Ranch Picnic Pasta Salad

Submitted by Shawn C

"This recipe makes A LOT so save it for a large gathering, pot luck or cook out. It is light and refreshing and goes well with everything from burgers, steaks to grilled chicken or just eaten alone. I personally like using the lighter angel hair instead of thicker pastas. Enjoy!"

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 10-16

ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package angel hair pasta (break in half) or (12 -16 ounce) package tri-color spiral pasta
• 4 firm ripe seeded diced tomatoes
• 1 (2 1/4 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
• 2 medium cucumbers, peeled pulp removed and diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 3 (1 ounce) packages hidden valley ranch dressing mix
• 1 (2/3 ounce) package Italian salad dressing mix (prepared as directed on package only using half the oil called for)
• 1⁄2 cup olive oil
• 1⁄3 cup red wine vinegar

directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Prepare Italian dressing mix according to directions (but using about 1/2 the oil called for).
3. Mix Ranch dressing with vinegar and oil.
4. Drain pasta well and rinse with cold water, drain well again.
5. Place all ingredients into large bowl and toss well.
6. Refrigerate 12 hours.
7. Toss before serving.
8. **Can use 1/2 of a green, yellow, and orange bell pepper to add more color.
9. You can add other raw hard vegetables such as julienne carrots, blanched asparagus, sliced radish, anything you like.

Reviews

[Debs Recipes]

This tasty and attractive salad was my contribution to our recent family reunion. I added a half pound each cubed Genoa Salami & cubed Provolone. Three packets of Ranch Dressing felt like too much, so I halved it to 1 1/2 packets. I put everything together the night before using 3/4s the total amount of dressing. The next day the salad was still nice & moist, so I left off the remaining portion of dressing. Thank you for sharing a great salad recipe!

 

[Clovis Ann]

This is a very pretty salad! Tastes great, too. I used angel hair pasta, but next time I will probably use the rotini for easier mixing. This also made a lot of dressing, which is fine with me since I like my pasta salad drenched!

 

[LaurieL.]

THis was excellant!! I took it to a family get-together and everybody loved it:) I did cut back on the seasoning, only added 2 packets of ranch and didn't quite pour it all on. But it was very good, I loved the flavor of all the crisp veggies!

 

[julie80113]

Great idea with the ranch dressing packets. Had a bit too much dressing for the amount of pasta, but I'll try it again for sure! Thanks.

 

[Bridget Leigh]

This was good, but not my favorite. I cut way down on the oil, and I still felt it was pretty oily. I thought it could have used more veggies in proportion to how much pasta there was. The flavor of the dressing was tasty, but I guess I was expecting to be like, "WOW!" when I tasted it--and that wasn't my reaction. I'm not sure if I will make this again, without some serious modifications.