Pasta Salad With Italian Dressing

This Gluten-Free Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing recipe is so quick and delicious, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! It’s an easy healthy family dinner or lunch that assembles quickly in 30 minutes warm or cold. Made with gluten-free pasta noodles, cucumbers, broccoli, goat cheese, tomatoes, and a homemade zesty Italian dressing.

The secret to this healthy Italian cold pasta salad lies in our homemade zesty Italian dressing that’s bursting with fresh flavors. One bite and you’ll be transported straight to sunny Italy. Say hello to your new favorite vegetarian dish, plus I’ve got variations to make it different ways!

Why this recipe is so great

• The perfect cold pasta recipe for outdoor BBQ’s and parties to make as a side dish with a healthy easy potato salad, broccoli grape salad, chopped kale salad, bowtie pasta salad and homemade baked beans.
• My delicious pasta salad recipe with an irresistible Italian dressing is your solution to new favorite easy dinner or side dish. It is so easy to make, gluten-free, vegetarian, and super healthy! This fool-proof recipe will help you whip up an authentic pasta meal in no time. It’s fresh, it’s flavorful, and it’s about to become your new favorite salad!
• This pasta salad with Italian dressing recipe uses my dressing recipe but you can use a store-bought Italian dressing as well. Just look for a brand that is most natural and does not contain high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils.
• Serve it cold or warm! You can eat this right away or chill it for later in the day. Many warm pasta salad recipes include Italian marinara sauce or pesto sauce tossed with pasta noodles and sauteed peppers, zucchini, garlic and onion. The great thing is this one can serve as a cold pasta salad recipe like tortellini pasta salad and bowtie pasta salad. The best thing about a cold pasta salad is that you can take it anywhere since you do not need to reheat it.

Key ingredients

As always, please see recipe card below for full ingredients and quantities.

• gluten free Rotini noodles
• grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes – you can keep them whole or cut into halves
• finely chopped broccoli – the smaller the bites the more even the taste and texture throughout this pasta salad with Italian dressing.
• shredded carrots – you can grate the carrots with a thick setting on a cheese grater or purchase matchbox carrots from the store.
• cucumber or zucchini – I have made this with both and both are delicious although my image shows zucchini in this round.
• white onion – you can also use yellow or red onion for color.
• crumbled goat cheese – or feta cheese.
• Italian dressing – I love using my favorite easy Italian dressing recipe in many of my salads and you can even toss it in this broccoli pasta recipe.

What to put in cold pasta salad

You can make a cold pasta salad with Italian dressing with basically pasta noodles and the dressing. Then add any vegetables you have on hand. You an also add black olives, mozzarella cheese balls, chopped bell peppers, parmesan cheese, and mini pepperoni.

How to make this recipe

Please see recipe card below for full details.

Step 1 (image 1): Boil the noodles according to package directions.

Step 2 (image 2): Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the noodles from cooking, then set aside.

Step 3 (image 3): Prep the vegetables and whisk together the salad dressing ingredients.
In a large serving bowl add the cooled noodles, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, goat cheese, onion, and fresh chopped basil.

Step 4 (image 4): Add Italian dressing on top and combine well. Serve right away or chill this salad for a couple of hours before serving. This allows for an even more flavorful salad as the flavors combine.

Storing leftovers

Store this healthy pasta salad with Italian dressing in the refrigerator in a sealed airtight container. It lasts for up to 3 days. Mix it again before serving to mix the flavors together. It makes the perfect leftovers for lunch the next day!