My mom’s Classic Spaghetti Salad with tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, carrots and Italian dressing is a great summer side and perfect for sharing!

Happiest of Fridays here! I’m currently at the beach (yes, again!), this time with my best girl buddies. We're having a blast cooking, relaxing, laughing and sitting on the beach all day.

So I’m keeping this short today and jumping right into this recipe, designed to get you ready for your Labor Day festivities! 

My mom’s spaghetti salad is a classic in our family.

It's full of tender spaghetti noodles, tons of bright fresh veggies, juicy tomatoes and is finished with Italian dressing and salad seasoning to give the whole thing tons of oomph.

It's cold and refreshing and super versatile - it goes great with anything from the grill or whatever you're planning for a backyard BBQ party.

It's also vegan and dairy-free, so it makes a great picnic or potluck item to bring along in the summertime. It can sit out without a worry. (As well as suit various dietary needs.)

We loved this dish growing up and it’s one of the recipes my mom wrote up for me when I moved out of the dorms and into an apartment in college. (You can just see the hand written recipe in the background of the picture above. 👆)

I thought I’d be cooking more than I did.

So I have all these handwritten recipes from my mom of some of the easy, classic recipes she’d made that I could replicate on my own. Still love that I have them.

Even if I didn’t end up cooking much in college.

My serious dive into home cooking came after I graduated and moved to D.C. No more school cafeterias, so I had to step up my game!

Anyway, this spaghetti salad is a classic for a reason. It’s picnic perfect, crowd-pleasing and easy to throw together in advance. All things I love for a summer side dish.

So let’s get cooking.

Now, I’ve got some notes, tips and substitutions coming up below on how to make classic spaghetti salad. Just tryin’ to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Ingredient Notes:

• Spaghetti: Spaghetti noodles are the classic way to go for this salad, and you can use regular or thin spaghetti and regular or whole wheat spaghetti. Or you can substitute any other type of pasta you prefer. Rotini would be great here!
• Veggies: Feel free to add to or omit from the veggies used in the recipe below to suit your tastes.
• Tomato: I usually add an extra tomato if they’re good summer fresh ones, whether heirloom or regular. Roma tomatoes are a good option year round.
• Dressing: I like my spaghetti salad heavily dressed and heavily seasoned for big flavor. In the recipe, I start you with an initial baseline amount and you can add as you go from there to suit your tastes.

Speaking of dressing, I have an easy homemade Italian dressing that I love using now.

However, you can of course use store-bought if you want a shortcut to make this even easier to throw together. A regular or zesty Italian will work well for this recipe; I've used both before.

Also, this makes enough for about 6 servings as a main side dish, maybe 8 if everyone is trying multiple sides. You can absolutely double or triple the recipe if you're serving a big crowd.

Lastly, let's tackle a couple of commonly asked questions.

Recipe FAQs

And if you need to round out your dinner or cookout or picnic or party, here's a few other summer faves that go well with this spaghetti salad.

BBQ chicken burgers are super juicy and delicious. Adobo grilled chicken is just 2 ingredients and has a smoky flavor. Or try grilled lemon chicken or cheddar chicken burgers.

And don't forget the peach cobbler for dessert!

Much like my gazpacho recipe from earlier in the week, spaghetti salad is a summer must-have for me. Make it for your family or for a crowd, it’s sure to be a hit.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

XO,

Kathryn

P.S. Check out all of my other healthy summer salads for more delicious recipes!