My husband and I have been trying to eat better. So that means eating at home more, and eating more salads. Well, I don’t know about you, but I get sick of salads. Especially lettuce only salads. So I decided to mix it up a bit and make this Italian Farfalle Pasta Salad Recipe.
I love that it has a little bit of pasta, a little bit of meat, but still tons of fruits and veggies and a light dressing. Plus, I don’t have to heat up the oven, and we can grill some chicken skewers and have a full dinner.
Plus this is a perfect summer salad. It’s great for taking on picnics or to BBQs with friends!
I’m sharing the recipe below, but you’re first going to need a few ingredients:
- 1 pound farfalle (bowtie) pasta
- 2 cups spinach
- 2-3 bell peppers (red and/or green)
- 20-30 grape tomatoes (20-30)
- package of mini pepperonis or half a package of pepperonis, quartered
- small bunch of parsley
- ¼ cup Italian dressing
- parmesan cheese shavings
- Boil 1 pound of bowtie pasta.
- While the pasta is boiling, clean and chop your bell peppers, halve your tomatoes, chop your parsley and spinach, and quarter your pepperonis if needed.
- When pasta is finished cooking, drain and run under cold water.
- Then cover pasta in 2-3 tablespoons of Italian dressing.
- Stir in spinach, bell peppers, grape tomatoes, pepperoni, and parsley.
- Add more Italian dressing, salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
And I love calling it an Italian Farfalle Pasta Salad. I mean, I could just call it a Bowtie Salad, but using the Italian word makes it more fun! Plus farfalle means butterfly in Italian, so it’s also pretty.
If you want to make the salad a bit more Mediterranean, substitute feta cheese for the parmesan cheese and add olives. Also, you can sub out the spinach and replace it with broccoli. Another great addition? Simply add strips of grilled chicken. 
bristol plasterer
Wednesday 8th of July 2015
Great little recipe. Top marks. Thanks for sharing this.
Simon