Pizza Pasta Salad

Pizza Pasta Salad loaded with pepperoni, olives, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, tomatoes, bell peppers and pepperocini.

Our summer BBQ’s are in full force. We’ve been using the grill almost every night to make dinner, which means I’m always in need of new side dishes to serve with dinner. Pasta salads are always an easy sell for my kids and my husband. What’s not to love about a PIZZA version?!

Is  it just me, or do fun noodle shapes make a pasta dish more exciting? Like, when I make mac and cheese I will sometimes use little shell noodles or fun spiral ones like these cellentani noodles and my family loves the dish even more then usual.

Some noodles are just cute and more fun to eat I guess. Besides the fun noodles, I love how this Pizza Pasta Salad is loaded with all of my favorite pizza toppings. the pepperocini peppers may be my favorite, but I love the fresh mozzarella cubes and the olives too. YUM.

Tips for this recipe:

You can really use any type of pepperoni or even turkey pepperoni. I used the original hormel pepperoni, which are small, but if you use the bigger ones I would cut them in half or quarters. I also think the hormel mini pepperoni’s are really cute and would be fun in this pasta salad.

The homemade dressing in this recipe is super simple and yummy, but if you want to use a store-bought Italian dressing it would taste great as well.

This is a great recipe to make ahead of time–super convenient too! If you do make it ahead of time I would reserve about ¼ cup of Italian dressing to add right before serving, since the noddles will soak up some of the dressing as the dish marinates in the fridge.

Consider trying these pasta salad recipes:

• Healthy Chicken Pasta Salad
• Creamy Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad
• Italian Pasta Salad
• BBQ Chicken Pasta Salad
• Pasta Primavera

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Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Pizza Pasta Salad

All of the toppings you love from your favorite pizza, transformed into a delicious pasta salad.

Print Pin Review

Author Lauren Allen

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Italian, Pasta, Pizza

Servings 6

Calories 398

Prep 15 minutes mins

Cook 10 minutes mins

Total 25 minutes mins

Save Recipe

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 8 ounces cellentani pasta , cooked and drained, (or other bite size pasta)
• ▢ 2 ounce package Hormel pepperonis
• ▢ 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese , cubed
• ▢ 1 cup cherry tomatoes , quartered
• ▢ 1 green bell pepper , seeded, chopped
• ▢ 2.25 ounce can Sliced olives , drained
• ▢ 1/4 cup red onion , diced
• ▢ 1/2 cup sliced pepperoncini or yellow peppers
• ▢ 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Dressing*

• ▢ ⅓ cup olive oil
• ▢ ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• ▢ 1 clove garlic , minced
• ▢ salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste

Instructions

 

• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water, according to package instructions, until tender. Drain pasta and rinse well with cold water.
• Mix dressing ingredients together and pour half of the dressing over the pasta. Toss to coat. 
• Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Add a little more dressing, to your liking (you may not want to use it all). 
• Refrigerate until ready to serve. Stir again before serving.

Notes

*you can substitute ¾ cup store bought Italian dressing

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupCalories: 398kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 16gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 345mgPotassium: 208mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 500IUVitamin C: 21.8mgCalcium: 270mgIron: 1.2mg

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