Pizza Pasta Salad Easy Side Dish Perfect For Potlucks

We make this pizza pasta salad all the time when we are feeding a crowd, it’s the perfect side dish for BBQ’s and picnics and potlucks. It is also a very kid friendly pasta salad. Dress it up as you would your favorite pizza and then you are good to go!

Ingredients in Pizza Pasta Salad

Noodles – you can use tri-color rotini pasta, but you can also use bowtie, penne, fusilli, tortellini, or we have even seen this made with spaghetti noodles. We like using the rotini noodles because it seems to hold a lot of the delicious dressing. Cook according to package directions, then drain and rinse. Bernstein’s Restaurant Recipe Italian Dressing – the secret to this Pizza Pasta Salad is the dressing. You have to get the Bernstein’s Restaurant Recipe Italian Dressing. It is sooo much better than your regular Italian dressings (no, this is NOT a sponsored post– I really do just like it that much). I have been able to find a bottle of it at just about every grocery store I have been to. If you can’t find it, then you can also use Olive Garden Italian Salad Dressing. Sliced Pepperoni – you can also use the mini pepperonis. Mozzarella – use fresh mozzarella, mozzarella pearls, or regular mozzarella cheese cut into cubes Tomatoes – use diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes. If the cherry tomatoes are on the larger side, then cut them in half. Black Olives Parmesan Cheese

The Secret is in the Dressing

The secret to this is the dressing. You have to get the Bernstein’s Restaurant Recipe Italian Dressing. It is sooo much better than your regular Italian dressings (no, this is NOT a sponsored post– I really do just like it that much). I have been able to find a bottle of it at just about every grocery store I have been to. It is so good!

Substitutions and Additions

Feel free to leave any of the ingredients out if you think a family member wouldn’t like it. Our dad won’t do olives so if we know he is going to be eating with us we either make him a batch with no olives or we use whole olives so they are easy to pick out. You can pretty much use any of your favorite pizza toppings as an addition to this recipe, including but not limited to:

Sliced mushrooms Chopped or sliced red onion Red or green bell peppers Green Chilies Pepperocinis Cooked sausage crumbles Pineapple Ham/Canadian Bacon Chopped artichoke hearts Spices like Italian seasoning, garlic, fresh basil, and oregano