I love pasta salad. It’s one of those meals (or side dishes) you can customize a million different ways, it’s easy to make, and it makes great leftovers.
What’s not to love?! So, I thought I’d share my favorite three easy pasta salad dressing recipes.
The three pasta salad dressings I use most often are homemade balsamic, Italian, and a creamy option. These all go well with about 8-10 ounces of cooked pasta plus whatever other ingredients you are throwing in.
I most often use one of the two oil-based dressings, but if I’m making a pasta salad that has more vegetables/crunch, then I often opt for the creamy (like this creamy winter pasta salad).
You can customize these three dressings further if you want to add a handful of chopped fresh herbs or a little heat with some red pepper flakes or cayenne.
And if you’re mostly still reading because you want to know where I bought that rainbow pasta, here it is. 🙂
The basic recipe for pasta salad is cooked pasta, one of these dressings, a few chopped vegetables (cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, broccoli, etc.), some cheese, and a few chopped fresh herbs.
Sometimes I’ll add pepperoni if I’m feeling wild. Ha. Enjoy! xo. Emma
If you like this, check out my Green Goddess Salad Dressing and Poppy Seed Dressing!
3 Easy Pasta Salad Dressings
recipes for creamy, balsamic and Italian dressings
Creamy Dressing:
- ¼ cup mayo
- ¼ cup greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- salt + pepper
Balsamic Dressing:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon mustard dijon
- salt + pepper
Italian Dressing:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ lemon juiced
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
The creamy dressing will yield 1 cup. The two oil-based dressings will yield about 3/4 of a cup. For all three dressings, the amount works well with about 8-10 ounces cooked pasta plus whatever mix-in ingredients you choose. But, some like more or less dressing on their pasta salad, so this is just my suggestion for serving (the way I like it!).