How to Make Pasta Salad

Guide Note

Pasta salad is a great dish to have in your culinary repertoire. It's quick to prepare, adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand and popular with most diners. If you're looking for an easy side dish or a light entree, this guide to How to Make Pasta Salad will walk you through the process of preparing the perfect pasta salad.

Table of Contents

Pasta Salad Tips

  1. Experiment with different pastas
  2. Don't over-cook the pasta
  3. Substitute light mayonnaise or yogurt to reduce fat and calories.

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Introduction

What You'll Need

Ingredients

Equipment

Pasta

  • (Creative Commons photo by Shira Gal)
    (Creative Commons photo by Shira Gal)
    Dried pasta works better than fresh pasta.4 Even without that option, there are lots of choices when selecting the pasta you'll use as the basis for your salad.
  1. Increase fiber by selecting a whole wheat pasta, rather than the traditional semolina based variety.5
  2. Add visual interest by choosing a mix of colors.3 Colored pasta has a small amount of an ingredient like spinach (green), tomato (red) or squid ink (black).6
  3. Make sure the shape you select works with the salad.7 Pastas with curves and ridges like shells, rigatoni or orechiette tend to pick up small additions like chopped scallions or bacon bits. Smooth pastas like elbows or farfalle are better work well with an oil and vinegar based dressing.

Dressing

  • For a simple salad, you can use any prepared salad dressing.8 If you have a few more minutes you can mix your own mayonnaise-based or oil and vinegar dressing.

Vegetables

Optional Additions

Step 1: Cook the Pasta

  • Boil the pasta noodles according to package directions. Make sure you don't overcook the pasta. Drain the pasta immediately after cooking. If you're using an oil and vinegar based dressing, add some now, before the pasta cools. Otherwise, toss the pasta with 1 T of olive oil, and let cool. (The oil keeps the pasta from sticking together.)11

Step 2: Mix and Season the Dressing

  • If you'd like to mix your own dressing, here are two simple choices.

Mayonnaise Based

Oil and Vinegar

Optional Seasonings

Step 3: Assemble the Salad

  1. Add dressing to pasta.
  2. Taste, and adjust seasoning as needed, adding more vinegar, salt or pepper.
  3. Add vegetables and any optional ingredients.
  4. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled, as desired.

Additional Pasta Salad Recipes

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References for How to Make Pasta Salad

  1. ↑ All Recipes: Classic Macaroni Salad
  2. ↑ Food Network: Artichoke Pasta Salad WARNING: Pop-ups
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 All Recipes: Rainbow Pasta Salad II
  4. ↑ Slate: The Pasta Salad Manifesto (June 23, 2008)
  5. ↑ Medicine.net: Mediterranean Pasta Salad
  6. ↑ Chef Geir's Culinary Resources: Some Variations
  7. ↑ National Pasta Association: pasta Shapes
  8. ↑ Big Oven: Ultimate Pasta Salad
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 All Recipes: Five Steps to Perfect Pasta Salad
  10. ↑ Mayo Clinic: Pasta Salad with Mixed Vegetables
  11. ↑ Living Without: Perfect Gluten-Free Pasta Salads
  12. ↑ University of Nebraska: Basic Oil/Vinegar Salad Dressing


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