10 Favorite Pasta Salads to Make for Summer Parties

I love pasta salads of every kind, but here are ten of my favorites, perfect to take to a summer potluck.

I'm old enough to be able to remember when pasta salad burst onto the U.S. culinary scene, and sadly I've come across some pretty flavorless pasta salads since then.  Maybe it's all those lackluster pasta salads I've seen that make me determined to create pasta salads that are truly memorable, and every one of these 10 Favorite Pasta Salads are loaded with flavorful ingredients.  I also like to use less pasta in proportion to the other ingredients, which can make pasta salad into a lower-glycemic dish.  The last few years I've been a fan of whole wheat pasta, but some of my salads use Dreamfields Low-Carb Pasta.  You can use either of those in these recipes (or just use regular white-flour pasta if you prefer.)  There's a big holiday weekend coming up and any of these pasta salads would be well received at a pot-luck or as a barbecue side dish.  Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Penne Pasta with Red Bell Peppers, Garlic, Capers, Olives, Tomatoes, and Tuna

Quick and Easy Penne Pasta with Red Bell Peppers, Garlic, Capers, Olives, Tomatoes, and Tuna.  (Top it with Gremolata if you wish!)

About six years ago I discovered an affordable brand of Tuna packed in olive oil that really made me swoon, and since then I've made many tasty recipes featuring this tuna.   It's turned me into a bit of a tuna snob, because now I never buy any other brand (and when I could no longer find it in any of the stores by my house I even started buying Tonno Genova Tuna in Olive Oilby the case from Amazon.com!)  Without this uber-flavorful tuna, I don't think I'd have considering trying a pasta recipe that featured tuna as one of the main ingredients, but the Tonno Genova tuna made this simple and quick Penne Pasta with Red Bell Peppers, Garlic, Capers, Olives, Tomatoes, and Tuna really memorable.  And then Jake and I topped it with some ultra-flavorful Gremolata, which made it even better.  Admittedly, this may be a recipe that's not for everyone, but if you like tuna and have a favorite brand I bet you'll love this recipe.

Pinto Bean Salad Recipe with Avocado, Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Cilantro

Pinto Bean Salad with Avocado, Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Cilantro is perfect for those times when you *must* have tomatoes, even if it's not quite summer yet.

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions for Meatless Monday, May 2013.)  This Pinto Bean Salad with Avocado, Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Cilantro salad was originally inspired by one I loved at a party I attended with my brother Rand where guests were asked to bring Oaxacan dishes.  Back home I came up with my version on one of those spring days when suddenly I had to have that fresh tomato flavor in my mouth. When the tomato urge hits me, I don't care whether it's tomato season or how much I have to pay, if I can find tomatoes that taste good I'll buy some. The tomatoes I used were from Costco, and they had that "tomato smell" I always look for if I buy tomatoes.  Even the best store-bought tomatoes can't match that late-summer umami-filled tomato flavor I get when I'm picking my homegrown tomatoes in August, but these tomatoes tasted pretty good.