This Whole Wheat Cold Italian Pasta Salad is a healthier version than picnic staples, with whole wheat fusilli pasta, lots of chopped vegetables, and tangy additions. A simple homemade dressing completes this dish to share with friends this summer.
Who is ready for picnics, BBQs and casual park meet ups? I am never one to show up empty-handed, and I love that this simple Cold Italian Pasta Salad is a dish I can count on to be easy to pull together AND a crowd-pleaser.
Time for some truths: I have never been one to reach for the cold pasta salads at deli counters or salad bars. What about you guys? I find that the pasta has been sitting too long, is overly dressed, or the pasta to add-in ratio isn’t to my liking.
This Cold Italian Pasta Salad has changed my mind about this category of picnic food. There’s less pasta than your traditional pasta salad, and I packed it with sliced red pepper, cucumber, red onion, briny green olives, tangy artichoke hearts, and creamy mozzarella pearls.
I have never been a big fan of pre-made salad dressings, as they generally contain added preservatives and sugar, so every salad on my site has a simple recipe to whip together for dressing greens or pastas. This pasta salad is no different – if you have Italian seasoning herbs at home, you can make a simple and delicious Italian dressing with no added sugar in one minute.
- ½ pound (8 ounces) dry whole wheat fusilli pasta
- 1 large red pepper
- ½ of a large English cucumber
- ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
- ¾ cup pitted ripe green olives
- ¾ cup quartered artichoke hearts
- ½ cup mozzarella pearls
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- ¾ of a tablespoon Italian seasoning (dried herb mix)
- Dash of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Pepper to taste
- Boil pasta according to package instructions for al dente noodles. Drain and rinse with cool water.
- Chop up the red pepper, and slice the cucumber. Thinly slice up some red onion.
- Drain the green olives, artichoke hearts and mozzarella if necessary. Halve or quarter all of these ingredients.
- Toss all the ingredients together.
- In a jar, combine all ingredients for the Italian dressing and shake it together to combine.
- Pour the dressing over the pasta salad and toss well to combine. Enjoy at room temperature or refrigerate before serving.
I hope this salad makes it to your back patio table or local park sometime this summer! This recipe would be perfect with my Easy Garlic Baked Chicken!
Marisa
Karen Soyland says
Thanks for sharing! Very Good!
The only improvement I can think of is cutting the amount of dressing in half – I’m watching calories.
Marisa says
Hi Karen – Thanks for saying hello! I don’t recommend cutting the dressing as it is already a light dressing and you need some oil to enjoy it with. Let me know if you make it at home and any adjustments you used so I can share with other readers – thanks 🙂
Karen Soyland says
Marisa, I will give it a try with less oil and let you know! It was actually my teenage son that thought it had too much dressing the first time I made it. ?
Marisa says
Gotcha 🙂 Thanks for your feedback! So glad to hear that you made the recipe at home and shared it with your family.
Karen Soyland says
Hi Again Marissa, I just tried this recipe again, but halved the amount of oil And vinegar. It was really tasty and not dry. A good option to cut back on calories! Thanks again for sharing this quick and delicious recipe!
Marisa says
Great to hear, Karen! Thanks for sharing!