Antipasto Pasta Salad with Creamy Pesto Dressing
The Inspiration…
One of my favorite summer foods is a good old pasta salad. They are easy to put together, feed a crowd, and I almost always have the ingredients on hand. But as much as I enjoy a pasta salad at a picnic, I don’t always love how heavy they are. Sometimes they leave you wanting something that is packed with a little more flavor. I happened to have a container of pesto sitting in my fridge last summer and decided to put a little twist on and old favorite! Enter my Antipasto Pasta Salad with Creamy Pesto Dressing! (Try to say that three times fast!) The bright fragrant pesto is packed with flavor and lends itself perfectly to the flavors of an antipasto. Bring this to your next BBQ and it will be the star of the show!
Start by cooking a lb. of your favorite pasta. The shape doesn’t matter but I tend to buy pasta that has ridges or texture so that the sauce clings to it a little better. While the pasta cooks chop up all those wonderful antipasto favorites! Olives, pepperoncini, salami or pepperoni, tomato, onion, artichokes, cheese. Whatever you had on hand works in this salad!
Next, you’ll mix up this creamy pesto dressing. Take some mayonnaise, white vinegar, salt, and pesto. Mix those together and the dressing is done! I like to buy the pesto that is in the olive bar at my local grocery store. Any prepared pesto works, you just may need to adjust the salt content. I’ll be working on my own pesto recipe this summer when there is an abundance of basil in my garden! Stay tuned!
When the pasta is cooked to your liking drain and rinse it under cool water. Add all of the ingredients to a large serving dish and mix well until everything in evenly incorporated. I like to serve this right. If you are taking this to a potluck, I’d mix half the dressing in and then wait until just before serving to mix in the other half. This will make sure the pasta doesn’t absorb all that creamy goodness. Top with some freshly grated parmesan for something extra and enjoy!
Antipasto Pasta Salad with Creamy Pesto Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 lb pasta, cooked and rinsed
- 3/4 cup pesto
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 3 TBSP white vinegar
- 1/3 cup artichoke quarters, diced
- 1/2 cup pepperoncini, diced
- 1/3 cup olives, slived
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, cubed
- 1/2 cup pepperoni or salami, diced
- 1/4 cup Peruvian pearl peppers (or other sweet pepper)
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Set your pasta on to cook.
- While the pasta cooks, chop all of your other antipasto ingredients and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add your pesto, mayonnaise, vinegar, and salt. Add the salt to taste based on the salt in your pesto. I use about 1 tsp.
- Once the pasta is cooked to your desired doneness, drain and rinse it. Then add it to the dressing. Mix thoroughly to coat all the pasta noodles evenly. Then add in your other ingredients and gently mix until they are evenly distributed throughout.
Notes
If you are bringing this to a potluck or BBQ, I would mix half the dressing ahead of time to keep the noodles from drying out. I would stir in the other half of the dressing right before serving. This will keep the noodles from absorbing all of the dressing.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
352.31Fat
25.37Sat. Fat
5.51Carbs
22.21Fiber
2.41Net carbs
19.8Sugar
2.11Protein
7.99Sodium
658.18Cholesterol
20.12Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.