Spaghetti Salad

This recipe for spaghetti salad is a unique pasta salad full of crunchy vegetables and parmesan cheese, all tossed together in a homemade zesty Italian dressing. The perfect dish to feed a crowd when you’re entertaining!

This cold spaghetti salad is my favorite recipe to bring to gatherings. It’s a familiar favorite that’s always the first dish to disappear and people constantly ask me for the recipe.

We have been doing a lot of entertaining lately, nothing fancy, more like simple get-togethers with friends and family. To me, the casual dinner parties are the best kind – everyone always has a great time and I don’t feel pressured to put out an elaborate spread, I just go for easy yet delicious comfort food. This spaghetti salad is a hit at all of our gatherings – it’s fresh, colorful and feeds a crowd!

How do you make spaghetti salad?

To make spaghetti salad you’ll need cooked spaghetti, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, bell peppers and red onions. The veggies are all chopped coarsely and tossed with the pasta in Italian dressing.

This salad perfect for entertaining because you can make it earlier in the day, it just gets better as the pasta soaks up all the dressing. Speaking of dressing, I went for homemade Italian dressing here – it’s actually really easy to make, it just takes about 5 minutes!

How do you make Italian dressing?

This Italian dressing is perfect for spaghetti salad, but is also fabulous on a green salad or as a marinade for chicken or fish. The base of the dressing is olive oil and red wine vinegar, which are combined with lots of herbs, spices and parmesan cheese to make a zesty dressing that is SO much better than the store bought variety.

This spaghetti salad is a must-try recipe. It’s the perfect side dish to chicken or fish, but hearty enough to serve as a vegetarian entree. While you could use store bought Italian dressing in a pinch, the homemade dressing really makes it special and adds a lot of flavor.

The great thing about this salad is that it’s easy to switch up the vegetables to your liking. Other great options are shredded carrots, steamed broccoli, or sliced celery. You could even add some protein like chicken or shrimp to make it more of a meal. No matter how you serve it, this spaghetti salad will definitely be a hit!

More pasta recipes

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• Caprese Pasta
• Shrimp Pesto Pasta

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4.91 from 11 votes

Spaghetti Salad

This recipe for spaghetti salad is a unique pasta salad full of crunchy vegetables and parmesan cheese, all tossed together in a homemade zesty Italian dressing. The perfect dish to feed a crowd when you're entertaining!

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Keyword italian dressing, spaghetti salad

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 461kcal

Author Dinner at the Zoo

Ingredients

• For the salad:
• 1 pound of spaghetti noodles broken in half
• 1 cup of quartered and sliced cucumber
• 1/2 cup of chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup of chopped green bell pepper
• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes halved
• 1/3 cup finely diced red onion
• 2/3 cup of sliced black olives
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 1/4 cup homemade or store bought Italian dressing dressing recipe follows
• salt and pepper to taste

• For the dressing:
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine or red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 11/2 tablespoons finely minced red bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced dried onion or 1 teaspoon fresh minced onion
• 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

• For the dressing:
• Combine all of the ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously to combine. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
• For the salad:
• Cook the spaghetti in salted water according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cool water.
• Place the spaghetti in a large bowl and add the cucumber, red and green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, red onion and olives. Pour the dressing over the pasta and vegetables and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste if desired. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese and parsley over the top right before serving. Salad can be made up to 4 hours in advance.

Nutrition

Calories: 461kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 816mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 9g

This post was originally sponsored by eCover. This post was originally published on August 2, 2016 and was updated on April 26, 2018 with new content.