It's time to share my
Ultimate Pasta Salad Recipe
When we first built the processing kitchen, I catered picnic lunches for a river rafting business for 2 summers. We needed a yummy, sturdy salad that I could make in bulk and it would last a couple days in the fridge. After a little bit of experimenting, The Ultimate Pasta Salad was created.
There are a couple of tricks (not hard to do, more like "secrets") so make sure to read through it all. This recipe scales up really well, I'm including a picture of the whole recipe card with serving yields, etc. It makes it really easy to judge how much to make for those big gatherings. Today's recipe was the smallest, 9 cups/15 servings. If the salad is part of a larger spread, figure 1/2 cup per person. You can easily make this the Entrée by adding diced ham, chicken, etc. If using as an entrée, double the amount to 1 cup per person.
I hope you find this helpful and delicious!
Servings- 15
serving size- about 1/2 cup
Total amount- 9 cups
Ingredients-
2 cups pasta (large piece type pasta works best. Bowtie, radiatore, penne, spiral...)
1 1/2 Tbsp Pre-mixed dry spices * see notes
1cup carrot shreds or finely diced-
2 cups Broccoli florettes (about 1 1/2 heads)
1 cup Purple Onion- fine diced
1 can Black Olives- whole pitted, 14 oz can
1/2 cup Parmesan
1T garlic, fresh, crushed
1 tsp Black Pepper (sorry, geeme
)
1-2 cups Ranch Dressing
Notes-
Buy pre-shredded carrots in the produce department for larger batches
Whole black olives work best so those that don't like olives can pick them out easily. I didn't have any whole olives so I used sliced instead. That's the way this recipe works! Mix and Match, substitute, it's all good.
Whole peeled garlic can be purchased in bulk at places like Costco. Grind it up in a food processor and then freeze it in flat zip-seal bags. It's really easy to open the bag, break off what you need, and then back in the freezer.
When chilling, press clingwrap down to the surface of the food. This facilitates faster cooling of the food by eliminating the air gap between the surface of the food and the bowl rim which acts as a insulation layer. After it's chilled, then go ahead and use the Tupperware lid or whatever.
Pre-Mixed Italian Dry Spices-
this is great to have on hand, I use it in a lot of things. It's what's in the plastic tub.
2 parts garlic powder
1 part onion powder
1 part Italian Herbs blend
1 part salt
Now the Secrets start!
First thing to making this an awesome pasta salad is to cook the pasta in seasoned water! If you cook the pasta in plain water, it will taste...well...plain. Season the cooking water and the pasta will taste like garlic, onion, and herbs. Big bonus for the overall flavor of the salad.
Stock pot with the dry herb mix-
Secret #2- you do not want "al dente" pasta. You want fully cooked pasta. If the pasta is al dente, it will soak up all the dressing and the salad will be dry.
Secret #3- when the pasta is ALMOST fully cooked....DO NOT DRAIN THE PASTA! add the diced/shredded carrots, cook until the carrots are al dente....DO NOT DRAIN!!!!
Secret #4- when the pasta and carrots are basically done, add the broccoli florettes for just a minute or 2 to blanch the broccoli. Wait for it.......
NOW you can drain everything! Put it in a flat bowl, cover with cling wrap pressed down on top of the pasta and into the refer for ~30 minutes, just to take the heat off.
When the pasta has cooled, toss in the rest of the ingredients, mix it up and DONE!
When making larger batches it's important to get everything chilled quickly. Put the cooked pasta in a flat bowl or pan (cover with cling wrap to keep it from drying out) and thoroughly chill the pasta before combining with the rest of the ingredients. Have the onions, dressing and olives chilled also.
Obviously, this recipe is easily to customize. Add some chiles, other veggies, leave out the parmesan, make it a meal...By using the tips about cooking in seasoned water and blanching some of the veggies, you have the basis for a whole variety of salads. Don't like Ranch Dressing? Use Italian! It's up to you!
ENJOY!
Ultimate Pasta Salad Recipe
When we first built the processing kitchen, I catered picnic lunches for a river rafting business for 2 summers. We needed a yummy, sturdy salad that I could make in bulk and it would last a couple days in the fridge. After a little bit of experimenting, The Ultimate Pasta Salad was created.
There are a couple of tricks (not hard to do, more like "secrets") so make sure to read through it all. This recipe scales up really well, I'm including a picture of the whole recipe card with serving yields, etc. It makes it really easy to judge how much to make for those big gatherings. Today's recipe was the smallest, 9 cups/15 servings. If the salad is part of a larger spread, figure 1/2 cup per person. You can easily make this the Entrée by adding diced ham, chicken, etc. If using as an entrée, double the amount to 1 cup per person.
I hope you find this helpful and delicious!
Servings- 15
serving size- about 1/2 cup
Total amount- 9 cups
Ingredients-
2 cups pasta (large piece type pasta works best. Bowtie, radiatore, penne, spiral...)
1 1/2 Tbsp Pre-mixed dry spices * see notes
1cup carrot shreds or finely diced-
2 cups Broccoli florettes (about 1 1/2 heads)
1 cup Purple Onion- fine diced
1 can Black Olives- whole pitted, 14 oz can
1/2 cup Parmesan
1T garlic, fresh, crushed
1 tsp Black Pepper (sorry, geeme
)1-2 cups Ranch Dressing
Notes-
Buy pre-shredded carrots in the produce department for larger batches
Whole black olives work best so those that don't like olives can pick them out easily. I didn't have any whole olives so I used sliced instead. That's the way this recipe works! Mix and Match, substitute, it's all good.
Whole peeled garlic can be purchased in bulk at places like Costco. Grind it up in a food processor and then freeze it in flat zip-seal bags. It's really easy to open the bag, break off what you need, and then back in the freezer.
When chilling, press clingwrap down to the surface of the food. This facilitates faster cooling of the food by eliminating the air gap between the surface of the food and the bowl rim which acts as a insulation layer. After it's chilled, then go ahead and use the Tupperware lid or whatever.
Pre-Mixed Italian Dry Spices-
this is great to have on hand, I use it in a lot of things. It's what's in the plastic tub.
2 parts garlic powder
1 part onion powder
1 part Italian Herbs blend
1 part salt
Now the Secrets start!
First thing to making this an awesome pasta salad is to cook the pasta in seasoned water! If you cook the pasta in plain water, it will taste...well...plain. Season the cooking water and the pasta will taste like garlic, onion, and herbs. Big bonus for the overall flavor of the salad.
Stock pot with the dry herb mix-
Secret #2- you do not want "al dente" pasta. You want fully cooked pasta. If the pasta is al dente, it will soak up all the dressing and the salad will be dry.
Secret #3- when the pasta is ALMOST fully cooked....DO NOT DRAIN THE PASTA! add the diced/shredded carrots, cook until the carrots are al dente....DO NOT DRAIN!!!!
Secret #4- when the pasta and carrots are basically done, add the broccoli florettes for just a minute or 2 to blanch the broccoli. Wait for it.......
NOW you can drain everything! Put it in a flat bowl, cover with cling wrap pressed down on top of the pasta and into the refer for ~30 minutes, just to take the heat off.
When the pasta has cooled, toss in the rest of the ingredients, mix it up and DONE!
When making larger batches it's important to get everything chilled quickly. Put the cooked pasta in a flat bowl or pan (cover with cling wrap to keep it from drying out) and thoroughly chill the pasta before combining with the rest of the ingredients. Have the onions, dressing and olives chilled also.
Obviously, this recipe is easily to customize. Add some chiles, other veggies, leave out the parmesan, make it a meal...By using the tips about cooking in seasoned water and blanching some of the veggies, you have the basis for a whole variety of salads. Don't like Ranch Dressing? Use Italian! It's up to you!
ENJOY!
