Veggie Pasta Salad

Perfect for backyard BBQs and picnics, this Veggie Pasta Salad is a delicious summertime favorite. Tender pasta with a variety of vegetables, such as crisp and crunchy celery, bell peppers, and sweet onion. Add to that the cherry tomatoes, fresh zucchini, and garbanzo beans, and it’s a party. Topping it all off is a seasoned olive oil-based dressing that lends an Italian flavor.

This salad is one of those that tastes better when you let the refrigerator do its magic.

Make it a day ahead of time, letting all those delicious flavors meld together before you serve.

You may also love this dressing for other salads, so keep it handy.

Making Veggie Pasta Salad

The Veggie Pasta Dressing

I like to start by making the dressing first.

Add all the ingredients to a shaker, then refrigerate. Takes no time at all.

If you don’t have a shaker, whisk it all together in a bowl and cover, then refrigerate.

The Salad

Next, cook the pasta.

As you can see in the pictures, I used a curly pasta, but you can use others, too.

While the pasta is cooking, cut up the veggies and open cans.

The garbanzo beans need to be drained and rinsed. The black olives need only be drained.

Cut the veggies into relatively small sizes, so that they’re easy to eat.

You’ll have to make a judgement call on the tomatoes. I like to leave them whole, but you could also slice them in half.

I used grape tomatoes, because it’s what I grabbed, but you can also use cherry tomatoes, or fresh garden tomatoes.

If you’re using fresh tomatoes from your garden, I’m jealous.

When adding the lemon juice, play it safe and squeeze the lemon juice through a mesh (or sieve) to catch the seeds.

The last thing you need is for your new mother-in-law to choke on a lemon seed.

Once you have the salad made, pour about half the dressing on it, and toss to coat.

Cover the salad and refrigerate overnight for the best results.

In other words, let the fridge do its magic.

Those flavors will blend together in the chill of the night while you sleep, and the next day you will have one delicious pasta salad.

Then, before you serve, remoisten the salad with some of the remaining dressing. Yum!

More Salad Recipes:

• Southwest Chicken Salad
• Pesto Tortellini Salad
• Broccoli Salad
• Summer Garden Pasta Salad
• Black Bean and Corn Salad
• Mom’s Cucumber Noodle Salad (my favorite, of course)

…or just enter “salad” in the search bar, or click HERE.

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Veggie Pasta Salad

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