Sharese's Spaghetti Salad

I previously reviewed this recipe and I am back to add that I recently used Bacon Bits in this salad and they work great.They soften up almost immediately and give a nice flavor and texture.Also,you have to use the McCormick Supreme Salad Seasoning.It took me a while to find it but it is right with all the other spices at the grocery store.That is definately what makes this salad better than any other I have tried.

This is a great recipe! I made this last night and it was hit. The only thing I will do differently next time is to use a different type of pasta such as bowtie or penne. Even broken up, the spaghetti is a little hard to handle with fork when eating.

We really love this recipe and have made it numerous times. Since I haven't changed anything in the last three batches, I'll share our modifications: 1. We use Rotini instead of spaghetti and specifically Barilla Plus Rotini. Really adds to the protein and fiber and is much easier for us to eat. 2.We also use Light Zesty Italian dressing to eliminate 2/3 of the calories from the salad dressing. 3. We use real crumbled bacon rather than frying it ourselves. I use 1 cup. (When my wife makes the recipe she uses pepperoni...I almost always volunteer to make it) 4. Finally, I use three tomatoes rather than two. We hope you find these modifications useful in your enjoyment of this wonderful pasta salad.

I served this as at a party of mine and it was a huge hit! I prepared it the night before and let it sit in the fridge overnight as suggested.

I really liked this a lot. I made a bunch of changes based upon what was in the fridge/ cupboard though. I used bowtie pasta instead of spaghetti. I used bacon and hickory farms beef stick instead of all bacon because I didn't have enough bacon. I still didn't have enough meat so I added in some chunked up hickory farms cheeses. I used sun dried tomatoes instead of fresh in case people were nervous about eating fresh tomatoes due to the salmonella problems. I did find the Superme salad mix, but doubt I used a full 1/4 cup of it. I got a bottle of a tuscan dressing at trader joes and the salad really only need one 8 ounce bottle, IMHO. I dressed the salad with half, let it refrigerate over nite and then added the rest just before serving time. No parmesan since I had chucnk of cheese in it.

This is very good! And I don't really like pasta salad. For those asking about the salad seasoning mix - I used McCormick's Salad Supreme - in the spice isle. I hope that was right. I also used real bacon pieces in the bag, and Newman's Parmesan and Roasted Garlic dressing. Fabulous!

This salad was awesome. I used the McCormic Salad supreme seasoning (in the spice aisle) as another reader suggested and it was great. Thanks Kari.

I halved the recipe and omitted the olives. Added extra parmesan cheese and a handful of chopped pepperoni. I like to save about 1/4 cup of dressing and coat before serving. I did use spaghetti but will try this with mini sea shells next time and chopped red roasted peppers.

When I make pasta salad from now on, this will be the recipe I use. Very good. I did use bow tie pasta and creamy italian dressing and it made for a pretty presentation, as well. Angela

This salad was the biggest hit at my neighborhood picnic. Addults and children love it!

This was a nice side dish to take to the potluck. Followed to the T but used red bell pepper instead of green. We also used small shells since that is all we had.

I read this recipe a couple times before making it. Since we have a big garden this year, I used my own fresh veggies. I substituted fresh, seeded cucumbers for the olives. The only italian dressing I had on hand was Good Seasons. DEFINITELY USE THE MCCORMICK SALAD SUPREME----it's loaded with celery seed, no msg and some sesame seed to give the salad the extra "zip" needed. It's not a salty spice, either---it's all flavor. Excellent salad and it only gets better after sitting for 24-48 hours in the fridge! --TCL

McCormick Salad Supreme is a must in this recipe! For some that discover it is difficult to find at the market, I've made my own by using equal parts Romano cheese, Sesame Seed and Poppy Seed, then adjusting the taste with the remaining ingredients of salt, paprika, celery seed, black pepper and red pepper. You're eliminating the Silicon Dioxide that you don't need in your diet! Shake well and store in a tight fitting container in a cool dry place. Shake more than you think you need on your salad and toss. It's quite a difference!

Wow...this is so good! I pan-fried the bacon, then added onion and garlic until cooked through. I tossed all of that with whole-wheat spaghetti, cucumber, tomatoes and olives, then a little bit of Italian dressing. Some of us added more dressing at the table. For most of us, a small amount already tossed in was enough. I served it with french bread, and I had no leftovers. Talk about easy AND good!

Made this for a get together. I received a lot of compliments. Did not add celery or onion (personal preference) and used a red & yellow pepper instead of a green pepper. Used fresh grated Parmesan cheese and took others advice and bought McCormick Salad Supreme Seasoning. I also used real bacon bits. Thanks

Good recipe, Kari. It took first place on my salad bar buffet I recently sponsored. All the ladies loved it. Thanks for sharing.

I've made a different version of this recipe for years to take to potlucks or bbq's and people always ask for the recipe afterwards without fail. I do use the spaghetti noodles. The veggies I've added is any variety of bell peppers diced - I happen to prefer the red/orange/yellows best, baby carrots diced,and a package of cherry tomatoes halved. I've used off-brand salad supreme before and never have had a complaint, and always use the Wishbone Italian salad dressing. Oh, and I've not ever added the parmesan or bacon to this either. I have had people call me after parties to ask for the recipe, so unsure why bacon or cheese is even needed! Anyway, I'm sure it's a good base for adding/tweeking any veggies, but use the wishbone italian and salad supreme.

I've made this for years. The only thing different is that instead of bacon, I always toss in a "handful" of sliced mushrooms. The salad seasoning I use is Schilling Salad Supreme. This make a tremendous amount and goes over well at potlucks and BBQ's. Thanks for reminind me of this tried and true favorite!

McCormick's Salad Supreme is excellent for Pasta salad. I have been using it for about 20 years now. It is always a crowd pleaser. I still have a hard time finding it sometimes. It is always hidden amongst the other spices. Look hard:) Great recipe. My extremely picky 9 year old loves it.

This was pretty good. I think, like other reviewers have stated, I would make it with a different pasta type next time. I really did enjoy the bacon...I added extra too. I wouldn't have thought to put that in a pasta salad...good addition. ,

I changed this up to useup what I had on hand, PLUS make it a little more "italian". I used a chopped cucumber in place of the celery and used a quarter of a finely chopped red onion. I had some pepperoni slices I had to use up, so I chopped some of that up and threw that in. I didn't have salad seasoning mix, but I did use a bit of pepper. I did use 3/4 c. of zesty italian dressing and 3/4 c. of ranch dressing together as that's a favorite cold salad dressing of our family. Along with the Parmesan cheese, I used about 1/2. c. shredded mozzerella/provolone blend. Turned out GREAT. Really complimented the BBQ burgers.

I looked for a long time for this pasta salad, my grandmother used to make some thing like this and could never find the recipe after she had passed this is not exactly it but very close, great cold salad on hot summer days !

I wanted a salad that used spaghetti in it and I found this recipe which was rated pretty high so I decided to try it. I used real bacon bits to simplify the recipe and added cheese crumbles instead of the parmesan cheese. My only problem was I used Robusto Italian Dressing which I think made it to tart. Using McCormick's Salad Supreme gives it the kick you would want so next time I will use regular Italian-style salad dressing. Everyone did enjoy this dish.

Ok, so I had to change this a some, but I saw it on my email 'daily recipe' and it sounded too good not to make even though I was missing some ingredients. I used most everything called for, celery, onion, tomatoes, bacon, pasta, except I used rotini pasta and sauted all the vegetables in a little of the bacon drippings, just until they were still slightly crunchy. Didn't have any olives, seasoning mix or the Italian dressing so I had to use a little dried basil and oregano( I threw the basil and oregano in with the vegetables while they were cooking along with a minced clove of garlic). Mixed that in the pasta, added Kens Lite Caesar dressing and used some shredded parmesan and not the dried stuff in the bottle. I ate it warm 'cuz' it smelled wonderful and I couldn't wait to try it. Probably would have been even better if I'd had all the right stuff. I'll be making this for the next pot-luck for sure, (according to the recipe though next time). It tasted great even with the substitutions I had to make. Thanks Karinichols.

This was good. I was not impressed with the italian dressing I used.

This salad was very good! Hubby doesn't like the oil laden spaghetti salad that you get from the deli but I love any type of pasta salad so I figured I try this one on him. He loved it and even went back a had another huge helping, I did leave out the celery because I didn't have any. Otherwise made this as is and I will be making this again. Thanks!

WINNING!! I chose this recipe for my Memorial Day potluck and it was a success, everyone loved it! I used a whole box of Barilla's rotini pasta (color mixture) as someone suggested and added thin slices of red onion, slices of pepperoncinis, and half a green and red bell pepper for some eye popping colors. I substituted Italian dressing, for Stator's Bros. Roasted Pepper Italian Parmesean. I used the whole bottle and chilled the pasta salad for 4 hours. Thanks for the awesome recipe!

You could create your own salad seasoning mix with this recipe: 1T. PARSLEY 1t. PEPPER 1T. each of seasoned salt, dill, celery seed, marjoram, basil, chives.

Excellent recipe and thank you for sharing. I make this all year 'round. Only thing I do differently is to make my own Italian Dressing for it. Kudos!!!

Very good! I halved the recipe and only used 3 slices of bacon, which was just enough to give it the bacony flavor. Skipped the salad seasoning, but didn't miss it. Thanks :)

Way too much onion and dressing in this recipe. However, the freshness of the vegetables was very appealing.

Excellent! I added more Italian dressing. My husband loved it!!!

This stuff is wonderful!! I followed the recipe exactly and was even asked for the recipe by my friend who is a professional chef!!

I made this last night and it was a hit. I was thinking that this would be a good recipe to make variations on. Next time I am going to go for an asian theme...with the spaghetti add scallions, water chestnuts, pea pods, sesame seeds and ginger sesame dressing.

I mad this yesterday and loved it so much I made it again today. This time I used some marinated green and black olives from the deli, very good!! I really like the spagetti size pasta with this. I have found spaegetti even comes sold broken in 1-1 1/2 inch pieces if it is too long too work with. I like it I just break the spagetti in half one time and it is fine with me, I like swirling my pasta while eating it.

I will never throw out extra spaghetti again, as this was extra good. Per others reviews, I used a can of diced tomatoes, drained, and McCormick salad seasonings. Also added matchstick carrots that needed to be used. Will be sending leftovers for hubbys lunch. Nice and light!

Delicious! I omitted the celery, as it seemed odd to me to add it in there, lol, and used more of all the other veggies/olives than called for. Also, I was out of salad seasoning, so I just didn't add it. Loved the addition of the bacon and the freshly grated parmesan gave this a great flavor. I will def be making this one again~YUM! Thanks for sharing. :)

Quite good and plenty of compliments from my guests. I omitted several ingredients - the bacon, celery, bell pepper and parmesan. I added cucumber and an 8 oz container of the tiny fresh mozzarella cheese balls packed in water (quartered). I hesitated at putting in the full 16 oz of dressing but after the salad sat for about 3 hrs I realized the dressing was being absorbed by the pasta so I did add the rest. Definitely need to let it sit overnight.

Awesome. Made for a PTO and the teachers raved!

This salad is wonderful! Made it exactly as written. Used McCormicks salad supreme seasoning for the seasoning mix. It turned out perfect. Might try diced ham instead of the bacon next time to see how that version would be. :)

I love this kind of pasta salad!!! The recipe is perfect the way it is. I brought it to our monthly family dinner and they all loved it. It's a fun salad because you can put whatever you may have in the fridge into it. I'm going to experiment with different brands of Italian dressings. I'm going to try the vidalia onion italian dressing next...just for fun!

This was SO GOOD! We cleaned it all up.

Yum, yum and YUM!!! The only thing I changed was to use mini penne instead of spaghetti. I used the suggestion to use McCormick Salad Supreme as well. Absolutely delicious!!! I will never buy boxed pasta salad again! 8-)

OMG Good! I was a little skeptical about the bacon, but this was excellent! Used mini penne since I tend to overcook spaghetti for salads, threw in some fresh shredded parmesan to make it look a little fancier...other than that, made as printed and it's an absolute keeper!

I have made this twice. I add more black olives and tomatos. I will definately be keeping this recipe in my favorites. It is important to use the McCormick salad seasoning as another reviewer suggested.

This was just ok. It certainly makes enough for a group/party. I used fat free Italian salad dressing - not a good idea, as it was not creamy & flavorful enough. Therefore, I had to full-fat dressing to get the flavor to "come alive".

I love this salad! I had the Italian dressing mix but not the bottle dressing so I used extra of the mix and added olive oil and vinegar to it. It would very good made as written and in the future will do that. I will make again and again. Thank you for this.

Excellent flavor; I used Bow Tie pasta so it used a little more dressing. Everyone loved it.

Quick, easy and delicious. Having lots of veggies in the garden right now, I added snap peas and scallions (instead of onions) and used a red pepper instead of green. I also added more tomatoes than the recipe called for just to use them up. Great summer salad!

Huge hit with the family! Will make again for sure!

I liked it - but I altered this recipe some for cooking ease, and to get the tastes just the way I like - for that I give it 3 stars. It did turn out wonderful, even when I didn't think it would because I came back from the grocery store without some ingredients, and with ingredient substitutions. It's a great recipe to inspire you to make your own.

This is amazing but must be chilled for a few hours. I did not use the bacon and added some peas. Perfect dish for a hot day.

I thought I had reviewed this before. I made this quite a few times this summer with fresh from the garden veggies. My 4 year old couldn't get enough of it. It was just what the doctor ordered for a different summery side dish. Oh, and I didn't break the noodles up like the recipe says because my 4 year old loved "slurping" the noodles. It made the dish more fun.

It`s really good but I think I like it better without the bacon. I was out of celery so I subbed cucumber. Nice light salad. Thanks for the recipe, I`ll make this again soon.

Not a fan of the peppers. Not bad but tasted pretty standard. Nothing special. Bacon was a nice addition.

Just o.k.

Simple to prepare. Left out the celery as my husband doesn't like it and used celery seed instead. Also, used real bacon bits. My sister-in-law told me about this salad years ago and would keep a batch in her refrigerator at all times. Added fresh ground black pepper.

Took to a cookout - it's requested now. I don't measure ingredients, kind of eye ball it but delish.

OMG, yummy! I made this from what I had on hand. I didn't have celery or salad seasoning mix. It was good without it! I also added more parmesan cheese! Everybody loved it, and it was gone in seconds! Thank you for the recipe!

Everyone at the bbq liked this salad! I used a bottle of Bernsteins Cheese and Garlic Italian for the dressing. Also, I think if I could have found the mysterious "McCormick Salad Supreme" it would have improved this recipe, but, it was still good without it. Thanks!

Great recipe, everyone wants it. I added cucumbers to mine and left out the bacon. Perfect for a snack also. A friend tried it with wheat pasta and rasberry vinagrette dressing as she is diabetic and loved it.

I used angel hair pasta and made my own creamy dressing with lemon juice, bacon drippings, mayonnaise, some herbs and fresh ground black pepper. It was good! I didnt use the olives, but added some raisins and the sweetness goes very well with the salad. Also, I was out of parmesan cheese and used sandwich cheddar cheese slices instead. They added some creaminess to the salad. Yummy!!

very tasty, even without the black olives and salad mixings. Best chilled several hours or overnight even better.

Absolutely the BEST PASTA SALAD, EVER. I made this for a family cookout and everyone wanted the recipe.

this was a quick and easy salad, every one commented on it at a my family BBQ how nice it was

I changed a few things on this recipe to make it my own and I just won a recipe contest with it!! This is one of the best recipes. My family loves it!!

The salad is great. Try using cheese tortelinni instead of the spaghetti. It is a family favorite for every get together.

Great base recipe, though I do suggest using more dressing, or less pasta, as that much pasta absorbs a lot of liquid. I used a tomato bacon dressing when I added to it,and in the future I will use it instead of Italian,because I like the orange/red color. I omitted bacon, but the tomato bacon dressing has bits of bacon in it anyways.

WOW! I just finished making this recipe. I will be lucky if it lasts overnight, or even to the party for which I made it. It is so yummy! I used 'real bacon pieces' instead of frying the bacon. And I used fresh parmesan. This will be a staple from now on at picnics and potlucks. Thank you for this recipe Kari.

I thought it was delicious except for I will add a little less salad mix next time. I think that will make it a five star recipe

My family just loved this salad. I used red bell peppers and creamy italian dressing. I used thick bacon and it tasted very good. I used penne pasta but plan to use bowtie next time.

My son and I loved this recipe! I didn't use the bacon-I was just too lazy to get it out and fix it. I used 6 ounces of black olives-my son wants more the next time. I only had two small home grown tomatoes on hand-the next time I will use more; my sister told me she subs canned sometimes. For the salad seasoning mix I used an italian blend-I bought by mistake and it still turned out good. This was sooo good! I will use the bacon next time. This is better than the store bought kind. Enjoy!!

very good.

Good recipe. One question: what did other cooks use for the salad dressing mix?

I am not usually a fan of Italian dressing on my dishes because it takes over and every bite basically tastes like the dressing. But in this case I didn't mind too much. I actually prepared this dish for my son's little league cookout but unfortunately we brought it back home (only a few people ate from it). I assumed the spaghetti would have really gotten the kids attention. Who knows. But my family liked it and it didn't go to waste. Thanks.

I used half red and half white onions. Hidden valley salad mix, and made Italian dressing from scratch. (16oz) REAL bacon bits also.

Very good and loved by all..After fridge toss again to mix ingredients well and may use packaged bacon bits. Definitely will make again.

Made this last weekend using bowtie pasta instead of spaghetti. Everyone loved it and it lasted well for a couple of days in the fridge. Will definitely make many more times!

absolutely simple and delicious!!!

I made this recipe last night, to have for lunch today. I substituted a few ingredients (that I prefer)for others that the recipe called for, but I think it turned out fabulous.

This was a hit at an office function.

Everyone enjoyed this recipe, it was definitely very good. Not amazing, but enjoyable!

Wonderful meal. I halfed the onions because we react to a lot of raw onion in our food. Used Sun Dried Tomato dressing by Newman instead of Italian. Yummy and worth the effort.

I was excited to try this because of the reviews, but this salad was just 'so-so'. No one really ate it. They told me it was 'missing something'

Can anyone please tell me what salad seasoning mix is? Thanks Deb

We liked this recipe and will definitely make it again. I can't think of anything I would do different to it! Thank you for this recipe!

This was a great spaghetti salad recipe. The bacon really gave it a great taste. I also threw in some cucumbers and used a red pepper instead of green. My husband, who is not a huge pasta salad fan, loved this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

4.5 stars. Great stuff! Definitely let it sit overnight in the fridge. Used mini penne. Thanks!

The first time I made this I couldn't get enough! This is one of my favorites. Very good. Have made this often.

Updated Aug '10: Decided to up this to 5 stars. I see the recipe has changed a bit, now just calling for 'salad seasoning mix.' On last making of this, I used the Italian Dressing Mix from this site, and used both red and yellow fresh tomato that my neighbor keeps dumping on me. :-) I still love the bacon and Parmesan in this. Though it's still not a huge WOW, it is a lot better than many pasta salads I've made on here at this point, I've made it several times, and do enjoy it. Original review: Dumped the olives since I hate them. And I've never heard of McCormicks salad mix -- I saw the words 'salad' and 'mix' together and immediately thought of Good Seasons, so that's what I used. This was pretty good stuff, and I liked the bacon and Parmesan, but it was still just a pasta salad and not a cut above the rest, IMO.

I think broken spaghetti noodles are too difficult to eat so I opted to not break them. I made a half recipe and added some sliced radishes since I didn't have any bell pepper. Also used sweet onion. Didn't have any Salad Supreme seasoning so I used 1 Tbs. of Mrs. Dash--they're practically the same anyway. I had planned to add some summer sausage I've been wanting to use in place of the bacon, but it was so good without it I left them both out. However, I'm sure meat of most any kind would have taken it over the top. Used Ken's Steakhouse Italian dressing with Romano so I left out the Parmesan cheese. Turned out great.

I took this recipe to a family function and everybody loved it! I had people asking me for the recipe, which I gladly passed along.