The Finest Pasta Salad Recipes to Deliver to a Potluck or Celebration

In relation to potlucks and events, a standout pasta salad can steal the present. Whether or not you are aiming for a mayo-free possibility, experimenting with distinctive dressings, or just must know the way a lot to organize for a crowd, we have you lined.

Let’s be sincere—we love pasta salad year-round. It performs effectively with creamy, comforting flavors in colder months, then graciously welcomes hotter temperatures with vibrant, contemporary zest.

From soba noodles wearing citrus ginger to tender bow ties sprinkled with crimson pepper flakes and tomatoes, a cool, massive bowl of pasta salad is endlessly versatile. You possibly can plop in no matter farmer’s market bounty you discover: cucumbers, carrots, corn, or radishes. Plus, they maintain up (even enhance!) over time as dressings and components marinate—no wilting or getting soggy.

Bounce to the recipes ↓

How A lot Pasta Salad to Make for a Crowd

Once you’re prepping for a celebration or potluck, the very last thing you need is to expire of meals—or be left with a mountain of leftovers. So, how a lot pasta salad must you make per individual?

As a common rule of thumb:

• Facet dish serving: ½ to ¾ cup per individual (about 4–6 ounces)

• Fundamental dish serving: 1 to 1½ cups per individual (8–12 ounces)

For instance, if you happen to’re feeding 20 folks and serving pasta salad as a facet, intention for 10 to fifteen cups complete, or roughly 2 to three kilos of dry pasta. Don’t neglect to account for add-ins like chopped veggies, cheese, or protein, which bulk issues up too.

Tip: Pasta salad is tremendous make-ahead pleasant—simply give it a fast toss with additional dressing earlier than serving, since pasta tends to soak up flavors because it sits.

Mayo-Free Pasta Salad Choices

In search of a pasta salad with out mayo? Whether or not it’s for dietary causes or simply to maintain issues safer at a warm-weather cookout, there are tons of flavorful options that maintain up fantastically at room temp.

A few of our favourite mayo-free pasta salad dressings embody:

• Lemon-Dijon French dressing – vibrant, tangy, and ideal with veggies or grains

• Italian dressing – a crowd-pleaser that goes with nearly something

• Tahini or yogurt-based sauces – creamy however lighter and extra heat-stable

You’ll discover loads of mayo-free pasta salad recipes in our roundup beneath, filled with components like roasted greens, olives, herbs, and tangy cheeses that don’t want mayo to shine.

Ideas for Transporting and Serving Pasta Salad at Occasions

Pasta salad is a go-to for events for a motive: it is simple to make, laborious to mess up, and travels like a champ. That mentioned, a number of sensible methods will help your dish arrive contemporary and party-ready.

Maintain it cool
When you’re heading to an out of doors occasion, pack your pasta salad in an hermetic container and nestle it in a cooler with ice packs. That is particularly key if there’s any dairy, meat, or egg-based dressing concerned.

Wait to decorate (or redress)
For the perfect texture, toss the salad with half the dressing earlier than chilling and reserve the remainder for simply earlier than serving—this retains the pasta from drying out or getting mushy.

Serve it sensible
Use a large, shallow serving bowl to assist it chill quicker and serve extra simply. Bonus factors if it has a lid to maintain issues lined between bites.

Our Finest Pasta Salad Recipes

1. No-Mayo Peperonata Pasta Salad

“Need to know the best way to change hearts and minds about pasta salad? Make this one in your subsequent yard BBQ or picnic with pals,” writes Food52 contributor EmilyC. “Peperonata—the traditional Southern Italian facet dish of candy peppers, onions, and tomatoes melted in olive oil—is a swell companion to pasta. It’s packed filled with greens and serves because the dressing (a win for pasta salad, a giant win for you). Higher but, the peperonata may be made a number of days upfront and tossed with freshly-cooked pasta everytime you’re prepared.”

2. Traditional Italian Pasta Salad

The key to this springy, satisfying, completely textured pasta salad? Overcooking the noodles—severely! Somewhat little bit of science inform us simply why (retrogradation, to you!), however TL;DR: Belief us. It really works!

3. Creamy Pesto Pasta Salad

Recent basil, garlic, and almonds are blended right into a creamy pesto, enhanced with Parmesan, mayonnaise, and white balsamic vinegar. Tossed with rigatoni, cherry tomatoes, and mini bocconcini, it is an ideal addition to any potluck or gathering.

4. Chilly Vegetable & Noodle Salad With Ponzu Dressing

It is a nice technique to get acquainted with tart and salty ponzu sauce: tossed with silky udon and a medley of crunchy, contemporary greens and herbs.

5. Caprese Pasta Salad

“I bear in mind many a heat summer season night time when, motivated by a powerful aversion to turning on the oven, my mom would whip up a fast pasta with a no-cook sauce,” Co-Founder and President Merrill Stubbs writes. “One in all my favourite iterations was a variation on a preferred theme: pasta with uncooked tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and generally basil.” When you love caprese salads but additionally need to be full an hour after dinner, simply add all these tasty elements to pasta.”

6. Orzo Salad With Scallions, Hazelnuts & Golden Raisins

A make-ahead masterpiece if we’ve ever seen one! You possibly can combine the dressing, plump the raisins, and toast the hazelnuts the night time earlier than.

7. Miso Peanut Pasta Salad

Macaroni salad will get a brand new persona. As a substitute of creamy cheese, coat noodles in peanut butter and miso, then add some spice with vinegar and chile-garlic sauce.

8. Bow Tie Pasta Salad With No-Prepare dinner Tomato Sauce

Have a good time tomato season with Michel Guérard’s Genius Sauce Vierge, a stunning no-cook tomato sauce. The mixture of contemporary tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, and herbs shines on this simply-dressed pasta salad.

9. Chilly Sesame Noodle Salad

This is an nearly no-cook, five-ingredient pasta salad that can truly enable you to calm down. “A be aware on noodle selection: any lengthy, skinny pasta will do,” recipe creator Kendra Vaculin advises. “Vermicelli or skinny rice noodles (like these pictured right here) are nice gluten-free choices, and maintain up significantly better than brown rice noodles when cooked after which chilled. If it is what you have got in your pantry or all you will discover, plain ol’ spaghetti works simply as effectively.”

10. Jaengban Guksu

In the meantime, some folks prefer to eat sizzling meals in the summertime. When you’re on the lookout for a spicy kick, gochujang takes this pasta salad to the subsequent stage.

11. Lemon-Dill Orzo Pasta Salad With Cucumbers, Olives & Feta

“The flavors on this pasta salad are delicate and refined—excellent for complementing grilled salmon or a roasted hen with pan juices,” writes Food52er viblanco. “At first, the grated shallot and Dijon within the French dressing might look like they’d overwhelm the dish, however each settle in with no trace of chunk. Using feta and olives additionally brings a little bit of salty taste with every style.”

12. Beet-Dressed Pasta With Golden Raisins & Poppy Seeds

Heat or chilly, this velvety, earthy, completely distinctive pasta’s filled with fascinating flavors and textures. Simply remember to add a pinch of salt if you happen to strive it on the chilly facet.

13. Pasta Salad With Roasted Peppers, Inexperienced Olives, Walnuts & Anchovies

With simply 5 components, it is a marvel that this humble pasta salad packs all of the punch it does. However every of the 5 has a darn good motive for being there—and every brings an entire lot to the desk.

14. Grilled Okra Pasta Salad

A visit to the grill helps crisp and char silky okra—then it is thrown right into a super-savory combination of mozzarella, basil, and cherry tomatoes with pasta, all dressed with a zingy garlic-infused French dressing.

15. Antipasto Orzo Pasta Salad

“The jars in your fridge door have joined forces in a pasta salad that tastes like the perfect elements of an antipasto platter (or an Italian hero),” claims recipe creator Sarah Jampel. “To bulk it up, high it with folded prosciutto, or combine in cubes of salami or Parmesan. If in case you have all the things available, this salad will probably be prepared as quickly because the orzo is boiled (10 minutes!).”

16. Herby Pasta Salad With Tempeh Bacon & Roasted Veggies

A medley of roasted broccoli, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes is tossed with al dente pasta and a vibrant dressing produced from olive oil, white wine vinegar, brown sugar, and a beneficiant mixture of contemporary herbs like mint, basil, oregano, and chives

17. Panzanella Pasta Salad

Consider this as a love baby between pasta salad and bread salad—aka the perfect of each worlds. Brief pasta joins forces with crusty torn bread, juicy tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs in a vibrant, punchy French dressing. It is a contemporary, mayo-free possibility that travels effectively and will get even higher because it sits—excellent for any potluck or picnic unfold.

18. Pasta Salad With Crispy Salami & Cherry Tomatoes

This contemporary, flavor-packed pasta salad hits all the appropriate notes—vibrant, herbaceous, and just a bit salty due to crispy salami. The genius transfer? Scorching the salami till golden, which provides a savory crunch you’ll need to steal for each pasta salad going ahead. It’s mayo-free, travels like a champ, and comes collectively quick

19. Oil-Free Vegan Pesto Pasta Salad

You’d by no means guess this creamy, flavor-packed pasta salad is each vegan and gluten-free. The oil-free pesto makes use of cashews and lemon for richness and brightness, making it simply as luscious because the traditional model—no compromises right here. It’s an important possibility for blended dietary crowds and holds up fantastically at room temp, making it party-ready.

20. Our Finest Pasta Salad

We saved the perfect for final—actually! That is our pasta salad to write down dwelling about: with buttery olives; bouncy pasta; chewy cured meats and crunchy pickled bits; herbs and tender greens galore. Eat it at room temperature, or sizzling, or chilly—any which method, you will not be sorry.

Summer season’s a time at no cost spirits. Riff in your favourite pasta shapes and flavors to create your individual masterpiece. This is a easy system to comply with: 3/4 to 1 cup of dressing for every pound of dried pasta. Add in your whole favorites (greens, nuts, herbs, and cheeses) and blend gently.

For the total information, see right here:

Learn how to Make Pasta Salad with no Recipe

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