{"title":"How to Make Pasta Salad","canonicalUrl":"https://www.showmestepbystep.com/cooking/how-to-make-pasta-salad","category":{"slug":"cooking","name":"Cooking"},"creator":{"name":"Sugar Spun Run","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaRak5TaHSILxHvwxWcLzkw","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1KZF9DjbrM"},"tldr":"Make an easy pasta salad for any cookout or potluck. Rotini, fresh veggies, feta, and Italian dressing tossed together and chilled until the flavors pop.","totalDurationSeconds":303,"difficulty":"easy","tools":[],"materials":[],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Cook the Rotini","text":"Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil and salt it well. Add twelve ounces of rotini and cook for about seven minutes, or until the box says al dente. Stir now and then so nothing sticks.Tri-colored rotini is the move here. The spirals hold onto dressing, so every bite carries flavor."},{"number":2,"title":"Drain, Cool, and Oil the Pasta","text":"Drain the pasta well, then run it under cold water right away. That stops the cooking so it does not turn mushy while it waits.Tip it into a large bowl and toss with about a teaspoon of olive oil. Just a little keeps the noodles loose and separate while you prep everything else."},{"number":3,"title":"Add the Tomatoes and Peppers","text":"Add a cup of halved or quartered cherry tomatoes to the bowl. Then add half a red pepper and half a green pepper, both diced. Using half of each gives you color and a slightly sharper bite than one pepper alone.No rule says you have to split the peppers. A whole red or a whole green works fine if you would rather not save half."},{"number":4,"title":"Add Onion, Feta, and Cucumber","text":"Add half a cup of diced red onion. Red onion has the flavor that meshes best with everything else, though any onion you have on hand will do.Then add half a cup of feta and half a cup of cucumber, quartered and sliced thin. Cutting the cucumber small helps it spread through every scoop instead of clumping."},{"number":5,"title":"Add Banana Peppers and Parsley","text":"Add a quarter cup of sliced banana peppers. They bring a little zip and tang that makes the whole bowl more interesting, so nudge the amount up if you like that kind of thing.Finish with two tablespoons of fresh parsley for a clean, herby note."},{"number":6,"title":"Pour in the Dressing and Toss","text":"Pour in a cup of Italian dressing and toss until everything is coated. Homemade Italian dressing is worth it if you have a few minutes, but a good bottled one works too.It should smell amazing right about now. Give it a thorough mix so the dressing reaches the bottom of the bowl."},{"number":7,"title":"Chill, Then Stir and Serve","text":"Cover the bowl and chill for at least thirty minutes. That rest is where the flavors come together, so do not skip it. A couple of hours is even better and it will not dry out.Right before serving, give it one more good stir to spread the dressing and flavor evenly. Then set it out and watch it disappear."}],"recipe":{"servings":"Serves 8 as a side","prepMinutes":20,"cookMinutes":7,"cuisine":"Italian","ingredients":[{"name":"rotini pasta","notes":"tri-colored","amount":"12 oz"},{"name":"cherry tomatoes","notes":"halved or quartered","amount":"1 cup"},{"name":"red bell pepper","notes":"diced","amount":"1/2"},{"name":"green bell pepper","notes":"diced","amount":"1/2"},{"name":"red onion","notes":"diced","amount":"1/2 cup"},{"name":"feta cheese","amount":"1/2 cup"},{"name":"cucumber","notes":"quartered and sliced","amount":"1/2 cup"},{"name":"banana peppers","notes":"sliced","amount":"1/4 cup"},{"name":"fresh parsley","amount":"2 tbsp"},{"name":"Italian dressing","amount":"1 cup"},{"name":"olive oil","amount":"1 tsp"},{"name":"salt","notes":"for the pasta water"}]},"lastUpdated":"2026-07-04T20:32:29.723Z","published":"2026-07-04T20:22:27.559Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}