Pasta Salad with Creamy Dressing

This easy pasta salad with creamy dressing is the perfect side dish for a summer picnic or party. It’s easy to make big quantities of it for a feed a crowd and it’s made with simple ingredients. Plus it uses colorful veggies and a sweet and tangy creamy dressing to complement the whole dish.

You might also like this keto antipasto coleslaw recipe.

Last summer I went to a graduation party and someone made macaroni salad with a corkscrew pasta noodle like the one I used today’s post. It seemed to really make this dish a little more special and I’ve always wanted to try it.

So today I finally made my version of traditional macaroni salad with a cellentani noodle to make this easy pasta salad with creamy dressing. I used some colorful veggies and didn’t use any eggs. It was really tasty and easy to make.

Cold pasta salad is perfect for picnics or even for a summer dinner when the hot weather effects the type of meals you make. This salad also was a great dish to feed a lot of people, especially if it’s a side dish.

Recipe ingredients I used and substitutions.

I only used a few simple ingredients to make this creamy pasta salad and that was pasta, celery, red onion, bell peppers, salt and black pepper. And a creamy dressing of mayonnaise, vinegar and sweetener.

Pasta
The type of noodle I used was called cellentani and like it because it makes it a bit more fancy and perfect for taking to a picnic or party. You can use traditional elbow macaroni if you wish or even rotini pasta. Actually any shape or type of pasta will will work. 

Veggies
I used celery, red onion and sweet bell peppers for both the color and flavor the trio gives to the dish. You can use other veggies as well like carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, black olives, etc. Just try to cut everything into uniform bite sized pieces and it will work. 

Creamy Dressing
This is a simple creamy, sweet and tangy dressing that I like to use on potato salad, broccoli salad, etc. I used mayonnaise and not miracle whip and I prefer that. And apple cider vinegar but you can use white vinegar or even red wine vinegar. Lastly I used sweetener but if you can use regular white granulated sugar if you want.

If you want to add a protein to this dish.
This dish would go great with cooked shrimp, salmon, crab, tuna or even chicken. So if you were making this for a main dish you might want to add one of those sources of protein.

How to make this simple pasta salad with creamy dressing.

Step 1: Get out a pot of water and make your pasta according to package instructions. Once it’d done, rinse with cold water and drain. Let cool before mixing with the dressing. You can even put it in the refrigerator to cool off if you are in a hurry.

Step 3: When the cooked pasta has cooled down, add it to a large salad bowl and add the chopped vegetables. Mix well.

Step 4: In a medium mixing bowl, add the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar and sweetener and whisk to combine. Then spoon it into the pasta mixture and mix well.

Note if you are taking this to a party and want to make this salad in advance, you will want to add the dressing right before serving. The pasta might soak it up be dry.

And that is all there is to it. If you want to garnish with some herbs like fresh basil, dill, parsley or cilantro go for it. Some people like to sprinkle a bit of paprika on the top for color as well. 

Store leftover creamy pasta salad in an airtight container or cover with plastic wrap. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

More delicious summer salads you might like.

Summer is the time for all kinds of salad recipes and below are a few of my favorite recipes and ones that I like to take to parties.

A lot of the recipes above use things like leftover corn or items you have in the refrigerator or pantry. They might give you a few ideas to create your own delicious summer salad!

Well I hope you enjoy this delicious pasta salad with creamy dressing. It’s pretty simple to make but it’s my favorite combination of peppers and onions and the creamy dressing which has both sweet and tangy flavor. In other words it works for me! I hope you enjoy too.