Here are some of the European and American variations of pasta salad I have made over the years. While relatively easy to make, there are specific ways to make a pasta salad extraordinary.
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History of European Pasta Salads
Apparently, there is no actual “creator of the pasta salad.” Reviewing the web, some folks seem to think pasta salads in general go back to the Roman Empire, where Jewish people made this dish for eating during the sabbath (1); others think the Phoenicians invented the dish(2).
What I can find is that the USA “macaroni noodles” dish was published in 1914; and using macaroni pasta for this salad may be an American thing (3).
The Pasta Salad Algorithm
Most of the critical decisions are made before you cook.
- Appetizer, side or will it be a main dish?
- Vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore salad?
- Warm or cold pasta salad?
- What type of pasta do you have?
- What type of dressing do you want to make?
- Using veggies and/or fruit?
- Add nuts? Meat? Tempura?
Pasta salads are versatile, used as an appetizer, side, or main dish. Or this dish can be viewed as a dump dish, using up whatever you have available. What makes this dish easy is that you can make it from long lasting pantry ingredients that are normally on-hand.
- Dried short, often crinkly pasta
- Salt and pepper
- Oil and acid or mayo and mustard
- Dried or fresh herbs and spices
- Dry cheese like Parmesan or creamy cheese like feta
- Veggies or fruit
Additionally, there is a consistent method:
- Make the dressing
- Choose and cook the pasta
- Gather, clean, and chop all the additional ingredients
- Combine well, taste for seasoning
Pasta Salad Mistakes + Hints
Pasta salad is easy to make, but that does not mean there are no tricks to making GOOD pasta salad. Here are some tricks and tips to help you make the “best of the block” pasta salad.
Salad Dressing
The pasta is bland, the veggie or fruit ingredients augment the pasta, but the key has always been the dressing. Spend time on the salad dressing for that is crucial to the dish success. It is the overall integrator for all the components.
Timing pasta salad
Time the boiling of the Italian-type pasta per the box instructions. Under- or over-cooked ruins the salad. The pasta should be firm, yet cooked through so there is some tooth-full bounce to the food.
Many cooks recommend making pasta salad 8-12 hours before serving, as a way to marinate the sauce and other ingredients well (2). One important note, do not add leafy green veggies or herbs too early as they can discolor, wilt, or lose flavor. I add leafy greens before serving, often as a topping.
Just be sure to toss and taste before serving to decide if it still tastes good or needs salt, pepper, or some acid.
Use the right pasta
I do not use fresh pasta for pasta salads, only dried. My reasoning is that once cooked, dried pasta holds up better in a salad that gets tossed and turned frequently. Fresh pasta is just too delicate and will fall apart.
The size and shape of the pasta matters, so I choose the pasta that compliments the ingredients visually, but most importantly I choose types that will hold onto the sauce best. I like shorter and crinkly pasta, like elbow or the larger corkscrew elbow, orzo (rice shaped) gemelli, fusilli, farfalle (bowtie), rotini, rotelle (wagon wheels) and penne.
For these salads do not use angel hair or spaghetti pasta.
Do not overcook pasta
The pasta should always cook in salted water, and until al dente. Meaning, tender but still firm to the bite. Swollen, oversoft pasta is not great to eat as an adult. Kids may love that in mac-n-cheese, but yuck.
Hot or cold are options
Deciding on the temperature of this dish is important, as they are handled differently.
If I am making a cold salad, I tend to rinse the pasta after cooking to both cool the pasta down and to remove some starch. For warm served pasta, I want the creaminess of the released starch, so do not rinse.
Importantly, both hot and cold pasta need to be dressed while the pasta is warm, as the dressing is more likely to be absorbed, leaving a tastier pasta. So I tend to make more dressing than needed and add some to the warm pasta to soak up. Then leave enough dressing to add to the dish (if needed) once all the ingredients are cool.
Pasta is bland
Seasoning pasta is required. So salt that cooking water for pasta.
Also, remember that cold dishes need a bit more seasoning to have a good flavor.
Pasta Salad Dressings
In general, European pasta salad dishes are mainly oil based, aioli, or pesto based. In the USA they tend to be mayonnaise based. But variety exists all over the world.
Italian Pasta Salad Dressing
- 1/2C extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4C red wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1T organic sugar
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 1/2t each dried basil and dried oregano
- 1/4t dried parsley
- 1/2t dried red pepper flakes
- 1t kosher salt
- 1t freshly ground black pepper
Simple American Pasta Salad Mayo Dressing
- ¾C mayonnaise
- ½C sour cream
- 1T vinegar white vinegar
- 1T dijon mustard
- 2 tsp organic sugar
- 1T fresh chives chopped
- ½t garlic powder or 1 grated garlic clove
- Kosher salt and pepper to season
American Deviled Eggs Pasta Salad Dressing
Use with 8oz pasta. Some people tend to add chopped bacon.
- 6 peeled hard boiled eggs (chop the white to add to salad, smash the yolk for the dressing)
- ¾C mayonnaise
- 1t white wine vinegar
- 1T Dijon mustard
- 2T chopped red onion
- 4T finely chopped celery
- 2T chopped green onion
- ¼ cup cooked chopped bacon
- ½t salt
- ¼ t pepper
- Sprinkle of paprika on the dish as garnish
Pasta Salad Types
Below are a mix of pasta salads with different takes on the dressings.
Basic Italian Tortellini Salad with Pesto
Note that basil will blacken due to oxidation if you use a blender (steel blades), but making this with pestle and mortar will not. However, making basil the old way is time consuming and work, the pesto will be more chunky, and I find it tastes better.
- Ingredients
- Tortellini (3 cheese, spinach + ricotta, etc.)
- Halved grape tomatoes
- Dressing
- Basil + Garlic Pesto
- Add basil leaves
- Whole skinless garlic
- Toasted pine nuts
- Lemon juice
- Finely grated Parmesan cheese
- Blend well in a food processor until you have a green mash
- Then start adding good quality olive oil slowly into the food processor until you have the right consistency
- Transfer the pesto out, taste, and add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Serve immediately
- Basil + Garlic Pesto
- Topping
- Toasted pine nuts
- Julienne basil leaves
- Serve warm
Cook the pasta, and either buy or make your pesto. I find the pesto available through Costco (Kirkland Basil Pesto) is just fine and keeps well in the freezer for when I need a quick dinner.
Mushroom Ravioli Salad with Harissa
- Ingredients
- 1# mushroom ravioli
- 2T olive oil
- 1 cubed + peeled orange sweet potato
- 1 bunch chopped broccolini
- Crumbled feta cheese
- Dressing
- 1 large grated garlic
- ¼t kosher salt
- 2T fresh lemon juice
- 2T harissa
- ¼C olive oil
- Topping
- ¼C toasted sliced almonds
- Serve warm
Make the dressing and set aside to marinade. Then cook the pasta per directions, in salty water. Meanwhile, heat 2T oil in non-stick skillet and add sweet potato cubes, seasoned with a pinch of salt. Cook until soft and starting to brown, then add the broccolini. Cook until they turn bright green and are tender. Then combine the pasta and veggies/nuts and toss in the dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
PattyCooks Greek Pasta Salad
- Ingredients
- Pasta (my favorites are gemelli, bowtie, rotini)
- Thinly sliced Kalamata olives
- Thinly sliced raw red onion that is cut in half (moon shaped)
- Halved grape tomatoes
- Parsley leaves
- Crumbled feta cheese
- Chopped pickled artichoke hearts
- Capers
- Chopped un-peeled or peeled and deseeded cucumbers
- Chopped red, yellow, orange sweet peppers
- Dressing
- Greek oriented commercial salad dressing
- Or make your own
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Dijon or similar French mustard
- Dried oregano + thyme + dill
- Kosher salt + freshly ground pepper
- Serve cold
All pasta salads follow these directions: Make the salad dressing. Cook the pasta, and while that is happening chop all the ingredients. Then add some of the dressing to the still warm pasta and let sit a bit; then add the remaining ingredients, and more dressing, mixing well. Cool it down and taste, adding seasoning or red hot pepper flakes or more herbs as you prefer.
Sweet American Pasta Salad
This is a mayo-based pasta that I find okay, but sweet (some add sugar) and more often than not very bland. Some of this is due to the USA mayonnaise, which is very fatty but non-descript. I have also tasted Miracle Whip (invented in 1933), that some people use instead of mayonnaise, and that adds its own twang to the flavor.
- HealthLine: Miracle Whip and mayonnaise are two similar, widely used condiments. They’re made with many of the same ingredients but have some notable differences. While Miracle Whip contains less fat and fewer calories than mayo, it packs more sugar and additives.
But also people do not seem to take flavor into consideration, since their memories of this USA dish seems to be more about the fun time they were having and a smooth textured salad, than actual flavor of the ingredients. So I try to up the flavor when making this version by using Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, chop the veggies larger so they are actually big enough to taste, and lessen the sugar.
- Ingredients
- 1# Pasta (elbow, or shorter ditalini) cooked in salted water
- I chopped red bell pepper
- 2 chopped celery ribs (include the leaves)
- 1/2C diced red onion
- 1/2C chopped sweet pickles
- 3 chopped hard boiled eggs
- Dressing
- 1C Kewpie Mayo
- 2T apple cider vinegar
- 2T Dijon or French mustard
- 1T organic sugar
- 1t kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- Toppings
- Sweet paprika
- Whole parsley leaves
- Serve cold
Make the dressing, cook pasta and eggs, and prep all the ingredients. Once the pasta is done, combine with half the dressing while pasta is warm so it soaks up the dressing. Then wait till the pasta cools, to add all the ingredients and the rest of the dressing. Top with a sprinkling of paprika and parsley and serve cool or at room temperature.
Lemon + Orzo Pasta Salad
This is a variation from the Pioneer Woman’s Grilled Chicken and Lemon Orzo Salad. It is a bit Mediterranean in its orientation, and very tasty when the chicken is cooked perfectly so it is still juicy.
- Ingredients
- 1C pasta cooked in salted water
- 1/2C diced red onion
- 1 minced garlic
- 1T grass fed butter + 1T olive oil for cooking meat
- 1 chopped chicken breast (or use tempeh or tofu)
- Oil + Kosher salt + freshly ground pepper to season the meat
- 2 halved lemons
- 1/2 diced red bell pepper
- 6oz peas in their pods
- 2 scallions cut on the diagonal
- Dressing
- Grill, zest + juice 1 lemon (halved to grill)
- 2T olive oil
- 1T raw honey
- season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- Toppings
- Sliced lemons
- Serve while chicken is still warm, but the salad can be cold
Make the dressing in a large bowl, then after the pasta is cooked and drained, place it also in the bowl and mix.
In a hot skillet, melt butter with olive oil, cook the onion and garlic until onions are translucent. Then add this into the pasta bowl and mix well again. Set aside to cook the chicken.
Cook the chicken by oiling and seasoning them with salt + pepper. Then cook (fry, grill or bake) the chicken. Once done, slice into bite size, and add to bowl, again mixing it up well. If using tofu, I generally remove all water from Tofu, then sprinkle with cornstarch or rice flower and fry. Then before serving will mix in with sauce, since the starch covering allows the sauce to stick on something.
Balsamic Strawberry Pasta Salad
This variation came from reviewing and eating many strawberry-based salads. I think this is one of the better ones, derived from Delish. But I use a very different approach to the dressing.
- Ingredients
- 1# penne pasta
- 3C baby spinach
- 2C sliced strawberries
- 1C crumbled feta
- 1/4C toasted sliced almonds
- Dressing
- 2T raw honey
- 1T Dijon mustard
- 1/2t fine sea salt
- 1/2t freshly ground long pepper (keep it a bit corse)
- 1 grated garlic (use a planer)
- 1/4C balsamic vinegar
- 3/4C extra virgin olive oil
Cook the pasta, then drizzle some of the dressing on the pasta and let it absorb. Then mix all the ingredients, and drizzle some more dressing over the salad. Taste the salad before serving, season or add more dressing or fruit if required.
Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
- Ingredients
- 1# pasta
- Chopped skinned chicken breasts (or tempeh)
- 1 diced celery stalk
- 1C shredded carrots
- Dressing
- ½C plain fat free Greek yogurt
- Crumbled blue cheese (as much as you prefer)
- 1/3C blue cheese dressing
- 1/3C Redhot buffalo sauce
- To adjust taste: add more cheese, or hot sauce, season, or even put a rub on the chicken before you cook it.
Make the dressing in a large bowl. Cook the pasta per the box instructions, and add to the bowl. Add the veggies and mix well.
Season the chicken breasts and coat in cornstarch or rice flour. Then air fry (or fry) and once cool enough to handle, cut into bite size pieces. Add to the bowl, mix well, and serve.
Conclusion
I have not discussed other types of pasta (like soba noodle salads), or different grains or seeds (like quinoa or rice noodle salads). Those will be future posts.
Pasta salad is not limited to just one thing, but can be shaped and molded to fit whatever the local cuisine. From Middle Eastern to Mediterranean salads, from mayo to vinegar based dressings, from hot to cold salads, to whatever limits your imagination.
-Patty
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