Antipasto Pasta Salad

This colorful Antipasto Pasta Salad recipe is loaded with cold cut Italian meats, swiss cheese, and spinach, then tossed with fresh herbs and olive oil. This is the perfect recipe for a hot summer day!

Love pasta salad? Then you need to try my BLT Pasta Salad recipe and Mexican Pasta Salad recipe!

Homemade Antipasto Pasta Salad

I love a good pasta salad. They’re quick, tasty, and an easy make ahead dinner. It is also a good recipe for the summer when you want to give the oven a rest. Great for feeding your family or a crowd!

This Antipasto Pasta Salad recipe is loaded with your typical antipasto ingredients — Italian meats, swiss cheese, tomatoes, and red onion. It’s everything you love in an antipasto salad mixed with whole wheat penne pasta. What’s better than that?! I also threw in spinach to give the pasta salad a nice crunch and some pops of green. The peppery salami pair well with the tangy swiss cheese and pasta.

This recipe is a light, fresh and healthier version of your typical pasta salad. There’s no mayonnaise in this recipe. I used fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and herbs to flavor the salad without adding tons of calories. I also used whole wheat pasta to make this dish even healthier.

This is one of those recipes that gets better the next day or the longer the flavors have to set! You simply can’t go wrong with this homemade Antipasto Pasta Salad.

Key Ingredients

For this recipe I used a trio of Italian meats: Pepper salami, hot capocollo and hot calabrese. You will see capocollo also referred to as coppa. Use whichever they have available at the deli. If they do not have either of the three feel free to substitute pepperoni, ham, all salami or any other meats and cheese.

Additionally for this Italian pasta salad recipe, you’ll need whole wheat penne pasta (or your preferred short pasta), cubed swiss cheese, diced fresh tomato (or halved cherry tomatoes), diced red onion, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, fresh spinach, basil leaves, fresh parsley, and dried spices (oregano, salt, and pepper).

How To Make Antipasto Pasta Salad

Simply toss your cooked pasta with your meats, cheese, herbs, and homemade vinaigrette. I added the spinach last because I did not want it to get bruised while I was tossing the pasta salad or too wilted before serving.

I like to drizzle extra olive oil on the pasta salad before serving as well as a pinch of crushed red pepper. Serve this recipe family style in a large platter or in a large bowl. Or you could take it with you on your next picnic or outdoor barbecue!

Variations

• Not a fan of deli meats? You could omit them entirely or swap for grilled chicken or shrimp! But toss in some olives in their places to get some of that briny flavor.
• Add more veggies! Sliced cucumber or diced bell peppers would be delicious in this Antipasto Pasta Salad recipe!
• Change up the cheese! Mozzarella, feta, or goat cheese would work well here.
• Use different pasta! Tortellini, penne, elbow or rotini would all work perfectly!

Storage Instructions

Store prepared Italian pasta salad in an airtight container in your fridge up to 3 days. Allow to sit in the fridge for an hour to overnight before serving. The longer it sits and marinates, the better!

More Salad Recipes To Try

• Mexican Pasta Salad
• Grilled Vegetable Panzanella Salad
• BLT Pasta Salad
• Greek Kale Quinoa Salad
• The BEST Broccoli Salad
• Macaroni Salad

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