Cold Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing

Who doesn't love pasta?! And this pasta salad with Italian dressing is absolutely delicious!! Plus you're getting all the nutrients of a salad plus the yumminess of the pasta! PERFECT!

We absolutely love making salads!! There are quite a few we've made (which you can view in our salads section!) but this one has got to be one of our top 3 favorite!!

It has the most beautiful subtle flavors, yet it's so extremely delicious!! Plus it's healthy!! No preservatives or artificial flavoring, just downright fresh ingredients and flavors!

Hi again guys!! We are back with a delicious new recipe - and this time it's a pasta salad with Italian dressing which is to die for!!

We serve this pasta slightly chilled but you can serve it hot as well - it tastes great both ways! Plus, the Italian dressing is absolutely DELICIOUS! I'm not sure if I've ever liked a salad dressing this much - I'm sure you're going to love it! ?

So if you read yesterday's recipe post on the Creamy Strawberry and Avocado Smoothie, you'll know about our issues finding the right oven here in Malaysia! ?? But there is good news, we finally found one! YAY!!

We basically had to drive halfway across the city to Mont Kiara, and we found it at a Harvey Normans store there. I cannot begin to explain to you how happy we are! I, for one, will be able to bake loads of delicious treats now. A big YAY!

If you don't already know, Arvin and I basically moved to Malaysia two months ago and therefore have been starting off our kitchen appliance collection from scratch - hence the lack of appliances currently. But hey, this country makes up for it! We love it here ❤️

This recipe is super simple and easy to follow. As always, I'm adding chef tips to this recipe which are also available in the notes below. If you still have any more questions, feel free to comment on this post and we'll get back to you within a few hours at the max!

Chef Tips ?

1. Olive oil makes the taste of the dressing a lot richer, but you can use regular canola oil instead if you don't have any olive oil at home. 
2. In case you don't have any lemon powder, you can substitute ½ teaspoon lemon powder with 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice.
3. Feel free to add julienned carrots and pitted black olives - we absolutely love those two in this salad as well!
4. We like to boil the pasta first, and once it's al dente and drained, we pop it in a metal bowl and into the fridge. While it's chilling in fridge, we start chopping up the vegetables and preparing the salad, so that the pasta has time to cool a bit - trust me it tastes even better this way! Alternatively, you could prepare the whole salad and chill it for 30 minutes before serving.

So here's the recipe!

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📖 Recipe

Yield: 4

Cold Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing

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Who doesn't love pasta?! And this pasta salad with Italian dressing is absolutely delicious!! Plus you're getting all the nutrients of a salad plus the yumminess of the pasta! PERFECT!

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups fusilli pasta
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup julienned bell peppers (red, green, yellow and orange)

For the Italian Dressing

• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon oregano dried
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon lemon powder (or 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice)
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoon vinegar

Instructions

1. Start off with boiling the pasta - follow instructions on the label of the pasta packaging. Fusilli normally takes 8-10 minutes to reach al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. For the Italian dressing, add all ingredients listed for it above and mix thoroughly.
3. Add in the halved cherry tomatoes, julienned bell peppers to the pasta as well as the Italian dressing. Toss well.
4. Add in the finely chopped parsley and toss some more.
5. Chill in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes and serve.

Notes

1. Olive oil makes the taste of the dressing a lot richer, but you can use regular canola oil instead if you don't have any olive oil at home.

2. In case you don't have any lemon powder, you can substitute ½ teaspoon lemon powder with 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice.

3. Free free to add julienned carrots and pitted black olives - we absolutely love those two in this salad as well!

4. We like to boil the pasta first, and once it's al dente and drained, we pop it in a metal bowl and into the fridge. While it's chilling in fridge, we start chopping up the vegetables and preparing the salad, so that the pasta has time to cool a bit - trust me it tastes even better this way! Alternatively, you could prepare the whole salad and chill it for 30 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 470Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 29gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 588mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 6g

Liked this recipe? Then you'll absolutely love our salads section! Most of the recipes there have gone viral on Pinterest - and for a good reason!! You should start off by checking out our Greek Chickpea Salad! It has a certain balance that comes from this particular combination of vegetables that you just have to try to know for yourself!