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.

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).

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Tri-Color Pasta Salad

Yield: 8 Servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 14 minutes mins

Total Time: 34 minutes mins

4.74 stars (199 ratings)

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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)

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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

Caesar Salad Dressing: choose a brand of dressing that you love the flavor of. I recommend these brands: Ken’s, Marzetti, Breannes or Newman’s Own.

Tomatoes: you can use regular tomatoes in place of the Roma; I like to give them a light squeeze over the sink after slicing in half to get rid of a bit of water before adding them to the salad.

Pesto: for a brighter, fresher flavor, refrigerated storebought pesto is my preference over jarred/shelf stable pesto. 

Pine Nuts: I’ve subbed unsalted sunflower seeds for the pine nuts before with good results (although pine nuts are my preference; love them!).

 

Author: Mel

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American, Italian

Method: Stovetop

Serving: 1 Serving, Calories: 465kcal, Carbohydrates: 38g, Protein: 12g, Fat: 31g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 15mg, Sodium: 1367mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 3g

Recommended Products

Cookware

Over-the-Sink Colander

Pasta/Salad Bowls

Recipe Source: from my Aunt Marilyn
Recipe originally posted September 2016; updated September 2024 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.

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