This vibrant Spaghetti Salad options tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, inexperienced olives, purple onion, and feta cheese. The pasta and veggies are tossed with home made Italian dressing made with pantry staples. It is a crowd-pleasing chilly pasta salad good for making forward and sharing together with your family and friends as a facet dish at Spring and Summer time picnics, potlucks, BBQs, or events.
Fast and straightforward 20-minute Spaghetti Salad
This crowd-pleasing chilly spaghetti salad comes collectively in simply 20 minutes! It is easy sufficient to function an on a regular basis facet dish together with your weeknight dinner or for a big day when entertaining company or having firm. The spaghetti is combined with contemporary tomatoes, cucumber, olives, purple onion, and feta cheese. The home made Italian-inspired dressing combines olive oil, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. It is an ideal chilly pasta salad that may be made upfront to deliver and share at Summer time festivities, potlucks, barbecues, picnics, and cookouts! Serve it as is, or add protein to show it into an entire meal. For extra pasta salad inspiration, try this scrumptious Mexican Road Corn Pasta Salad or family-favorite Broccoli Ranch Pasta Salad with Bacon, Tomatoes, Candy Peas, and Cheddar Cheese.
Why this recipe works
- This versatile recipe is definitely adjustable to what you may have out there. You should use any type of pasta (not simply spaghetti), varied greens, and cheese. You can also make dressing from scratch or use store-bought Italian or Greek.
- It may be made beforehand and solely will get higher after being refrigerated. Nice for making forward!
- This chilly spaghetti salad is ideal for sharing. Deliver it to picnics, potlucks, yard barbecues, block events, cookouts, and different festivities. It is an ideal pasta salad for Spring, Summer time, or year-round.
- Excellent for entertaining: it really works as an appetizer, facet salad, or lunch. You will love how vibrant and colourful it’s – an incredible dish to impress your company.
The components
- Pasta. You should use any form you want, together with spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine, bucatini, or angel hair pasta. You too can use short-cut pasta, akin to bow-tie, penne, rigatoni, fusilli, or orecchiette.
- Tomatoes. I used grape (or cherry) tomatoes in two colours. They make a stupendous presentation, however you should use common tomatoes, too.
- Cucumber. Use two medium cucumbers or one giant one.
- Olives. Use pitted black and inexperienced olives.
- Feta cheese has a smooth texture and briny taste. Excellent for mixing in with the spaghetti salad.
- Purple onion supplies a zesty chew. You do not want a lot – solely about ¼ cup of chopped onions.
Do-it-yourself Italian dressing
- Salad dressing components embody further virgin olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. I like to recommend utilizing freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice (not bottled) and additional virgin olive oil. I additionally like including one tablespoon of honey to steadiness the flavors.
- Mix all of the dressing components in a mason jar and whisk with the fork (or shut the jar with the lid and shake it vigorously to mix the flavors).
How you can make spaghetti salad
This chilly spaghetti salad solely takes 20 minutes to make. You possibly can serve it instantly or refrigerate it for as much as 4 days. Under is the overview. The detailed recipe (with quantities) is on the backside of this put up (on the recipe card).
- Prepare dinner the pasta in boiling water in accordance with the package deal directions. Drain, rinse with chilly water, and drain once more. Within the meantime, proceed with the remainder of the recipe.
- Make salad dressing in a big bowl by combining further virgin olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, honey, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- Put together the veggies. Add sliced tomatoes, cucumber, purple onion, and olives into the identical giant bowl with the dressing. Toss to mix.
- Meeting. Add drained cooked pasta and feta cheese to the bowl with veggies. Toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper.
Are you able to make it forward?
Chilly spaghetti salad solely will get higher because it sits (refrigerated) so the flavors can mix. You can also make it as much as a day upfront. Or, make it within the morning, refrigerate it in an hermetic container, and serve it for lunch or dinner the identical day.
Variations and substitutions
- Pasta. Although it is a spaghetti salad, you should use any type of pasta you want (or have out there!). This contains linguine, fettuccine, angel hair pasta, or bucatini. You too can use short-cut pasta: small shells, fusilli (spiral pasta), bow-tie pasta (farfalle), penne, rigatoni, or rotini.
- Veggies. My favorites are asparagus, bell peppers, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, marinated artichokes, and zucchini.
- Add leafy greens, akin to arugula, backyard greens, or lettuce.
- Cheese. This recipe makes use of feta cheese. You too can add small Mozzarella balls (pearls), sliced Mozzarella, or cubed Parmesan. Or, add grated Parmesan.
- Salad Dressing. Make a dressing from scratch or use store-bought Italian or Greek dressing.
- Don’t love purple onions? Strive chopped inexperienced onions.
- Lime or lemon will work nice. Freshly squeezed juice is at all times the most effective!
Scrumptious add-ins
- Add prosciutto, bacon, or pepperoni. You possibly can briefly crispy up the prosciutto within the preheated oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes.
- Add a protein, akin to leftover hen, rotisserie hen, sauteed or grilled shrimp, or salmon, to show spaghetti salad into a fast and straightforward weeknight dinner!
- Add pine nuts as a topping. I wish to toast pine nuts briefly (and punctiliously!) within the oven for a fair richer taste.
- Add capers as an alternative of olives, or add them as well as.
- Add different toppings, akin to contemporary herbs (basil, thyme, or oregano), chopped inexperienced onions, or chopped chives.
- Make it spicy by including purple pepper flakes.
Cooking ideas
- Prepare dinner pasta al dente for the most effective texture. This texture works greatest with the spaghetti salad, particularly if you wish to make it forward. To prepare dinner pasta al dente, you often need to boil it 2 minutes shorter than regular. For instance, if the package deal directions let you know to boil pasta for 10 minutes – prepare dinner the pasta in boiling water for 8 minutes as an alternative.
- Rinse cooked pasta underneath chilly water earlier than including to the salad. This step is vital. You need spaghetti to retain its texture and never get mushy. Additionally, because you’re mixing the spaghetti with feta cheese, you don’t need the pasta to maintain releasing the starch that can combine with the feta – that may even lead to a mushy and creamy texture.
- Make it gluten-free. Use the gluten-free pasta of your selection. Lentil or chickpea gluten-free pasta will style nice right here.
- Make it dairy-free. Use dairy-free, vegan feta cheese as an alternative of normal feta.
- How you can serve it? Serve it heat, at room temperature, or chilly.
Storage Suggestions
This chilly spaghetti salad will get solely higher higher because it sits within the fridge. It is best to serve it inside 2 days, however you possibly can hold it refrigerated in an hermetic container for as much as 4 days.
Are you able to make it forward?
That is a type of recipes that tastes even higher the subsequent day as soon as all of the flavors mix. It is an ideal facet dish to deliver to potlucks or to make for the vacations. Listed here are some tips about methods to make this forward.
- Assemble all the salad components in a big, hermetic container. Refrigerate for as much as 4 days. In fact, it is best to serve it inside 24 hours.
- Add further salad dressing earlier than serving. The spaghetti salad tends to take in the dressing because it sits within the fridge. You possibly can shortly make the identical dressing from scratch or use store-bought Italian or Greek dressing. Add this further dressing instantly earlier than serving to clean up the salad.
Different pasta salads you may like
- Corn Pasta Salad with Bacon and Creamy Pesto Dressing
- Mexican Road Corn Pasta Salad
- Summer time Pasta Salad with Peaches, Spinach, Tomatoes, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella Cheese
- Broccoli Ranch Pasta Salad with Bacon, Tomatoes, Candy Peas, and Cheddar Cheese
- Greek Tortellini Salad with Tomatoes, Avocados, Cucumbers, and Feta Cheese
- Hen Pasta Salad with Apricots, Spinach, Bacon, and Feta
Spaghetti Salad
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Substances
Pasta
- 16 oz spaghetti
Salad dressing
- ¼ cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- ¼ cup further virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon honey
- salt and pepper to style
Salad components
- 12 oz cherry tomatoes purple and yellow (sliced in half)
- 2 medium cucumbers sliced
- ⅓ cup purple onion chopped
- ⅓ cup black olives sliced
- ⅓ cup inexperienced olives sliced
- 4 oz crumbled feta cheese
Directions
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Deliver a big pot of water to a boil. Prepare dinner pasta in accordance with package deal directions.
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As soon as the pasta is cooked, drain it and instantly rinse it with chilly water. Drain once more.
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Whereas the pasta is cooking, proceed with the remainder of the recipe.
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In a big bowl, mix the salad dressing components: olive oil, lemon juice, honey, and Italian seasoning. Combine. Season generously with salt and pepper.
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Add sliced cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, chopped purple onion, and olives to the bowl with the dressing, mixing the dressing totally with the veggies. Allow them to marinate whereas the pasta is cooking. The tomatoes ought to launch juices.
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Add drained and rinsed spaghetti and crumbled feta cheese to the bowl with marinated veggies. Toss to mix.
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Season with salt and pepper. Add extra lemon juice, if desired.
Notes
Useful ideas
- Use any form of pasta you want, together with spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine, bucatini, or angel hair pasta. You too can use short-cut pasta, akin to bow-tie, penne, rigatoni, fusilli, or orecchiette.
- Rinse cooked pasta underneath chilly water earlier than including to the salad. This step is vital. You need spaghetti to retain its texture and never get mushy.
- Salad dressing choices. Make a dressing from scratch or use store-bought Italian or Greek.
- Veggies. Add bell peppers, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, marinated artichokes, and zucchini.
- Add leafy greens, akin to spinach or arugula.
- Cheese. Different choices moreover feta are small Mozzarella balls (pearls), sliced Mozzarella, and cubed or grated Parmesan.
- To make it gluten-free, use the gluten-free pasta of your selection. As soon as cooked, rinse the pasta with chilly water to forestall it from getting mushy.
- Make it dairy-free. Use dairy-free, vegan feta cheese as an alternative of normal.
- How you can serve it? Serve it heat, at room temperature, or chilly.
Suggestions for making it forward and meal-prep
- That is a type of recipes that tastes even higher the subsequent day as soon as all of the flavors mix.
- Assemble all the salad components in a big, hermetic container. Refrigerate for as much as 4 days. In fact, it is best to serve it inside 24 hours.
- Add further salad dressing earlier than serving. The spaghetti salad tends to take in the dressing because it rests within the fridge. You possibly can shortly make further dressing from scratch or use store-bought Italian or Greek. Add this further dressing instantly earlier than serving to clean up the salad.
Vitamin
