Easy Pasta Salad with Bocconcini, Tomatoes and Basil ~ is an easy pasta salad made with creamy little balls of mozzarella, tangy cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. It’s then tossed with fusilli pasta and a simple marinade made of extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic and seasonings. A fast and delicious dish you can whip up in less than 15 minutes.
A few days ago, I posted my Spring Tomato, Basil, Bocconcini Salad, which is the base for this dish. All I did was added some pasta, and turned it into a simple pasta salad dish.
You can certainly serve it chilled or even at room temperature. Either way it’s a very tasty and refreshing salad.
I quickly made the tomato, basil, bocconcini salad first, allowing it to marinade for a few minutes while the pasta was cooking in boiling water. I then drained the pasta and set it aside to cool.
Once the pasta cooled down, I simply tossed in the tomato,basil and bocconcini salad and it was done! Super fast! This can be an excellent pasta salad to serve for Mother’s Day. Or, bring it to a friends house.
It makes a beautiful, colorful and tasty appetizer as well. It’s a dish with all the Italian colors in it.
Here’s a tip: If you are preparing this pasta salad for guests and need to refrigerate for a few hours prior to serving, I recommend you leave out the mozzarella cheese while you marinate the rest. Toss them in right before you serve. This will keep them pearly-white, and makes a prettier presentation.
ENJOY!!
You can check out these different kinds of pastas:
Thanks for stopping by! To all the mom’s in the world out there, have a wonderful Mother’s Day this weekend!
Warmly, xo Anna and Liz
THANKS for PINNING and Sharing!!
EASY Pasta Salad with Bocconcini, Tomatoes and Basil
Author: 2 sisters recipes
Recipe type: Dinner / Pasta Salad
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6 to 8
Here is an easy pasta salad made with creamy little balls of mozzarella, tangy cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. It's then tossed with fusilli pasta and a simple marinade made of extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic and seasonings. A fast and delicious dish you can whip up in less than 15 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Fusilli Pasta or Gluten-Free Fusilli Pasta, or GF Quinoa Fusilli Pasta
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1 pound bocconcini (small mozzarella balls)
- 5 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
- ¼ tsp. dried oregano
- 2 garlic cloves- minced
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Salt the water with some salt.
- Add the fusilli pasta to the water and cook the pasta until al dente. Drain in a colander and transfer to a large serving bowl and set aside to cool. If you prefer, you can run the pasta under cold water to cool faster.
- In the meantime, slice tomatoes in halves and toss them into a salad bowl along with the bocconcini, olive oil, basil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Gently mix and set aside for 5 minutes to marinate.
- When the pasta is completely cooled. Transfer the tomatoes and bocconcini salad into the pasta. Gently toss. Add salt and pepper to taste. And serve.
- Serves 6 to 8
Notes
If you feel you need to drizzle more olive oil to moisten the pasta, then do so. Sometimes pasta salads have a tendency to absorb most of the liquid, which would leave you dry pasta. Adding extra-virgin olive oil is Ok and it's good for you, so add some extra in and enjoy!
14 Comments
Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking
May 13, 2013 at 1:20 amNow this is my kind of recipe! I am so looking forward to having my fresh Basil this Summer in our herb garden.
annaliz
May 23, 2013 at 1:07 pmThanks Alicia – I hope you enjoy this one with your fresh garden basil!
michaelswoodcraft
May 8, 2015 at 4:52 pmThis is an awesome salad, my wife makes on just like this and we love it! Since I love tomatoes and mozzarella balls, we always add more of them!! 🙂
annaliz
May 11, 2015 at 4:26 pmThanks Michael! It happens to be one of our favorite salads too! Adding in more tomatoes and mozzarella balls makes it even better! Enjoy!
Tricia Buice
May 8, 2015 at 9:53 pmI just love a fresh pasta salad like this. The photos are wonderful! Have a great Mother's Day!
annaliz
May 11, 2015 at 4:27 pmThank you so much Tricia! Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend as well!
SavoringTime in the Kitchen
May 9, 2015 at 10:36 pmThis is such a great idea for the warmer weather ahead! Especially when I can pick fresh cherry tomatoes and basil outside. I can't wait!
annaliz
May 11, 2015 at 4:30 pmYou are so lucky! But I have to tell you, we too have finally planted some tomatoes and basil plants ( first time in years) and can't wait to see the results! Thank you Sue – hope you had a lovely Mother's Day weekend!
Carl Casalino
January 14, 2016 at 4:06 amI happened to have all the ingredients- amazing! I made it this yesterday and it was delicious. This dish are my very favourite food of all time. Thanks for sharing this tasty recipe! I cant wait to try it!
annaliz
January 15, 2016 at 5:30 pmHi Carl! Thank you for your kind words. We are happy you enjoy this salad as much as we do! Best part- it's a time saver …. Enjoy !
Sarah
June 13, 2017 at 11:12 amI wish I was eating this salad, It looks delicious!
Agness of Run Agness Run
June 16, 2017 at 1:17 pmI love pasta salads! Your recipe has the potential of becoming my favourite one, Anna and Liz!
by Anna and Liz
July 16, 2018 at 9:28 pmThanks so much!!
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