Crispy Greek Pasta Salad

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a large white serving bowl of crispy Greek pasta salad with feta, kalamata olives, tomatoes and a creamy dressing

This Crispy Greek Pasta Salad takes everything we love about a classic Greek pasta salad—crisp vegetables, salty feta, briny olives, and a tangy homemade dressing—and adds crispy air-fried pasta for the most incredible crunch. I’m absolutely obsessed! It’s fresh, flavorful, and honestly one of the best pasta salads I’ve made in a long time.

If you’ve been anywhere near social media lately, you’ve probably seen the viral crispy pasta salad trend taking over. And while I love trying a viral recipe, I wanted to make a version I’d actually crave again and again so I used our popular Greek pasta salad as a starting point.

The first time I made it, I couldn’t stop sneaking bites straight from the bowl. The crispy pasta completely changes the texture and somehow makes an already great pasta salad even better.

Why You’ll Love This Crispy Greek Pasta Salad

  • The perfect mix of crunchy and creamy
  • Inspired by the viral crispy pasta trend
  • Packed with fresh Greek flavors
  • Easy air fryer recipe
  • Great for summer gatherings
  • Perfect side dish for grilling season
  • Make-ahead friendly
  • Loaded with vegetables
  • A fun twist on classic Greek pasta salad
  • Better than traditional pasta salad

Ingredients You’ll Need

This crispy Greek pasta salad uses many of the same ingredients as our traditional Greek pasta salad, but with one game-changing addition: crispy air-fried pasta. The combination of fresh vegetables, tangy dressing, salty feta, and crunchy pasta creates the perfect balance of flavors and textures.

For the Greek Dressing:

  • Olive Oil: Creates a rich, flavorful base for the dressing.
  • Red Wine Vinegar: Adds the classic tangy Greek flavor.
  • Garlic: Brings bold savory flavor.
  • Tzatziki: Makes the dressing creamy while adding fresh cucumber and herb flavor.
  • Lemon Zest: Brightens every bite.
  • Dried Oregano: A classic Greek seasoning.
  • Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper: Enhances all the flavors.

For the Pasta Salad:

  • Rotini Pasta: The spirals hold onto the dressing while crisping beautifully in the air fryer.
  • Pesto: Adds fresh herb flavor and helps the pasta crisp up.
  • Parmesan Cheese: Creates extra savory flavor and helps develop crispy edges.
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Helps the pasta

Dill Pickle Pasta Salad

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Dill Pickle Pasta Salad

If you are a pickle lover, this dill pickle pasta salad is about to become your new warm-weather obsession. Creamy, tangy, loaded with fresh dill and chunks of cheddar, it is the kind of side dish that gets talked about long after the plate is empty.

A large bowl of dill pickle pasta salad with noodles in a creamy sauce, pickles, and cheddar cheese

My little sister was absolutely obsessed with pickles growing up. As in wrap-in-a-napkin-and-eat-it-walking-around-the-house obsessed. However, I have always been pretty against them until I realized that I have a husband who loves them so every once in a while, I find a recipe that is perfectly suited for him and this is that recipe.

This pasta salad is everything a summer side dish should be. The pasta gets tossed in pickle juice right after cooking, so it soaks up that bright, briny flavor before the dressing even goes on.
The creamy garlic aioli and sour cream base take it somewhere rich and indulgent, while the fresh dill and chopped pickles keep every bite zippy and fresh. It comes together fast, gets better as it chills, and is always the first bowl emptied.

Ingredients For Dill Pickle Pasta Salad

This is much better than your run-of-the-mill macaroni salad. The dill pickle flavors mesh with the creaminess of the dressing and the real mayonnaise.  Here is what you need and why:

  • Rotini Pasta: The spiral shape is perfect here because it catches and holds onto the creamy dressing in every single bite. Other pasta shapes like cavatappi or bowtie pasta would work too, but rotini is my preference.
  • Dill Pickle Juice: Tossed with the warm pasta right after cooking so it absorbs directly into the noodles for briny flavor from the inside out.
  • Mayonnaise: Adds richness and body to the dressing as the creamy base.
  • Garlic Aioli: Brings a bold, garlicky depth to the dressing that takes it well beyond a basic pasta salad.
  • Sour Cream: Lightens the dressing slightly while adding a subtle tang that complements the pickle flavor beautifully.
  • Salt and Pepper: Season the whole salad and can be adjusted to taste.
  • Fresh Dill: The signature herb that ties all the pickle flavors together and adds a bright, fresh finish.
  • Pickles: Sweet petite or dill pickles chopped throughout the salad for that satisfying briny crunch in every bite.

Red, White & Blue Funfetti Dip

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Red, White & Blue Funfetti Dip

This Red, White & Blue Funfetti Dip is the party treat you didn’t know your summer needed. It’s fluffy, creamy, sweet in the best possible way, and it comes together with just 3 ingredients in about 5 minutes flat. No bake. No fuss. Just a bowl, a spoon, and a very exciting amount of sprinkles.

A photo of Funfetti Dip topped with a generous pile of colorful red white and blue sprinkles sitting on a white marble surface next to a stack of graham crackers and nilla wafers.

Okay, friends. I need you to stop whatever you’re doing right now, because I have the most festive, most fun, most could-not-be-easier 4th of July recipe for you, and it involves cake batter. Yes. CAKE BATTER. In a dip. This Red, White & Blue Funfetti Dip is the easiest and most festive 4th of July treat you’ll ever make!

We’ve made this for every 4th of July cookout I can remember, and every single time, the bowl gets scraped clean before the fireworks even start. Kids go absolutely wild for it. Adults go right along with them. And honestly? I think that’s the most patriotic thing of all. Grab the graham crackers, we’re celebrating!

A overhead photo of Funfetti Dip in a serving bowl topped with colorful sprinkles and surrounded by Nilla wafers and graham crackers on a beige platter.

Ingredients For Funfetti Dip

Can we talk about how three humble ingredients somehow create the most magical, celebratory dip you’ve ever tasted? It feels like a little kitchen miracle every single time. Here’s what you’ll need, and I promise you can find all of

Classic Pea Salad Recipe

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a large bowl of creamy english pea salad topped with crispy bacon bits and cubes of cheddar cheese

This pea salad recipe is creamy, cheesy, and topped with crispy bacon, a classic side dish that’s perfect for any occasion. Take it to a potluck, serve it at a BBQ, or make it for a quick and flavorful side for dinner! This salad comes together in minutes and delivers big flavor.

It’s the perfect side dish for Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. I don’t know where English pea salad originated from, or why it’s so dang good considering it’s the world’s shortest list of ingredients, but I do know that any time someone shares a photo of a potluck or church spread, there’s that pea salad!

Last Fourth of July, we had Cade’s mom, brother, and his family and a friend over for a fun day of swimming and eating. Yes, I did wear a red bathing suit. Yes, I did get mistaken for the lifeguard 100 times. We swam, the kids became exhausted, and we headed back to the house where we cooked up classic burgers and a selection of our favorite summer salads including this English pea salad and our tomato cucumber salad. We finished the night off with our gooey Rice Krispie treats! God Bless America!

Ingredients for Pea Salad

  • Mayonnaise: Provides a creamy, rich base that binds all the flavors together.
  • Sour Cream: Adds tanginess and smooth texture for the perfect balance.
  • Cheddar Cheese: Sharp, cubed cheddar adds bold flavor and bite to the salad.
  • Red Onion: Gives a mild crunch and subtle sweetness for extra depth.
  • Sugar: Balances the tangy dressing and enhances the peas’ natural sweetness.
  • Apple Cider Vinegar: Adds a bright, tangy note to the creamy dressing.
  • Salt: Enhances all the flavors in the salad.
  • Bacon: Crispy, crumbled bacon adds smoky, savory flavor and crunch.
  • Frozen Peas: Sweet and tender peas form the heart of this classic salad.

Tips for Making English Pea Salad

  1. There’s a BIG FAT SECRET to making English pea salad. Do you know what it is? It tastes best with only slightly defrosted, never cooked frozen sweet peas. That’s right, grab your bag of peas and throw them into the fridge to defrost them a little, and when you pour them into the bowl you should hear them falling and they should have a small crunch to them as they are still a little frozen.
  2. When chopping the red onion, dice it into small bits and not slices as that’s more cumbersome to eat. If you’re not a huge fan of raw onion, try running it under cold tap water for a few seconds to rem

Easy Pesto Pasta Salad

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a large bowl of creamy pesto pasta with halved cherry tomatoes, arugula and sun dried tomatoes

You know those recipes you make once and then suddenly they’re requested at everything? This is one of those. This pesto pasta salad is fresh, simple, and packed with flavor, and it comes together with just a handful of ingredients.

It’s the perfect side for summer BBQs, easy lunches, or honestly just eating straight out of the bowl in the fridge.

I loooove pesto and grow as much basil as I can to make it and freeze it for winter. You can read all about pesto in our how to make and store pesto post. With summer creeping in, I knew it was high time we created a cold pesto pasta salad for all of your backyard gatherings and this one is over the top.

Problems to Solve

When it comes to pasta salads, there are couple of things that are absolutely unacceptable for me…

  1. I hate dry pasta salad.
  2. I hate flavorless pasta salad even though you added a dressing.

Solutions

Luckily, I have a solution for both of those problems…

  1. Ok, so pesto, even with all of that olive oil, dries out quickly! I saw a tip about adding a little mayo to the mix which doesn’t take away the flavor at all, but does keep things soft and delicious! Problem solved!
  2. Flavorless pasta salad happens when you do not over cook the pasta. You do not want those little noodles absorbing your sauce. You know how you can make a soup with noodles and the next day there’s no broth left? Well, when it’s a cold pasta salad you want to over cook, rinse in cold water to stop the cooking and always allow to completely cool and dry out a little before adding your sauce! Problem solved!

Ingredients You’ll Need

This easy pesto pasta salad keeps things simple with a handful of fresh, flavorful ingredients that really shine together. Here is what you need:

  • Pasta Spirals: Perfect for holding onto all that pesto sauce in every little twist and turn.
  • Pesto: Fresh, herby, and packed with flavor, homemade or store-bought both work great.
  • Mayonnaise: The secret to keeping the pasta salad creamy and never dry without overpowering the pesto. (I prefer Dukes!)
  • Marinated Bocconcini Mozzarella: Soft, creamy cheese with extra flavor from the marinade.
  • Cherry Tomatoes: Juicy and sweet, they add freshness and a pop of color.
  • Sun Dried Tomatoes: Rich, slightly tangy, and full of concentrated tomato flavor.
  • Pine Nuts: Add a buttery crunch that takes the texture to the next level.
  • Arugula: A little peppery b
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