I stole this recipe for Italian Pasta Salad from plainchicken.com. This easy to make pasta salad is a perfect side dish or cold main dish for a hot summer day. First olive oil, lemon juice, mayonnaise and Italian seasoning are whisked together in a bowl. Then cooked penne pasta, halved grape tomatoes, shaved Parmesan cheese and basil are added to the bowl. Everything is mixed together and refrigerated before serving. Refrigerating for several hours before serving makes this pasta salad taste even better. This pasta salad is so good you won’t have to beg anyone to eat it.

The ingredients for this recipe are: 16 oz box penne pasta, ⅔ cup olive oil, ¼ cup lemon juice, ½ cup mayonnaise, 3 tbsp Italian seasoning, ¾ cup grape tomatoes, , 1 ½ cups shaved Parmesan cheese and ¼ cup chopped fresh basil

Cook the penne pasta according to package. Drain and cool. If needed rinse with cold water.

Then add the olive oil, lemon juice, mayonnaise and dry Italian seasoning to a large bowl.

Whisk well to combine. Make sure the mayonnaise is fully mixed with the olive oil.

Next add the cooked & drained pasta, halved (or quartered if the tomatoes are larger) tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and basil. (Using a vegetable peeler is the easiest way to shave the Parmesan cheese.)

Toss to combine all ingredients, making sure to coat all the ingredients with the dressing. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

Stir once more in case any of the dressing settled to the bottom of the bowl. Then scoop out and serve. Enjoy!

If you liked the recipe for Italian Pasta Salad then you can try some other cold salad recipes like Quinoa Salad, Italian Tortellini Pasta Salad, Corn Edamame Succotash Salad, Israeli Couscous & Tuna Salad & Pimento Cheese Macaroni Salad.