10 Mistakes To Avoid When Making Pasta Salad (With Fixes)

A tasty pasta salad is a summertime staple. But there are lots of ways to mess up this favorite side dish! Learn how to make the perfect pasta salad with a few easy tips that will set you up for pasta salad success every time.

No matter what cold pasta salad recipe you choose, with these tips you will be making a delicious pasta salad that’s a mainstay for all the back-yard BBQs, pot-lucks, and picnics.

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So what gives? You’re at a potluck, summer BBQ, or friend’s house, and a pasta salad looks delish. You load up your plate, take a bite, and have a dry, chewy, sour mouthful of cold pasta. Been there, done that!

Pasta salad can be great, or it can be gross! If the pasta isn’t cooked with the whole idea that it’s for a cold salad, for-geta-bout-it! And yes, there are lots of ways to screw up a pasta salad recipe!

Why Do Cold Pasta Salad Recipes Dry Out? (Retrogradation Of Starches)

You sample your make-ahead, delicious cold pasta salad, and it’s perfecto! But when you serve it (even same-day pasta salad recipes), it’s rubbery, chewy, and just not good. You apologize, and everyone protests it’s the bomb because a BBQ isn’t Twitter, and you can’t hide your comments behind a 6” screen, right?

So, what is the deal with cold pasta salads? It’s all in the starches and a really big word; retrogradation.

Retrogradation And Nasty, I Mean, Not-So-Perfect Pasta Salad.

This is one of those teaching moments, but I promise, it’ll be quick! And, I won’t talk about starch polymer chains fracturing, crystallizing, then reforming after cooking and cooling, respectively.

Nutshell (or pasta pot): Starches absorb water and swell in cooked noodles. When first drained, they are nice and plump. When noodles cool, starches give up water, shrinking and stiffening, resulting in chewy, tough, icky cold pasta for salad. 

It’s retrogradation’s fault, not ours! That’s for real since pasta must cook and cool for cold pasta salad recipes. And what have we been told about how to cook pasta for cold salad? Seriously?! Al dente, schmente!

Ten Mistakes That Mess Up The Perfect Pasta Salad:

Today’s “dish” (get it?) is all about the 10 most common mistakes people make when they think they are creating the perfect pasta salad but don’t! You’ll get the fixes, too; how long to boil pasta for pasta salad recipes is just the start! 

Who knew something so long-standing and so quintessential to summer family fare could “harden” so many hearts/bowls of make-ahead pasta salad! So, read on! 

1. The Wrong Kind Of Pasta For Cold Pasta Salad Recipes 

Mistake: Using large, tube-shaped pasta that overwhelms the bite, like rigatoni, bigoli, or tortiglioni. The other good stuff, including dressing, tends to get trapped inside with varying results, none that are good. Eighty-six long spaghetti-type noodles, ick, tangled, cold, slimy. No thank you!

Fix: The perfect pasta salad starts with the perfect pasta. Sturdy, shorter noodles like cavatappi, fusilli, rotini, gemelli, rotelle, or even orzo! These pasta styles can hold up to the dressings and avoid the mush factor.

2. Not Boiling Pasta Long Enough For Pasta Salad Recipes 

Mistake: Cooking pasta for pasta salad al dente. (See retrogradation)

Fix: Cook pasta 1 minute past the package directions when serving pasta cold. Be precise, set a timer, and track for future cold pasta salads.

Pro Tip: Start checking noodles at 5 minutes and every minute after. Know when it hits al dente, then add 60 seconds. 

3. Not Using Enough Salt For Cooking Pasta That’s Served Cold

Mistake:  Using too little salt, thinking only to get the water boiling, equals bland, blah, and more blah! It’s a huge, tasteless mistake-literally. (Molto Importante: No iodized salt for pasta water!)

Fix: “Seawater” salty will do you right every time! Cold pasta salad recipes wow with a 1:2:4 ratio: one pound pasta, two tablespoons salt, and four quarts water. Salt is your ride-or-die seasoning and bland annihilator. BTW, I’ve seen 1tbs salt to 1qt water. Any volunteers? Inquiring me wants to know!

4. Adding Oil To Pasta Cooking Water, Stop It Now!  

Mistake: Adding oil so the pasta won’t stick! For cold pasta recipes, it does way more harm than good. Icky, oily film sans flavor infusion from all the other good stuff! 

Fix: ALWAYS have a roiling boil, and NEVER forget to stir the stuff within the first minute! (Or Nonna will say, “idiota!”) Maybe, stir like you’re supposed to, and it won’t stick? Problema risolto! (solved)

5. Not Cooling/Rinsing Pasta Properly 

Mistake: Not rinsing hot pasta to stop the cooking process and get the extra starch off. Result? Mushy, gummy pasta. 

Fix: Any time pasta is to eat later (cold), you’ve got to rinse it. Need noodles faster because procrastination is a lifestyle choice? Spread rinsed, dressed* pasta on a refrigerated sheet pan.

6. Adding Dressing To Pasta Salad At The Wrong Time.

Mistake: Getting the pasta salad together and then dumping dressing on everything at once. Dressing can slick over pasta and hinder the absorption of more deliciousness!

Fix: Toss slightly warm noodles with ⅔ of the dressing. *As the pasta continues cooling/retrogradation, those well-coated, properly seasoned little bites of joy absorb flavors from the dressing while the fats/oil seal moisture.   

7. When Vinegar Bites Back In Pasta Salad Recipes

Mistake: Using dressings that are too vinegar-forward on cold pasta leave sour, acerbic tastes on the tongue. Though heavenly on my Simple Italian Salad, vinegar in salad level amounts is jarring on cold pasta! And yes, that is an excuse for another Aperol Spritz, but as a good host, I’m all about no excuses needed!

Fix:  Try milder vinegar in pasta salad recipes, white wine or champagne vinegar, Japanese rice vinegar, or a balanced California balsamic, using less. 

Pro Chef Tip: Use pickled ingredients like capers, dills, olives, peppers, cauliflower, artichoke hearts, and so on to provide acidity.

8. Using The Wrong Kind Of Cheese In Pasta Salad

Mistakes:  Block cheese like cheddar or colby can really mess up pasta salad when cubes slathered in dressing become goopy, warm, oily chunks. Also not a good idea – super soft cheese like brie and burrata.

Fix: Shred instead of cubing block cheese for pasta salad. Go with fresh, crumbled cheeses like feta, cojita, Roquefort, and mozzarella. Shaved hard cheese like manchego, pecorino, and parmesan will punch up the flavor profile.

Pro Chef Tip: Add cheese after the pasta has been dressed and chilled. 

9. Using Large, Hard To Chew, Chunky Vegetables

Mistake: Using chaotic-sized vegetables in pasta salad or raw, chunky pernicious culprits that feel like you’ve stuffed your mouth with a packing peanut.

Fix: Try sizing each morsel for a yummy tidbit in every bite. The biggest bite-busters, cauliflower, and broccoli should be blanched like green beans. Your pasta salad will be a hit, and dental work will “live to bite another day!”

10. Biggest Mistake For Cold Pasta Salad Recipes

Mistake: Thinking pasta that is served hot or cold is prepared and seasoned in the say way. Gorgeously seasoned pasta meals can be downright dull as leftovers. (Enters the Chalupa Sauce.)

Fix: For perfect pasta salad, separate cooking concepts, flavoring, and mouthfeel from hot pasta dishes.

Pro Chef Tip: Pasta for cold salad is a class on its own and should be “sauced.” Save “dressings” for greens and think “saucing” for cold pasta. This will solve the jarring vinegar/acid factors. 

Tips & Hacks: Fixing The Most Common Mistakes For Perfect Pasta Salad

When your friends say it’s “soooo good,” you’ll know that they mean it (and actually want the recipe). They aren’t just being nice because you do make a fab pineapple jalapeno margarita, and they’ve enjoyed one too many. 

Make-Ahead Pasta Salad Tips:

• Dissolving salt (and amount) in pasta water is more crucial than “when!”
• Start with just enough sauce/dressing and add more as needed.
• Allow at least 15 min out of the fridge before eating.
• Always stir, taste, and re-season before serving make-ahead pasta salad.
• Add toasted nuts with cheese before serving.
• For goodness sake, use fresh herbs!  

Pasta Salad Recipe Hacks:

• Blanch veggies in roiling pasta water first.
• Pasta ice baths – if you own that procrastination lifestyle, 
• Use pasta water to thin “dressing/sauce” (adds salt). 
• Chill pasta long enough for flavors to infuse.

Favorite Pasta Salad Recipes

We’re always working on perfecting our favorite recipes. We hope this list of 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Making Pasta Salad will change the way you look at pasta salad recipes forever (or at least a really long time)!

Now that you know how to make the perfect pasta salad, here are some Summer Pasta Salad Recipes to try:

• Creamy Caprese Macaroni Salad
• Asparagus Pasta Salad
• Creamy Chicken Pasta Salad
• Summer Pasta Salad
• Taco Pasta Salad
• Caprese Pasta Salad