Tri-Color Pasta Salad
Simple to prepare, this tri-color pasta salad is the best. The creamy dressing, with a hint of pesto, is so flavorful and delicious!
I can’t think of a time that I’ve made this pasta salad and it hasn’t been met with rave reviews. It is one of my favorite pasta salads ever!
A Few Key Ingredients
There are a couple of ingredients in this pasta salad recipe that elevate it beyond your every day (sometimes boring) pasta salad.
- Tri-color rotini: while you can substitute other types of pasta in this salad, tri-color rotini adds a tasty and colorful dimension
- Caesar salad dressing: we’re relying on prepared salad dressing here, and the creamy, garlicky flavors in Caesar dressing are exceptional
- Pesto: I highly recommend using refrigerated pesto, if you can, for a much brighter, fresher flavor
- Pine nuts: toasted pine nuts are one of life’s glorious blessings
- Fresh basil: adds a pop of color and snappy flavor
This tri-color pasta salad is gorgeously colorful, but more importantly, it has layers of flavor built into every delicious bite. IT IS SO, SO GOOD.
Make-Ahead Tips
This pasta salad can be made ahead of time. I recommend making it no more than four hours ahead of time, although you can probably stretch that to about eight hours.
If making the salad ahead:
- leave off the pine nuts and fresh basil, and add those right before serving.
- plan on drizzling a bit more dressing over the pasta salad before serving as it will likely dry out a bit if it is made several hours in advance.
- try not to sneak in the fridge and eat the whole thing before it’s time to serve; that would be a bummer for everyone else.
Perfect for literally almost any occasion, I turn to this tri-color pasta salad recipe nearly every time I am called upon to make a pasta salad for a get together (or just for my family).
There are so many rave reviews on this salad!
Here are a few other rave reviews (so you don’t have to take just my word for it!):
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I make this often, and it’s really versatile. I took your recommendation and used sunflower seeds because we were out of pine nuts. So good! I will often grill up some chicken and serve it all as a meal with your focaccia bread. Perfect for summer! -Angela
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This has become my “go to ” salad! Funeral luncheons, BBQ’s…..anywhere!
LOVE IT! -Karla
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Usually I don’t even like pasta salad. It’s one of those things that someone brings to a potluck and I never taste it because I’m always disappointed. Somehow this pasta salad recipe is different for me. It taste really good and it’s the only one I ever make now. -Amy
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Three Years Ago: Blueberry Muffin Bread
Four Years Ago: Soft Peanut Butter Sugar Cookies with Chocolate Frosting {No Rolling or Cutting Out}
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Eight Years Ago: The Best Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Nine Years Ago: Skillet Zucchini and Yellow Squash {My Fave Summer Side}
Ten Years Ago: Sweet Corn Salad with Radishes, Jalapeno and Lime
Tri-Color Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 12-ounce package tri-color rotini pasta
- ⅔ to 1 cup creamy Caesar salad dressing (see note)
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 (6-ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion or green onions
- ¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 6-10 fresh basil leaves, cut into strips or torn into pieces, plus more for garnish, if desired
- ¼ cup basil pesto (see note)
- ½ to 1 cup toasted pine nuts, optional (see note)
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, lightly salted water until al dente, according to package directions. Drain the pasta and transfer to a bowl.
- Add the dressing and toss to evenly coat the warm pasta.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the pasta, except for the pine nuts and extra basil. Toss to combine. Add additional salt and pepper to taste, if needed.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve (up to 4 hours). If the pasta salad seems dry after refrigerating, add a little more Caesar dressing and stir to combine.
- Before serving, top with pine nuts and fresh basil.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from my Aunt Marilyn
Recipe originally posted September 2016; updated September 2024 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
This pasta salad recipe is a keeper! I like to make it in the summertime when I have fresh basil in my garden that I need to use. We love having the pine nuts in it (but they are so dang expensive!!) but if we don’t have any then it’s still yummy without them added. We like to use (finely diced) red onion in this recipe- not green onions.
Made this out of my cookbook and am blown away with how good this one was. Also kicking myself for not making it sooner. Left out the olives and added cooked, cut up chicken. TDF. Highly recommend.
Yay, Laura! Glad you enjoyed it so much!
Made this for my sister’s bridal shower last weekend….DELICIOUS! I am not a fan of olives and think that you could easily omit them for something like cucumber or bell peppers. Pine nuts are also crazy expensive… They just tasted SO good in this recipe though! I had a few people asking for the recipe. So, so tasty! (Gives me motivation to find a higher-paying job so I can keep making it)
Easy and flavorful. We couldn’t stop eating it. Perfect for a cookout! Thank you, Mel!
Yay! Happy you liked this one!
The first time I made this for a BBQ EVERYONE LOVED IT!! My whole family loves this dish!! Brought it to another BBQ and everyone wanted the recipe! This is a winner!!!!
This was outstanding–I added about 1/4 c. chopped sun dried tomatoes and 1/4 c. chopped artichoke hearts that had both been packed in oil and an extra Roma tomato (because I simply love tomatoes!) and made sure to hunt down some pine nuts at Costco. Worth the price. Don’t skip the toasting of the pine nuts and be sure to add them right before serving! A little drizzle of pesto & creamy Caesar stirred in before serving is awesome, too. Thank you so much for this recipe–will be making it all summer long. It lasts a few days in the fridge. My rotini said to cook for 7-8 minutes..hint for longer lasting pasta: I only cooked for 6 1/2 min to help it last and not get “soggy” 🙂
I used this salad recipe recently but I added other things like chipped up red radishes, one peeled diced cucumber, whole sweet pickles chipped up and green sliced olives in addition to the black sliced olives. And, I used Italian Dressing. So very good. I am going to look around and determine what other vegetable I can use that will maintain the integrity of the salad itself..
Looks really good I will try it, I just have a question, why Ceasar Salad dressing? Every recipe I see has used mayo, is there a specific reason for using the Caesar dressing? Could I use mayo instead, or even use a 1/2 mayo 1/2 Ceasar? just wondering how it affects taste etc etc.
It’s a matter of preference – but you can play around with the dressing ingredients. Adding just mayo in place of the Caesar salad dressing will eliminate quite a bit of flavor.
I am definitely going to try this after reading many 5 star reviews! But, I’ve made pasta salad SO many times in the past 25 years, & I’ve always rinsed the drained pasta with cold water, then refrigerate, then add dressing about 30 min before serving. But for your recipe, there is no rinsing the cooked/drained pasta with cold water?
You can definitely try that method with this recipe!
This is no ho-hum pasta salad. The flavors are SO good!
I make this often, and it’s really versatile. I took your recommendation and used sunflower seeds because we were out of pine nuts. So good! I will often grill up some chicken and serve it all as a meal with your focaccia bread. Perfect for summer!
Made this salad for labor day and a hit – It tops with 2 other pasta salads that are family favorites – thanks for sharing – I will be making this again!!
I’ve been following your website for years and I want to thank you for your bright friendly words and yummy recipes. I plan to make this Tri-Colored Pasta over the Labor Day weekend.
I wonder if you have a delicious shrimp salad recipe you could post sometime.
Thank you so much, Susie! I don’t have a shrimp salad recipe – sorry about that!
Amazing!!!!! Everyone that I have invited over for bbq’s wants this recipe!
Plus kids want it for school lunches.
Thanks Mel’s kitchen for an all time favorite recipe 🙂
Would this be ok without the pesto?
The salad will have a different flavor, but it would probably be ok without.
Wow, this was so yummy! I usually make your Italian Pasta Salad but had some pesto in the fridge so decided to give this one a try. I think this might be my new favorite pasta salad!
This has become my “go to ” salad! Funeral luncheons, BBQ’s…..anywhere!
LOVE IT!
what is the serving size
About 1/8 of the recipe – I haven’t calculated it in cups.
This is wonderful! We’ve made it a couple times and it’s been a big hit. We added chickpeas to bulk it up and used sunflower seeds and it was delicious and so easy to make! Thanks for a great recipe.
Quick question I’m making a double recipe of this for a bridal shower. I’ll need to make it the night before for timing and set up in the morning. If I make it Friday later evening and need to serve on Saturday at 1 how should I do the dressing? I get so nervous about this stuff and dressings l scare me lol thanks! Rhonda
Hi Rhonda, if making it ahead of time, leave off the Parmesan cheese and pine nuts and just make as directed. Then the next day before serving, stir in the Parmesan cheese, pine nuts and a bit more dressing to loosen it up.
This was delicious. We recently had a heat wave in California and I wanted to make something cool that didn’t need lots of kitchen time. This recipe was perfect. I made it according to the recipe except I substituted Kalamata olives for the black olives and I added some cooked chicken. The family loved it. This one is a keeper.
Looks like a wonderful salad! If I would like to make it for 40-50 people, how would I adjust the recipe? Many Thanks!
I would 5X the recipe to feed that amount. Good luck!
Awesome salad, was looking for something different to take to a Mother Day lunch and came across this recipe and what a winner it was. The grand-kids loved it and there were no left overs. Will certainly make again and pass the recipe on to friends and family members.
Your salad looks and sounds delicious! I’m planning to make it this weekend but I can’t seem to find Briannas Creamy Caesar dressing. Do you think the Briannas Asiago Caesar dressing will work?
That sounds delicious!
Excellent
Super yummy salad. I have made it several times. I now have to double it because my husband and sons fight over it!
Very Good. Will be making this again. If anyone is wondering the pine nuts make this salad addictive, worth the cost (IMO)
This is the best and only pasta salad I will ever make! The dressing is perfect for me as I don’t care for strong vinegar dressings. Everyone I’ve made it for loves it!
Best recipe ever!! I sampled all along the way and this recipe tasted great at each stage, love it!
I used marzetti creamy ceasar (low cal, simply 60), very light in flavor but adding the pesto was perfect!
Even bought a basil plant out of this recipe – only $1 more than the “fresh” in container!
Thanks for the recipe. It came out excellent. I also added diced ham.