Level Up Your Pasta Salad Game With A Dressing Trick

Whether at the backyard barbecue or on the holiday buffet table, pasta salad is a regular at gatherings large and small. It's simple, hearty, and delicious — cool, soft pasta with crunchy veggies and a nice vinegar bite. But it can get a little lifeless when left in the fridge to dry out. Even in an airtight container, as the pasta cools, the starches will begin to re-solidify, making cold pasta harder and less absorbent. Adding more dressing or oil isn't the answer because the salad can end up completely waterlogged or a gooey mess.

The trick for a perfectly dressed, always flavorful pasta salad is to dress it twice. Follow the recipe for whatever pasta salad you're making, but only mix in half of the dressing at first. From there, it can sit in the fridge for a few hours to a few days. The dressing will permeate the pasta, packing it with flavor, but the pasta won't get mushy. And whether from absorption or dehydration, you won't have lost all of your dressing.

When it's time to enjoy the salad, simply stir in the rest of the dressing and serve. This trick will give you the benefit of a full marinade in the fridge with improved pasta texture and fresher, brighter flavor.

First of all, don't run your hot, cooked pasta under the sink to cool it off because it will rinse away starches that help the dressing cling to the pasta when mixed. Spreading just-cooked pasta on a sheet pan is a great way to cool it quickly, but don't cool it completely. Pasta salad is usually best made with pasta that's still a bit warm (and only half the dressing at first, of course) because it will soak up more of the flavor.

Also, pasta salad needs more salt when served cold because our taste buds perceive flavor much less at lower temperatures. If you salt your water properly, the pasta will pick up the salty flavor and disperse it throughout the salad — piece by piece. For this same reason, there are plenty of secret ingredients you should be using in your pasta salad that feature bold flavors and plenty of herbs and spices.

For perfect texture, overcooking your noodles will actually result in a better pasta salad, helping to keep it from over-solidifying and drying out in the fridge. And cooking the pasta in salt has the added benefit of keeping your pasta from clumping — especially when only mixing it with half of the dressing at first. Fresh veggies are always a good choice for crunchy texture and will hold up in the fridge. However, when working with ingredients that are a bit more fragile and subtle, like soft cheeses and fresh herbs, wait to add them until the second dressing, so they'll hold onto their flavor and not wilt or dry out in the fridge.