A pasta salad bar is a great idea whenever you have a group of people over. This is of my favorite recipes for picky eaters. One of the reasons I love the change of seasons is that I rotate some of our meal staples during different seasons. This works so well with seasonal produce! I often did this for family meals. When the kids choose their own ingredients to make meals, they tend to eat them! It becomes the best pasta salad ever!

Build Your Own Pasta Salad Bar!

In my opinion, cold pasta salads are wonderful when you are grilling out. And this one, everyone can get exactly what they want!

A pasta bar is a wonderful summer meal or side. It's your choice to serve this as a main meal or as a side. What you put out as the options, and how much determines if this pasta salad recipe is the main meal or as a side.

This is great to serve for Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day celebrations. Or any 'just because' or family celebrations.
It is also nice having this during seasons other than summer. Anytime you have a group of people and need to serve a meal, this does not disappoint!
Below, I provide many suggestions of items you can use. Please don't think you need to supply guests with everything. Have at least one item from each category and a few vegetable selections.

Why I love serving this!

Not only can the kids choose what to put into their salads that they like (I had them choose at least two veggies), but this can be catered to different eating preferences and food diets. So many people are eating gluten-free or whole wheat, provide a selection of pastas so folks can accommodate their dietary choices. If you know your guests have a strong preference for a certain eating plan, provide more of those foods. This easy pasta salad recipe is awesome because it gives vegetarians and vegans a delicious and flavorful variety to their meals.

This can also be a frugal (cheap meal). It is a great way to use up what you have in the fridge so what you have doesn't have anything go to waste.

Ingredients:

These are all suggestions and you can choose what you would like to offer. I broke the ingredient suggestions down by type.

Pasta

I usually offer two types of pasta when there is a crowd. Choose your favorites or select what works for the food preferences of your guests.
Macaroni (elbow)
Rotini
Whole wheat
Gluten free
Small cheese tortellini

Protein

If the pasta salad is a side dish, I usually only offer eggs and a cheese or two as the protein selection. If it's a main meal, shrimp, cut up chicken or steak are great options.
Grilled shrimp
Cut up grilled chicken (rotisserie works great as a time saver or in the winter)
sliced or quartered hard-boiled eggs
Pepperoni bites (my kids loved those)

Cheeses

Feta
Cubed cheddar
Mozzarella (fresh small balls, or cubed)
Parmesan (grated)

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Fresh Vegetables

You can have so much fun with appetizing looking colors! Use what you have, what is in season or what you are growing in your garden! To make eating easy, try to cut or cube your veggies so they are of similar size.
Cucumbers - sliced or cubed
Tomatos (cherry tomatoes or full sized tomatoes cut into cubes)
Carrots - sliced
Onions - chopped my favorite to serve is red onion because on the color
Red Pepper - cut up
Green Pepper - cut up
Radishes
Asparagus (steamed to crisp tender and cooled)
Zuchini
Corn (boiled and sliced off the cob, cooked from frozen, or canned)

Canned or Preserved Veggies and beans

The bean are a nice vegan and vegetarian protein option.
Black beans
Chick peas
Corn
sliced or whole kalamata olives (seed removed!)

Canned or Preserved Veggies and beans

Added flavorings! Use a store bought salad dressing or one you've made yourself.
I like serving this in a lidded jar so folks can shake up the dressing.
Italian Dressing
Greek Dressing
Fresh basil
It is also nice to offer a fresh chopped herb for a final flavor addition and a pretty color topping.
Fresh parsley
Fresh green onions
Fresh chives.

How to serve

I usually end up putting all my soup and cereal bowls out. People can choose the size of salad they'd like. Larger bowls are great when this is a main meal and will allow people to toss thier salad.A hint, cook and cool the evening before. It makes serving this meal so much easier!
Cook pasta according to package directions. Most noodle/pasta packages provide instructions to prepare pasta to an al dente stage (firmer). You do NOT want to overcook the pasta since it is the base for this salad.

Instructions:
Prepare and cool your pasta. I recommend doing this the night before! I like using elbow macaroni type pasta for this. But, use what you have! The most important thing is, do not overcook. After you have cooked it, drain it and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Place in a large bowl add some salad dressing or some olive oil and gently mix to gently coat the pasta. This will prevent your pasta from sticking as it cools. To cool faster, place in the fridge.

Decide on the toppings you would like. I have provided some suggestions above. But, the sky is the limit!
It's a great idea to prep your veggies the night before too! That way this is easy to serve and you
It all depends on what your guests like or, you can do a theme. For example, I love making a Greak type pasta salad. Easy to do by just selecting cucumbers, red onions, olives, and feta cheese. By all means swap out the dressing to Greek!

Kids can easily enjoy this with some cubed cheese for protein. If it's just your family, cut up string cheese. Just make sure there are a few veggies that they like. And, tell them the rules - they can add cheese cubes and they need to add a vegetable (or two).

Everyone can find something they like! And, this is not an expensive option. Look in your fridge and start from there : ) !

Below is the printable recipe card.