EASY CALIFORNIA PASTA SALAD WITH HOMEMADE ITALIAN DRESSING

-
A simple California pasta salad that you can toss together in no time! Loaded with black olives, green and red bell peppers, diced tomatoes, onions, and parmesan cheese. Drizzled with a quick and easy homemade Italian dressing.


t’s officially pasta salad season.
And I’ve got a new one to add to your arsenal of pasta salad recipes. Meet the California Pasta salad loaded with simple ingredients and drizzled with my simple, yet robust, roasted garlic Italian dressing. Gosh, I could eat this stuff for weeks on end.
Truth be told, I wanted to share this salad with you before Memorial Day so you had something quick and easy to toss together for all your holiday shindigs. But Memorial Day snuck up on me this year. Oh well, we still have all 93 days of summer left to enjoy it.
Lately, I’m having a moment with this California Pasta Salad. This makes a ton, by the way, so you can see why it would be best if you made it for a large crowd. But the recipe can also easily be scaled back if you’re serving this for 4. Me? I made a whole batch for the TWO of us. And you can bet we ate it all. I love that it’s so customizable – I’ll toss in some leftover cooked chicken when we’ve got some on hand. Or I can serve it with grilled shrimp skewers. And my favorite — served with Greek grilled chicken. I kid you not I could eat this for lunch or dinner for a week straight and still not be tired of it. That’s saying a whole lot — I’m one that gets bored of food rather quickly!
California Pasta Salad is summer in a serving dish for me. During the summer, lunches are best consumed cold because *pause* it’s only June 5th and it’s already sweltering in Texas. I’m not eating or drinking anything evenly remotely warm. Not gonna happen.
California Pasta Salad - made with homemade roasted garlic Italian dressing and tons of yummy salad toppings! Perfect for potlucks or picnics! #pastasalad #californiasalad #salad #spaghettisalad #potluck #choppedsalad | Littlespicejar.com
Okay, let me break this California Pasta Salad down for you.
  • cooked pasta (basically, any shape you like)
  • green + red bell peppers
  • chopped red onions
  • chopped tomatoes
  • sliced black olives
  • tons of grated parmesan cheese
That’s it!
You’ll notice this is a mayo-less pasta salad. I love my midwestern ways, but sometimes, you gotta lay off the mayo and embrace all the millions of salads and dressing combinations that taste 1000% delicious without mayonnaise. Let’s keep going; you can swap the ingredients for things you like or add other ingredients in. If you’re fancy, swap the chopped tomatoes or sun-dried ones or add in marinated artichokes. I use both of them in my Mediterranean pasta saladand can’t get over how good it tastes. You can also, add MEAT. Mini pepperoni, diced salami or even a shredded rotisserie chicken would work well here, and you wouldn’t have to do much to make this a complete meal. And lastly, this salad is economical. You’re not using anything here that costs an arm and a leg so you can mindlessly add this to all your summer potluck, book club, and picnic menus.

ROASTED GARLIC ITALIAN DRESSING FOR OUR CALIFORNIA PASTA SALAD:

Okay, I’m having a moment with roasted garlic again because I seriously just used it in this salad. I’m obsessed with how smooth it makes the dressing and allows you to double up on it without the fear of breathing garlic breath all over the first person that approaches you post lunch. You’ll also notice that my roasted garlic dressing is a little different than what you usually see on a California Pasta Salad. Still has the same bones but I find the flavors to be a little more sophisticated.
For the dressing we’ll combine:
  • roasted garlic
  • white wine vinegar
  • italian seasoning
  • dried basil
  • dijon mustard
  • sugar
  • olive oil
  • sesame seeds
And there you have it! California Pasta Salad that requires just a wee bit of chopping but can simply be prepared ahead of time and will indeed feed a crowd!
So easy and so so yummy!
YIELD: 8-10 SERVINGS

EASY CALIFORNIA PASTA SALAD WITH HOMEMADE ITALIAN DRESSING

prep time:10 MINS
cook time:8 MINS
total time:18 MINS
A simple California pasta salad that you can toss together in no time! Loaded with black olives, green and red bell peppers, diced tomatoes, onions, and parmesan cheese. Drizzled with a quick and easy homemade Italian dressing.
PRINT RECIPE
Did you make this recipe?
LEAVE A REVIEW »

INGREDIENTS:

SALAD:

  • 1 pound fusilli or rotini pasta
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • 2 small cans (2.25 ounce each) sliced black olives, drained
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
  • ⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese

ROASTED GARLIC ITALIAN DRESSING:

  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon EACH: Italian seasoning, dijon mustard, and dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2-3 tablespoon water
  • 12-14 cloves roasted garlic (see notes)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. SALAD: Cook the pasta according to package direction, drain and allow to cool to room temperature. Combine all the ingredients (except the parm) for the salad in a large bowl and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes while you prepare the dressing.
  2. DRESSING: Place the ingredients for the dressing in a blender along with a big pinch of salt and pepper and blend until smooth (or add to a jar if using an immersion blender.) Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
  3. ASSEMBLE: At this point, you can refrigerate the dressing until ready to serve as well or toss the pasta salad with dressing and top with parmesan cheese and serve! If you’re taking this to a party, I suggest keeping the salad and dressing separate until ready to serve.

NOTES:

  1. I purchased roasted garlic from the deli section of my grocery store. Feel free to roast your own garlic too if you’d like!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Belgian Waffle Recipe

-
Image
The supreme waffle recipe! These  Belgian Waffles  are light and fluffy on the inside, and crisp and nicely golden brown on the outside. Here you’ll learn all you need to know to perfect them! The Best Belgian Waffle Recipe Who doesn’t love a made-from-scratch, comforting, homestyle breakfast? Especially on the weekends! This waffle recipe will give you all the more reason to look forward to lazy Saturday mornings. And chances are once you try these you’ll be hooked for life! I’m yet to meet someone who doesn’t love them. I’ve had this recipe countless times since I first shared them 5 years ago. They may not be quite as quick as pancakes but the extra bit of effort in whipping egg whites is so worth it! These have everything you look for in a waffle and them some. They have a rich delicious flavor (thanks to the buttermilk), they’re perfectly soft and tender inside with a nice moisture to them, and you’ll love that deliciously crisp, pretty exterior. Then lets not forget the ...
Read more

TRUFFLED MUSHROOM PIZZA WITH ARUGULA SALAD

-
Image
Homemade truffled mushroom pizza that you can throw on the grill in the summertime or prepare in the oven during the winter months! So easy to make and taste like something you’d get at a fancy pizza parlor! Fancy truffled mushroom pizza.. at home. There are only a few things that make me as happy as movie night and homemade pizza on Friday evenings. If you asked me about an ideal Friday night in my mid-twenties, I guarantee that wouldn’t be my answer back then. But now. As I slowly creep up further and further in my thirties, I’ll gladly be in bed before midnight, stay in on the weekends and prefer it, and not only will I not complain about Brussel sprouts, I favor eating them. With all these new preferences, I also have started to like homemade pizza over your no-frills takeout pizza joints. There’s just something about being able to control the toppings, amount of sauce (or skipping it all together), and having the freedom to throw a big arugula salad on top of my truffled mushroom ...
Read more

BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE

-
Image
A quick overnight blueberry cheesecake french toast casserole recipe that can be assembled ahead of time and baked for breakfast or brunch! Loaded with yummy cheesecake bites and topped with tons of cinnamon-scented streusel, this is sure to become your go-to breakfast french toast casserole recipe! Cheesecake + French Toast? Someone pinch me, am I in heaven? I’m excited to tell you all about my new favorite cheesecake french toast casserole today. We’re so close to the weekend and my hope is that you’ll grab all of these ingredients when you hit the store next and then prep this on either Friday or Saturday and share it with family or friends for brunch. It’s a lazy sort of casserole and I have no shame in saying that those are the best kind. Frozen berries, a brick of cream cheese, a loaf of slightly stale bread, and few other simple ingredients. And would you believe that all of this blueberry french toast casserole disappeared in less than 48 hours? Granted I boxed up most of i...
Read more