Hoagie-Inspired Pasta Salad With Chickpeas

This pasta salad was inspired by our favorite Italian hoagie fix-ins, pepperoncini, salami, cheese, tomato, and fresh herbs. To add an extra oomph of texture and nutrition, tender beans provide a perfect contrast to the chewy pasta and marinate in the zesty, briny dressing as you prepare everything else. Be prepared to win "favorite dish" at your next summer potluck!

Why This Recipe Works

What makes this pasta salad so crave-worthy is how it captures all the flavors of a great Italian hoagie, salty cured meats, briny peppers and olives, creamy cheese, fresh tomatoes, aromatic herbs, and translates them into pasta salad form. The chickpeas are a brilliant addition, providing protein, substance, and a creamy contrast to the chewy orecchiette pasta.

The key technique is marinating the chickpeas in the zesty, briny dressing while you prepare everything else. By the time you assemble the salad, the beans are deeply flavored, acting almost like flavor bombs distributed throughout the dish. Combined with quality Italian ingredients and a generous, well-seasoned dressing, you get something that's far superior to typical mayonnaise-based pasta salads.

The Star: Chickpeas

Let's talk about chickpeas, those small, round, nutty beans that are beloved across Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines. Our chickpeas are tiny and intensely nutty, with a firm texture that holds up beautifully in pasta salads.

What makes chickpeas perfect for this hoagie-inspired salad is their size (they match the scale of the orecchiette pasta), their firm texture (they don't get mushy when tossed with dressing), and their mild, nutty flavor (they complement rather than compete with the bold Italian flavors). When marinated in the zesty dressing, they absorb all that briny, garlicky, oregano-infused goodness and become incredibly flavorful.

The Hoagie Inspiration

A great Italian hoagie (also called a sub or grinder, depending on where you're from) features:

• Cured meats: Salami, capicola, mortadella, prosciutto
• Cheese: Provolone, sometimes fresh mozzarella
• Peppers: Pepperoncini, hot peppers, roasted red peppers
• Vegetables: Tomato, lettuce, onion
• Condiments: Oil, vinegar, oregano
• Bread: Crusty Italian roll

This pasta salad takes those same elements (minus the bread) and reimagines them as a salad. The pasta provides the carb component, while chickpeas add substance and protein.

The Zesty Dressing

The dressing is what makes this salad special, it needs to be "zesty, salty, and briny" to properly evoke hoagie flavors. It's built on:

• Olive oil: Richness, fruitiness
• Red wine vinegar: Tang, acidity
• Dried oregano: Classic Italian herb flavor
• Garlic: Pungent, aromatic
• Salt and pepper: Seasoning
• Pepperoncini juice: Briny, tangy, slightly spicy (this is key!)
• Optional red pepper flakes: Additional heat

The pepperoncini juice is what really makes it taste like a hoagie, that briny, vinegary, slightly spicy liquid is what gets drizzled on Italian subs, and it's essential here. Don't skip it.

Whisk everything together and let it sit so the flavors can blend, then taste and adjust. It should be bold and assertive, this dressing needs to flavor pasta, beans, and all those other ingredients, so don't be timid with seasoning.

The Marinating Step

The chickpeas go into a large bowl (the same one you'll use for the whole salad, smart for cleanup) and get tossed with the dressing. While you cook the pasta and prep the other ingredients (15-20 minutes), the chickpeas marinate and absorb those wonderful flavors.

This is a crucial step. By the time you assemble the salad, the chickpeas are deeply seasoned and incredibly flavorful, not just bland beans added at the end.

The Pasta

Orecchiette ("little ears") is the perfect pasta shape for this salad. The small, cup-shaped pieces hold dressing in their concave centers, and their size matches the chickpeas well. Plus, their texture is pleasantly chewy when cooked al dente.

Cook the pasta just until al dente (it will soften slightly as it sits), then drain and run cold water over it to stop cooking and cool it down. Toss it with the marinated chickpeas while still slightly warm, this helps it absorb the dressing.

The Hoagie Fix-Ins

Each ingredient brings something essential:

• Cherry tomatoes (halved): Juicy, sweet-tart, fresh
• Castelvetrano olives (chopped): Buttery, mild, bright green (buy whole with pits and pit them yourself, pre-pitted olives are mushy)
• Pepperoncini (chopped): Briny, tangy, slightly spicy (plus their juice in the dressing)
• Genoa salami (sliced then cut into strips): Salty, fatty, quintessentially Italian
• Fresh mozzarella pearls (halved): Creamy, mild, luxurious
• Provolone or fontina (shaved or cubed): Sharp, aged cheese flavor
• Fresh basil (torn): Aromatic, sweet, herbaceous
• Fresh oregano leaves: Pungent, Italian, bright

Two types of cheese (fresh mozzarella and aged provolone/fontina) provide textural and flavor contrast. The salami adds essential meatiness and salt. The olives and pepperoncini bring that characteristic briny quality. The tomatoes and herbs add freshness.

Assembly

Once the pasta is cooled and tossed with the marinated chickpeas, add all the remaining ingredients except the fresh herbs. Stir gently to combine, you don't want to break up the mozzarella pearls or tear the salami too much.

Taste and adjust, adding more olive oil, vinegar, oregano, pepperoncini juice, or salt as needed. The salad should taste boldly seasoned, remember, cold food needs more seasoning than hot food because cold temperatures dull flavors.

Reserve the fresh herbs until just before serving, this keeps them bright green and fresh-looking rather than wilted and dark.

Serving Temperature

This salad is delicious at room temperature or cold. Room temperature allows the flavors to be more pronounced and the mozzarella to be softer. Cold is refreshing on hot days. Make it based on preference and occasion.

For potlucks, room temperature is often ideal since the salad can sit out for a while without issues.

Potluck Winner

As the recipe promises, "be prepared to win 'favorite dish' at your next summer potluck!" This is genuinely crowd-pleasing, familiar Italian flavors everyone loves, substantial enough to be satisfying, visually appealing with all those colors, and better than typical mayonnaise-based pasta salads.

It travels well, feeds a crowd, can sit out at room temperature, and actually improves as it sits and the flavors meld. All qualities that make great potluck dishes.

Make-Ahead Friendly

This salad benefits from sitting, the pasta and chickpeas continue absorbing the dressing, and all the flavors meld together. Make it several hours ahead or even the night before. Just wait to add the fresh herbs until right before serving.

You might need to add a bit more olive oil before serving if the pasta has absorbed most of the dressing, that's normal and easy to fix.

Customization

While the recipe provides specific ingredients, it's adaptable:

• Use different pasta shapes (fusilli, rotini, penne)
• Vary the meats (add capicola, mortadella, or make it vegetarian by omitting)
• Change the cheeses (add Parmesan, use all provolone)
• Add other hoagie elements (roasted red peppers, red onion)
• Adjust spice level (more or fewer pepperoncini, add hot peppers)

The basic formula, pasta + chickpeas + Italian hoagie ingredients + zesty dressing, accommodates lots of variations.

Summer Essential

This is the kind of pasta salad you'll make all summer long. It's perfect for picnics, barbecues, potlucks, beach days, or just easy weeknight dinners when it's too hot to cook. Make a big batch, keep it in the fridge, and enjoy it for several days as the flavors develop.

Hoagie-Inspired Pasta Salad With Chickpeas

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Category

Salad

Cuisine

Italian-American

This pasta salad was inspired by our favorite Italian hoagie fix-ins, pepperoncini, salami, cheese, tomato, and fresh herbs. To add an extra oomph of texture and nutrition, tender beans provide a perfect contrast to the chewy pasta and marinate in the zesty, briny dressing as you prepare everything else. Be prepared to win "favorite dish" at your next summer potluck!

Featured bean: Chickpea 

Other beans to try: Cassoulet, Alubia

Ingredients

Salad

• 10 oz orecchiette pasta

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas or other bean (about ⅓ lb dried), strained and cooled

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

• ½ cup chopped Castelvetrano olives, pits removed (don't buy pitted)

• ½ cup chopped pepperoncini + a little of their juice

• 2 oz Genoa salami, cut into thin slices and then strips

• 8 oz fresh mozzarella pearls, strained and halved

• 2 oz provolone or fontina cheese, shaved or cut into small cubes

• Handful basil leaves, torn

• Handful fresh oregano leaves

Dressing

• ¼ cup olive oil, plus more as needed

• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar, plus more to taste

• 1 tsp dried oregano, plus more to taste

• 1 large garlic clove, minced

• ¾ tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste

• Freshly ground pepper

• Red pepper flakes (optional)

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Directions

1. Make the dressing: Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl and allow to sit so flavors can blend. Add a dash of pepperoncini juice. Add more vinegar, dried oregano, pepperoncini juice, or salt as needed—the dressing should be zesty, salty, and briny.

2. Marinate the beans: Add chickpeas to a large bowl and top with dressing. Stir to coat and allow to sit while you cook the pasta and prepare the ingredients.

3. Cook the pasta: Cook pasta until al dente. Strain and run cold water over it to cool. Place in the bowl with the chickpeas and toss to combine.

4. Assemble: Add remaining ingredients and stir gently to combine (reserving herbs for serving). Add more olive oil or any of the dressing ingredients as desired. Enjoy at room temperature or cold, stirring in fresh herbs just before serving.