Easy Summer Pasta Salad
Updated May 30, 2023
Quick Summary
Easy Summer Pasta Salad-a simple pasta salad recipe that is perfect for all of your summer BBQ’s and potlucks!
I make this Easy Summer Pasta Salad every year for neighborhood and family parties. It is always the first salad to go and I always get lots of requests for the recipe. I am so glad we have a blog so I can share it here! Now, everyone can have enjoy this recipe! YAY! I know you are going to love it. It is the perfect pasta salad for summertime!
I love this pasta salad because it is loaded with fresh summer vegetables. It is a great recipe for using up all of the vegetables from your garden or farmers market haul. The vegetables make the salad bright and colorful!
How to Make Summer Pasta Salad
- For the salad, we used Farfalle pasta. I love using butterfly pasta because it is pretty and fun to eat! You can use any pasta, use your favorite or what you have in your pantry.
- Cook the pasta until al dente, according to package instructions.
- To the pasta, we added tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, artichokes, fresh basil, and feta cheese.
- Toss the salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I love using my homemade dressing, it is so easy to whisk up! Of course, you can use your favorite store-bought dressing.
- Garnish with extra basil, if desired.
How to Store
This pasta salad is a great recipe to take to summer BBQ’s and potlucks. It transports well and can be made for the masses. You can easily double, triple, or times this recipe by 10 if you need to. Just make sure you have a big bowl:)
We also love eating this pasta salad for lunch or dinner and the leftovers are great. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. When ready to serve, you might want to toss it in a little extra dressing.
More Pasta Salad Recipes:
- Greek Tortellini Salad
- Easy Pasta Salad
- Spinach Artichoke Pasta Salad
- Italian Tortellini Salad
- Caprese Pasta Salad
Easy Summer Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry pasta (we used farfalle)
- 1 small yellow bell pepper, seeds removed and diced
- 1 small red bell pepper, seeds removed and diced
- 1 small orange bell pepper, seeds removed and diced
- 1 large seedless cucumber, chopped
- 12 oz jar artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
- 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup balsamic vinaigrette (can use store bought)
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/3 cup finely chopped basil
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente; drain, then rinse with cold water to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine pasta, peppers, cucumber, artichoke hearts, and tomatoes. Pour the balsamic dressing over the pasta salad and gently stir to combine. Add the feta cheese and basil and stir again. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Chill until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
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Gorgeous! Can’t beat a good pasta salad with heaps of fresh veggies at this time of year 🙂
Food for 200? What a fun challenge! The pasta salad looks divine!
We do lots of neighborhood get-togethers too! Mostly very spontaneous. Everyone just brings a dish and we chat and chew!
10 minute prep, now that’s what I like!
Must be fun being your neighbor!
Love a good pasta salad and this one looks perfect!
I love our neighborhood potlucks though yours sound so much more organized! Thanks for posting a great pasta salad recipe. I wish we were neighbors too! SLC sounds amazing.
I make a recipe similar to this but with fresh mozzarella instead of goat and olive oil instead of balsamic…this sounds delicious too.
PS I feel like most of my pinterest board is dedicated to you and your fab meals!
This pasta salad looks wonderful!
Oh . . . I love summer salads and this one looks great! I really want to make a wheat berry salad today. It’s healthy and is a delish alternative to noodles. Hey! I could even use ZOODLES {zucchini cut to look like a noodle}!
From your whole food-y!
Janie Lynn
My Over-all Apron – recent post: HEALTHY + DAIRY-FREE VANILLA PUDDING
http://myover-allapron.blogspot.com/2014/07/dairy-free-vanilla-pudding.html
This definitely looks perfect for summer. Pasta salads FTW!
This looks yummy! It’s full of all sorts of things I love. I’m always looking for good pasta salad recipes. I need to give it a try.
This looks delish ! I have never purchased balsamic dressing, so can you help me out with a brand or two you like ? There is nothing like looking at the row of ….dressing or whatever it is that you have never used before….and staring at it forever, not knowing which one to get !
I like Maple Grove Farms brand. When I made the salad for our neighborhood I used Costco’s brand because it was easy to buy in bulk for such a huge salad! It was good!
What a great salad for summer! I love the colors!
Oh, i love these vegetable pasta salads, tasty with a nice crunch. They are perfect for picnics.
So colorful and vibrant!
Yum! Makes me nostalgic for my mom’s pasta salad. I never think of making it for myself. Saving your recipe though!
This is my kind of pasta salad!
A great salad. Thank you and have a Fun Weekend!
Hi! I have two huge rounds of Cotija cheese (the two pack from Costco actually, LOL!/Ha!) but no Feta…what do you think about substituting the feta for crumbled or chunked up cotija?? Think it would be tasty?? I really want to make this salad this weekend! It looks really delicious, and pretty too! Thanks! ; )
wow looks so fresh and tasty.. definitely will be adding this recipe to my meal planning for the week. thanks for the idea!
Looks delicious! Just found out that one of my niece’s besties – Ali from Gimme Some Oven – is your friend too! Small world.
Looks so lovely! I love bringing pasta salads to picnics as they are so delicious and easy!!
http://youtube.com/addalittlefood
Thank you for this timely recipe! I needed a recipe to make for our church potluck tomorrow. This is perfect – thanks so much!
Oh yum, this definitely does look like the perfect summer salad!
now this is my kind of pasta salad!! this would go perfect with the turkey burgers I grilled last night! thanks for the recipe Maria!
Bow ties are my favorite, must make this for my guys soon!
Oh man, am I looking for easy these days. So many projects that summer is just perfect for in addition to so many events and so much of all kinds of good ‘stuff’, but time consuming. This is perfect.
Looks and sounds amazing, as usual! xo
That’s alotta people! Great easy salad!
Pasta salad is definitly the best ! A summer hit !
I am looking to make this for a family gathering, can I make it the night before or is it best made fresh?
You can make it the night before. Maybe just freshen it up a bit by tossing it with a little more dressing and add some feta and basil on top! Enjoy!
I am making this salad today. So excited to try it! But Smiths was out of jarred artichoke hearts. I’ve never purchased them before. Are the canned ones ok? Or better to make it without?
I have made this a few times because it is soooo good! Definitely take to a potluck or BBQ, as it makes tons!! I shared my first batch with 6 other adults while camping and I was still eating it for days after (leftovers are good, but not as good as fresh). The second time I made just half a batch. I have also made this up two days ahead for camping, but left out feta, basil and dressing until just before serving. I have also made with canned artichokes (very good) and without basil (just as good). I used Trader Joe’s balsalmic dressing. Yum!
Glad you like the recipe!
I just made this for our labor day cookout and it was a huge hit! I made the balsamic dressing from scratch as we rarely have any store-bought on hand. Thanks for posting so many great recipes 🙂
This was such a wonderful dish! I made it last week for a few days for my lunch and again this week!
Glad you liked it!
This looks so delicious. I’m attending a pot luck on Saturday. I want to make this, can you possibly give the recipe for 200 people? Thanks!
That looks amazing!
I wish I had seen this earlier, it was over 100 degrees today on the Prairie and it would have perfect for dinner. I think I’ll substitute fresh mozzarella instead of feta because my husband isn’t a big fan of it!
It is a hit here.
I like salad. Your recipe looks very delicous. I will try it soon. Thank for share this awesome post.
Tried this out! I ended up mixing balsamic vinegar and Italian dressing. Turned out amazing !!
Thank you for the recipe!
You are welcome. Glad you liked it!
This is a delicious and healthful summer salad. Easy to prepare, after all the pepper dicing, and very attractive on the buffet table. My family loved it!
Yay! So happy you liked the pasta salad!
love it also im at school lol eatting this:)
Can’t wait to try this one.
It’s so good!
I made this salad over the weekend and it was delicious. I appreciate how much detail you share in your recipes. The farfalle pasta was perfect, it holds up well when mixing in the rest of the ingredients. And I took your suggestion (from the comments section) and used Maple Grove Farms balsamic dressing. I’ve been wanting a go-to pasta salad for parties, and this is the one. Thank you!
So glad you liked the pasta salad. Thanks for letting us know!
Absolutely wonderful, skipped artichoke hearts, not familiar with them. But everyone loved it
Approximately how many people does this recipe feed as a side dish?
About 10 people
What can I substitute for the peppers? My dinner guest is allergic to all peppers. I could use zucchini, but is there anything else I could use, or would that be enough?
You can use any veggies!
Got rave reviews on this all around. Everyone loved the variety of veggies. I made my own dressing by blending red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and fresh red onion in a magic bullet which made it creamy. Was fantastic!
Why is your pasta white. I didn’t realize the balsamic would make it brown. It wasn’t very appealing. It tasted ok.
We love this salad! I found the recipe several years ago to make when we camp. We’ve even eaten it for breakfast! Leftover grilled chicken is also a nice addition.