Easy & Fresh Italian Pasta Salad
My aunt Arelene makes an amazing Italian spaghetti pasta salad recipe. It's pure, simple, easy and pleases even the most pickiest eaters and family food critics. One thing that I love about this pasta salad is that it is so easy to customize with your favorite ingredients and it still comes out delicious!!
With this Italian pasta salad recipe I've thrown in turky ham, different cheeses, cold peas, cucumber, jalenpenos...EVERYTHING! It's almost impossible to ruin this recipe, not unless you just add in a bunch of weird stuff.
Now normally I don't eat angel hair pasta...I don't know..there is just something about the texture that makes my skin crawl. But when it's served cold and firm, I love it which is why I always use it for my cold spaghetti pasta salads.
You can eat this pasta salad once it's had a chance to get cold but it is truly at it's best the next day when the ingredients have had a chance to lounge in all of that yummy Italian dressing goodness.
Ingredients
1 lb of angel hair pasta
1/2 green pepper (can use more)
1/2 red pepper (can use more)
1 cup broccoli & cauliflower, diced into tiny pieces
1-2 green onions
1/2 medium tomato (can use more)
1 (16 oz) bottle of Zesty Italian dressing or more if you like it ZEEEESTAAAAY!!! (but I wouldn't add more until you taste it the next day since the flavors will intensify overnight)
1/4 cup of black olives, diced
Chopped pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni), can also used chopped ham.
*Optional ingredients: I like to kick this recipe up sometimes by adding in minced garlic, mild cheddar, cold peas or cucumbers. Experiement with it and make it your own!
Directions
Step 1.) Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Step 2.) Cook the angel hair pasta until al dente. This only take a few minutes so watch it carefully. The last thing you want is overcooked noodles.
Step 3.) Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water.
Step 4.) Chop up the green pepper, red pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, green onion, olives, & pepperroni into tiny minced pieces. You want the pieces to be really tiny.
Step 5.) Pour the bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing over the cold noodles and toss to coat.
Step 6.) Add in the chopped ingredients and toss to combine.
Step 7.) Refrigerate until super cold.
Step 8.) Serve. Be sure to toss before serving since the dressing and ingredients can settle on the bottom.
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