The Classic Italian Antipasto pasta platter is turned into a perfect Antipasto pasta salad with chunks of pepperoni, pepperoncini peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and blue cheese crumbles!

Summer pairs perfectly with so many things including pasta salads! We have so many favorites around here including the ever classic Easy Macaroni Salad or this Hawaiian Macaroni Salad. One of our recent favorites is this Antipasto Pasta Salad inspired by a traditional antipasto salad which features chunks of cucumber, tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers, and bits of salami and pepperoni.

This Antipasto Pasta Salad with its robust ingredients is filling enough for a light summer supper, but also works great as a side dish. Let’s talk about the ingredients that you’ll need to make this perfect summer side dish.

Antipasto Pasta Salad Ingredients

There are two components to this recipe. First is the ingredients for the pasta salad itself. The second component is the dressing ingredients.

You’ll need:

• Cucumber – about ½ of an average cucumber, diced
• Grape or cherry tomatoes- if they are large, cut them in half
• Pepperoncini peppers – make sure to remove the stems, them chop them up into bite sized pieces
• Purple Onion – you’ll need about ¼ of a small purple onion, chopped
• Salami – about ½ pound of salami cut into chunks
• Pepperoni – about ½ pound, cut into bite sized pieces
• Blue Cheese – if you do not like blue cheese you could substitute gorgonzola cheese or even provolone cheese
• Capanelle Pasta – substitute any pasta that you like. Rotini would be a great option

Another delicious option would be to toss in some black olives which you’ll often find in a traditional antipasto salad.

Antipasto Pasta Salad Dressing Ingredients

The dressing for this Antipasto Pasta Salad is pretty simple. You’ll need:

• Pepperoncini Pepper Juice – about 2 tablespoons from the jar
• Apple Cider Vinegar – 8 tablespoons
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 6 tablespoons. You could also use Avocado Oil or any other oil you prefer
• Mayo – 4 tablespoons
• Garlic powder, salt, black pepper and red pepper flake

I love that this particular pasta salad is light on the mayo. Some of my favorite pasta salads like this Easy Ranch Pasta Salad, have quite a bit of mayo. While I truly enjoy the ranch pasta salad, sometimes it’s nice to have options that are light on the mayo too!

Here’s a close-up of this mouth-watering Antipasto Pasta Salad. Looks yum, doesn’t it?

Choose any pasta you’d like. I went with campanelle pasta, simply because it looks awesome, but you can use any pasta you have on hand. You’ll need about a pound of pasta. And because it calls for a whole pound, it’ll serve a crowd! 

Hopefully you’ve got some summer BBQ’s planned so that you can enjoy this robust Antipasto Pasta Salad!