Big Batch Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is such a staple for an easy, cold side dish to go with a variety of quick, home-style meals. Every pasta salad is different, even when using the same recipe, there is variation within each batch. Pasta salads can be creamy and rich like potato salads, or light and oil-based like green salads. This is a big batch pasta salad I made recently. I find the best types of pasta to use for salads are short, medium ones with some ridges to hold the sauce, but not really tiny pastas such as orzo or alphagetti. Macaroni is good, but macaroni salad is an entire different type of pasta salad on its own. Pastas like spaghetti, linguni and fettucini are just too long for salads. The best pastas are rotini, fusili, short egg noddles, bow ties, or shells. Here I have used broad egg noodles. Although it is fun to mix different shapes of pastas sometimes, that is better for sauces and not ideal in salads. 
In this salad, I have used minced green onion, chopped celery, diced red pepper, and tomato strips, although I change up the vegetables I use slightly every time depending on what I have on hand in the refrigerator. A few chopped vegetables add a little extra color, flavor, and crunch. I also use a fairly creamy-based dressing, with some mayo and coleslaw dressing, and a little bit of garlic, parsley, and a touch of paprika.