Blend all your favorite antipasto flavors into a convenient Antipasto Pasta Salad. This recipe blends spicy salami, tangy parmesan, hearty garbanzo beans, and the crunch of fresh vegetables.
One of the best Cheap Pasta Dishes, this pasta salad is great as a main dish, with a platter of cut cantaloupe melon on the side and a good glass of wine. Simple is often the best!
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This Antipasto Pasta Salad combines the best of Italian foods: hearty pasta, briny olives, nutty garbanzos, crunchy vegetables, and spicy olives, all bathed in a tangy dressing with Italian Seasoning Mix for a flavor explosion that can’t be beat.
Rain or shine, summer or winter, you’re going to want to have this salad on repeat. Not only does it make for a filling supper, but it packs super well. And… it can even be made gluten-free!
Why Make This
It’s a one-dish dinner. Pasta salad is hearty, yet cool and refreshing. Pack them with veggies and protein, and you’ll need very little in the way of side dishes.
But, it’s also good as a side dish. While it can stand on its own, this dish is delicious as a side dish for sandwiches or grilled meats.
It’s very make-ahead. Pasta salads pack easily for picnics and road trips, but also make weeknight dinners easier. Make this Antipasto Pasta Salad the day before or the morning of your serving day.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need:
pasta – You can use any noodle you have on hand, but short pasta tends to work best, especially ones like rotini that have lots of nooks and crannies for capturing the dressing. I have made this with gluten-free noodles with great results. Just be sure to watch the cooking time so as not to overcook the noodles.
a homemade dressing – While you can certainly buy a bottled dressing, making your own Italian Salad Dressing takes just minutes. You’ll need red wine vinegar, Italian herbs, salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar, and olive oil.
antipasto elements – Consider what’s typically featured in an antipasto platter: items such as cured meats, Italian cheeses, olives, and fresh or pickled veggies. I’ve included black olives, garbanzo beans, bell peppers, sliced salami, red onion, and parmesan cheese.
Variations: feel free to swap out the cheese and meat for other options such as shredded, cubed, or fresh mozzarella and chopped ham or other cold cuts. Other possible add-in’s include chopped tomatoes, artichoke hearts, giardiniera, pickled peppers, and chopped zucchini or cucumber.
Step-by-Step Instructions
This pasta salad is a cinch to prep!
- Cook the pasta in a pot of salted, boiling water, according to package directions, until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Cool slightly.
- In the mixing bowl whisk together the vinegar, Italian seasoning mix, salt and pepper to taste, and sugar. Stir in the olive oil and blend well.
- Place the cooked noodles in the bowl with the dressing and add the olives, pepper, garbanzo beans, salami, onion, cheese, basil, and parsley. Stir well to combine.
- Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.
To make ahead: The pasta salad should be good
FAQs
Antipasto is the first course of a traditional Italian meal, featuring cured meats, cheeses, and pickled and fresh vegetables. It is the course before the pasta, but does not typically include pasta.
Antipasto pasta salad is a salad pasta dish that includes the elements of antipasto, such as salami, cheese, olives, and vegetables.
Use gluten-free noodles and this dish should be completely gluten-free. Be sure to read the labels on your packaged ingredients, such as the salami, to make sure gluten is not used in the processing.
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- pasta – $1.00
- homemade dressing – $1.01
- olives – $0.98
- garbanzo beans – $0.48
- salami – $1.57
- parmesan – $0.16
- bell peppers – $1.50
- red onion – $0.25
- parmesan – $0.25
While your prices may vary depending on where you shop, you can expect to pay somewhere around $7.20 or 90 cents a serving!
More Great Italian Recipes
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Antipasto Pasta Salad
Equipment
- heavy stockpot
- colander
- large mixing bowl
- wire whisk
- spoon
Ingredients
- 1 lb rotini pasta
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning Mix
- salt
- black pepper
- pinch granulated sugar
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 6-oz can black olives drained
- 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
- 1 red bell pepper (about 1 cup chopped)
- 1 green bell pepper (about 1 cup chopped)
- 4 oz salami slices cut into strips
- ¼ red onion sliced into rings
- ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese (shredded)
- 2 tablespoon fresh basil (chopped)
- 2 tablespoon parsley (chopped)
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in a pot of salted, boiling water, according to package directions, until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Cool slightly.
- In the mixing bowl whisk together the vinegar, Italian seasoning mix, salt and pepper to taste, and sugar. Stir in the olive oil and blend well.
- Place the cooked noodles in the bowl with the dressing and add the olives, pepper, garbanzo beans, salami, onion, cheese, basil, and parsley. Stir well to combine.
- Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published May 19, 2015. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Habel from Illinois
Made this the night before last for dinner. IT WAS FANTASTIC! I’m pretty sure I used the wrong kind of salami, but it was filling and yummy! Great job!
Jessica Fisher
So glad you liked it!
Maureen
Pasta and salad? Well, this is just great. All the flavors I love are here. I will definitely make this Antipasto Pasta Salad. Love it!
karen J
We are so in a salad mood. Last night chicken caesar. Tonight steak salad with leftover steak, red onion, and blue cheese. Now I want that antipasto salad! And I have everything for it so tomorrow’s dinner is now planned!
MH in OH
Yum! Thanks for the inspiration. I need to make pasta salad soon.
Stephanie M.
I like to make Pizza Pasta Salad. This is a recipe I got out of a book a long time ago but I love to make it especially in the summer when I’m having a BBQ because it makes so much.
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
8 – 10 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stick of pepperoni, cut into small dice
1 lb. mozzarella cheese, diced
Fresh Basil leaves, sliced thin
1 lb. pasta
Dressing:
2 tsps. garlic salt
2 tsps. dried oregano
2 rounded TBS. tomato paste
3/4 cup olive oil
Cook pasta and set aside in a large bowl.
Combine. tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, bell peppers, pepperoni, mozzarella, basil, and pasta. Whisk garlic salt, oregano, tomato paste and vinegar together. Stir in olive oil. Pour dressing over pasta pasta salad and mix.
This is best served after sitting for several hours or overnight.