaking apart the noodles.
- Here is a list of a few other great additions to this pepperoni pasta salad recipe, fresh vegetables, like red onion, bell peppers, green onions, broccoli florets, or your favorite pizza toppings.
- If you don’t have string cheese on hand, you can use fresh mozzarella pearls, mozzarella cheese, a little parmesan cheese, or your favorite cheese blend.
- This is the perfect pasta salad for your next potluck dinner or the next time you are feeding a large crowd. It can easily be doubled.
- Add more flavor to this dressing by adding garlic powder, onion powder, or your favorite seasoning blends.
- You can make the pasta in the Instant Pot if you want to save a little time in the kitchen.
- If you want to reduce the fat in this recipe you can use turkey pepperoni instead of the regular pepperoni.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this easy Italian pasta salad recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions for this easy pasta salad recipe.
It will last for 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Simply place it in an air-tight, freezer-safe container or heavy-duty freezer bag.
No. Pasta salads made with mayonnaise don’t freeze well. They get liquidy and gross when defrosted.
Simply leave it in the refrigerator overnight.
Any short noodle with a bit of texture will work. These kinds of noodles are bite-size, and the texture holds the sauce.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy pepperoni? Then, try these delicious recipes:
🧾Pepperoni Pasta Salad
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
❤️ PIN IT!!
Pepperoni Pasta Salad
Equipment
- Pot
- Medium mixing bowl
- large mixing bowl
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Can opener
Ingredients
- 16 ounces bow tie pasta prepared
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 5 pieces string cheese thinly sliced
- 1 2.25 ounce can sliced black olives drained and rinsed
- 1 5- ounce bag mini pepperoni slices
- 10 cherry tomatoes quartered
Instructions
- To make the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, white wine vinegar, Italian seasoning and minced garlic. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the cooked pasta, cheese, black olives, pepperoni, and cherry tomatoes.
- Pour the dressing over the top of the salad and stir to combine.
- Cover the bowl and chill for at least one hour before serving.
