Pesto Pasta Salad

This Pesto Pasta Salad is a real crowd-pleaser. It’s a simple, make-ahead summer salad recipe that’s perfect for parties, picnics, and potlucks.

Tender pasta is tossed in a delicious pesto sauce. We’ll add juicy cherry or grape tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, olives, and, of course, sun-dried tomatoes! It’s just so good.

It’s the perfect make ahead salad recipe. In fact, if you make it a day ahead the flavors will just intensify overnight. Just remember to take it out of the fridge about 15 minutes before serving.

Why We Love This Salad for Summer

Easy To Make. If you add the time it takes to cook the pasta. It takes still less than 30 minutes to make this salad.

Easy To Customize. You can make this recipe your own. Instead of using store-bought pasta, you can make homemade pesto. Instead of basil pasta, try this 5-minute Parsley Pesto.

Easy Prep. This is a great recipe to make a day ahead. It gives the salad to marinate and for the flavors to intensify. Remove it from the fridge 15 minutes before serving.

Limited Ingredient Recipe: You really don’t need much to make this salad. If you don’t have sun-dried tomatoes, skip them; they’ll still taste amazing. But if you do have some sitting in your pantry, it’s a great recipe to use up sun-dried tomatoes.

This is a Crowd Pleaser. I don’t know if it’s the pesto, the juicy tomatoes, the creamy mozzarella, or the olives, but all of the flavors complement each other beautifully.

Ingredient Notes

Pasta – Any short pasta will do. I will usually use fusilli pasta for all of my pasta salads. I’ve found that Rao’s makes the absolute best pasta (the link is for their bow tie pasta which I have also used and loved before). And I try to find them whenever I can.

Pesto. You can easily make homemade basil pesto or our Parsley Pesto, or pick up a jar of pesto in the store.

Tomatoes. Thankfully, we can find tomatoes all year round. But they are most delicious and flavorful when they are in season between May and October. This is why I highly recommend using them for this summer pasta salad.

Olives. You might have noticed that I love olives. Black olives have that saltiness that works so well with the tomato and mozzarella flavors. I use about 1 cup of sliced olives. That means I will buy two 2 oz cans of these black pre-sliced olives or a 4 oz can at Trader Joe’s.

Mozzarella. Ahh, who doesn’t love fresh mozzarella? Even our dog loves it as I found out when I dropped a mozzarella on the floor and scooped it right up. And then he ran off, wagging his tail to devour his prize. But I digress.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes. Adding sun-dried tomatoes rounds off the flavors beautifully. For this recipe, I like to use the kind that is in a jar marinating in oil.

Variations and Additions

Grilled Chicken. Add 2-3 cups of grilled chicken, and you’ve got yourself a wholesome and delicious meal. Perfect for summer lunches!

How To Make Pesto Pasta Salad

1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Cook al dente. Drain with cold water and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine pasta with cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella balls. Add the pesto sauce and toss until well combined. Top with olives and sun-dried tomatoes. If desired, season with salt and pepper.

Optional: Garnish with fresh basil

Trending Summer Salad Recipes

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• Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad – the one that doesn’t need a description
• Watermelon and Orange Salad – the ‘other’ watermelon salad you have to try

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Pesto Pasta Salad

Author: Maike Corbett

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Serving Size 6

Tender pasta, juicy tomatoes, and creamy mozzarella are tossed in a delicious pesto sauce and topped with olives and sun-dried tomatoes. This is a great party salad that you can make a day ahead.

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 pound pasta short, such as fusilli, elbow macaroni, or penne pasta
• ▢ 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
• ▢ 2 ounces mozzarella balls halved
• ▢ 1 cup black olives sliced
• ▢ 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• ▢ 6 ounces pesto

Instructions

• Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
• Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Do the same with the mozzarella balls.
• In a large bowl combine pasta with the tomatoes, mozzarella balls, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes. Add pesto and toss to combine. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 503

Carbs: 72g

Fat: 18g

Protein: 16g

Nutritional Disclaimer

Cheerful Cook team members are not trained nutritionists or medical professionals. Calorie information and nutritional values are estimates. If you have nutritional concerns, we recommend using a nutritional calculator.

Maike Corbett

Maike Corbett is the founder and food blogger of Cheerful Cook, a popular recipe website featuring comfort food recipes from the US and Germany. She has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the AP Wire and MSN.