Community Pick
Tomato-Basil Pasta Salad
"I got the basis for this recipe from my cousin's wife, who absolutely adores the taste of fresh basil! This is a great, simple summer pasta salad, with a nice light blend of flavors. FRESH basil is a must on this one!! This salad is great alongside BBQ chicken. Easy, and yummy!! Prep. time includes marinating time."
photo by Artbyhildy
- Ready In:
- 2hrs 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Serves:
-
6-8
ingredients
- 1 lb rotini pasta
- 2 lbs plum tomatoes or 2 lbs roma tomatoes, diced
- 3 -4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- black pepper, to taste
- 1⁄2 cup olive oil
- fresh basil leaf, chopped,to taste (I use about 1/3 cup)
- 1⁄4 cup grated parmesan cheese (fresh is best)
directions
- Mix together the tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, and basil.
- Refrigerate 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions, and rinse under cold water; drain.
- Mix pasta with tomato mixture until well-combined.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
- Serve with additional Parmesan, if desired.
Questions & Replies
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Reviews
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Manda, as I sit here eating this delicious pasta salad I will tell you that this recipe is excellent! So very easy to make and so very full of flavor! I do love a good pasta salad and this is one of the best, most refreshing ones I have tried. This would be great for a picnic, summertime supper or even as a quick lunch the next day! Could very easily be packed into a lunch to take along. Thank you for submitting this wonderful recipe, Manda! I will definitely be making this one again! -
I have made this pasta salad about 5 times now and think it is absolutely wonderful. It is very easy to make and quite delicious. I like using flavored oils such as garlic or hot peppers. I also add a couple more tablespoons of oil. To spice it up a bit I like to finely mince a jalapeno and add it in too. -
Delicious. I left the Parmesan cheese out so people could add or omit and everyone loved it, even my toddler wanted more. Thanks so much for a great recipe. -
This recipe is outstanding! Perfect for summer time because it's so light and fresh. I added some sauteed, cubed zucchini and used garlic powder because I was out of fresh. Still wonderful!
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Great recipe for using my tomatoes and basil from the garden. I added a splash of Tuscan House Italian dressing to punch up the flavor.
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Tweaks
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Excellent recipe. I've done it twice now, and all the seasonings for the dressing are just right. There is nothing like the taste of fresh basil. I did, however, omit the cheese (I hate any type of cheese and added a little fresh oregano from my garden). The second time I made this for a party, but I switched out the tomatoes for red & orange bell peppers and everyone loved it. Good job with this. -
This is awesome. I used everything as written plus added one cut up cucumber and instead of using parmesan cheese I used a fresh mozarella ball cut up into bite sized pieces. I used a 3/4oz size pkg of basil, also adding a dash of garlic salt as I thought it needed more salt. Instead of a pound of pasta, I just used the standard size package, 12oz which I thought was perfect for the amount of oil. VERY good but make sure you use the freshest ingredients! Perfect summer salad :) -
This was really not only a GREAT recipe but a great "starter" recipe to play around with and I changed it just a bit; I substituted an 8.5 oz jar of sundried tomatoes for fresh, including the oil (deleting the olive oil in recipe) and a small jar of marinated artichokes. I placed in a food processor the tomatoes, artichokes, 7-8 cloves of garlic, FRESH (not dried) basil (a must), kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Pulsed just a few times and tossed with the pasta along with the "freshly" grated pargianno regano cheese. It almost didn't make it to the Social the next day. P.S. Once you have grated fresh parmiganno/regano cheese vs pre-grated, and freshly ground black pepper, you'll never go back to pre-grated/ground again!
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a great bbq dish! i used a combination of roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and followed other reviewers by adding mozzarella. once, i ran out of olive oil and used balsamic vinaigrette instead. kids and adults loved both versions!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Manda
Glen Burnie, MD
I am a single gal, living on my own; currently working as an Occupational Therapist & living in Cumberland, MD. (It is "God's Country" out here...beautiful!) I LOVE to cook and bake, and love anything that looks, tastes, smells, or even closely resembles a veggie. I LOVE moo-cows, and therefore, cannot bring myself to eat any part of the adorable critters (i.e. NO RED MEAT!!)
I love the outdoors, and pride myself on being the master griller on the fire pit.
My mother's side of the family is 100% Polish, so I have an inborn passion for cooking...unfortunately, along with that comes a love of eating, too!! But, hey..u only live once, so I say "EAT, DRINK, and BE MERRY!!!"
