Tri-Colored Pasta Salad
This pasta salad is nice and colorful, easy to make, and great for summer picnics or parties. The recipe was given to me by a dear friend many years ago, and I've been making it ever since!
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 pound tri-colored spiral pasta
- 1 (16 oz) bottle Italian-style salad dressing
Or make your own. Or use Newman's Own Parmesan and Roasted Garlic Dressing (see note) - 6 Tbsp salad seasoning mix (
We use McCormick Salad Supreme, but cut down the amount to 2 Tbsp) - 2 cups cherry tomatoes diced
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- ½ yellow bell pepper chopped
- 1 (2.25 oz) can black olives chopped (optional - we don't like olives)
Additional Vegetables (optional, choose whatever you have, and like)
- 1 small onion chopped
- broccoli chopped and blanched
- celery diced
- shredded carrots
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 10 to 12 minutes; rinse under cold water and drain.
- Whisk Italian dressing and salad spice mix together until smooth.
- In a salad bowl, combine pasta, vegetables, and olives (if using). Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.
- For the best flavor, refrigerate the pasta salad for 8 hours to overnight.
- Enjoy!