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Fresh cherry tomatoes and cubes of mozzarella cheese, this tomato mozzarella pasta salad makes a great side dish or a cold lunch. This pasta can be ready in less than 20 minutes, and since you can serve it hot or cold, it is very easy to make ahead. Only 5 ingredients are needed to make the pasta salad, just pasta, tomatoes, cheese, dried basil and a bottle of zesty Italian salad dressing. It tastes similar to bruschetta with the tomatoes and dried basil. The pasta makes a great salad to bring to a potluck or for packed lunches.
The pasta salad takes less than 20 minutes to prepare, cook the pasta according to the package directions. I chose to use small shell pasta for this, although any other small shaped pasta will work as well. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process, place the pasta into a large bowl. Mix the pasta with halved cherry tomatoes, cubed mozzarella cheese and dried basil. drizzle the zesty Italian salad dressing over the pasta and toss it to coat. You can either serve it as warm, or you can cover it and refrigerate the pasta for at least 2 hours, or until you are ready to serve. I prefer it cold because the flavors have more time to set together.
Tomato Mozzarella Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 16 oz. small shell pasta
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 4 oz. mozzarella cheese, cubed
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 ( 20 oz.) bottle zesty Italian salad dressing
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and place into a large bowl.
- Mix pasta with the remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until serving.