This quick 15-minute Greek pasta salad is packed with colorful and healthy ingredients for a tasty side dish. It’s loaded with fresh vegetables and feta cheese and tossed with a lemon herb dressing.
Recipe Science
- Use shorter pasta with grooves to catch the dressing. Gemelli, with its twisted shape, is ideal, holding the sauce well.
- For cold pasta salad, briefly rinse noodles with cold water. This cools it quickly, stops the cooking process, and prevents sticking.
- Gradually add oil to the vinegar mixture while vigorously mixing. This disperses oil droplets evenly and thickens the dressing.
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Featured Comment 24
“I made it for a family potluck, and everyone loved it. Several people commented on how tasty the dressing was. I agree! Very simple to put together. I’ve now done it with gluten-free pasta, too, and the results were just as great. Definitely a favorite!”—Deanna V.
Why It Works
Like my couscous salad recipe, this easy Greek pasta salad is a Mediterranean delight! Each serving includes tender pasta, fresh vegetables, and creamy feta cheese. A lemon and herb dressing adds a light and tangy coating to each bite. The best part is that this recipe is ready to serve in 15 minutes!
Greek cuisine incorporates ripe, fresh ingredients, with cheese and aromatic herbs. It’s no wonder that the Mediterranean diet is so popular. Guilt-free eating sounds like a good idea to me. Even with limited time in the kitchen, a nutritious side dish can come together in a snap!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Pasta: I like to use shorter noodles with grooves that catch the dressing when tossed together. My top pick is a Gemelli pasta salad, which looks like tiny unicorn horns. The twisted pasta shape easily grabs onto the ingredients and has a nice chew.
- Vegetables: Each serving is packed with ripe cherry tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, bell peppers, pungent red onions, and briny kalamata olives.
- Cheese: A generous chunk of ripened feta cheese adds creaminess to the pasta salad. Cutting the feta into small cubes and then tossing it with some olive oil and oregano adds an extra layer of flavor to the cheese. Crumbled feta works too.
- Dressing: This light and tangy lemon herb vinaigrette is made with lemon zest, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, mustard, honey, minced red onion, minced garlic, chopped basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and extra-virgin olive oil.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
The easy Greek pasta salad recipe is simple to customize! Try these tasty options:
- Pasta Options: Select other types of pasta like rotini, penne, cavatappi or farfalle. If you have special dietary restrictions, use gluten-free pasta.
- Switch Up the Veggies: Add pickled red onion for a sweet and tangy taste. Marinated baby artichokes, small Persian cucumbers, green olives, green bell pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, grape tomatoes, or Roma tomatoes. Add crispy roasted chickpeas for extra crunch!
- Cheese Swaps: Try firm but salty Halloumi, goat cheese, or fresh mozzarella.
- Herbs: Add fresh oregano or dried Italian seasonings. For the dressing, try fresh herbs like chives, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, or tarragon.
- Protein: To make a heartier pasta salad, add diced or shredded chicken, shrimp, salmon, or grilled beef.
How to Make Greek Pasta Salad
Step 1: Cook the Pasta
Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and stir. Cook the pasta according to the manufacturer’s instructions until it reaches an al dente texture.
Step 2: Drain and Cool the Pasta
Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water for 10 seconds. This stops the cooking process and prevents a mushy texture. Shake off the excess water, then transfer the pasta to a large bowl.
Step 3: Layer the Pasta Salad
After the pasta has been drained and cooled down, add the vegetables. Top with cucumbers, red bell pepper, tomatoes, red onion, and kalamata olives. I like to toss the cubes of feta cheese with olive oil and dried oregano, infusing more herbaceous flavor. Add the cheese on top, or garnish at the very end if you like bigger chunks.
Step 4: Make the Dressing
The Greek salad dressing combines fresh ingredients with pantry staples. It’s a citrusy mix of fresh lemon juice, red wine vinegar, honey, basil, red onion, garlic, oregano, and extra virgin olive oil.
Tips for Perfect Execution: Gradually add the oil to the vinegar and acid mixture while vigorously mixing. You want the oil droplets finely dispersed throughout the liquid so that the flavors evenly coat the Greek pasta salad. The force and mechanical shear by whisking or blending allow the oil to help create a thickened dressing.
Step 5: Ready to Serve
Generously pour the dressing all over the pasta salad ingredients. The starchy noodles will absorb the zesty flavors. If you like a lot of dressing, make a double batch to serve more on the side.
Frequently Asked Questions
After the pasta cooks, it has a starchy film that causes the hot noodles to clump together. This helps the sauce to cling to the pasta. However, if you’re making a cold pasta salad, you can briefly rinse the noodles with cold water to remove the excess starch. This will quickly cool down the pasta after boiling, which halts the cooking process so the noodles don’t become mushy. It also prevents the noodles from sticking together.
Dressings and vinaigrettes are an emulsion, a thickened sauce used with various types of salads. Any dressing can be made at home using a simple combination of oil, vinegar or acid like lemon juice, and an emulsifying agent like mustard. The sweeteners and herbs and spices add that extra punch of flavor. No need to buy store-bought dressing again!
It’s a light vinaigrette featuring lemon juice, red wine vinegar, mustard, onion, minced garlic, basil, oregano, and a hint of honey. Extra-virgin olive oil is whisked in to create a fruity emulsified dressing.
More Side Salads
If you tried this Greek Pasta Salad recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Easy Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Greek Pasta Salad
- 4 quarts water
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 pound dried pasta, gemelli, rotini or penne
- 1 cup thinly sliced english cucumbers
- 1 cup red bell pepper, ½" dice
- 1 cup baby tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup red onion, ⅛" thick slices
- ½ cup kalamata olives, halved
- 4 ounces feta cheese, cut into ¼" cubes
- 1 ½ teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
Lemon Herb Vinaigrette
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon minced red onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons chopped basil leaves
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Cook the Pasta – Add the water to a large pot and bring it to a boil. Stir in 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook the pasta according to the manufacturer's directions until al dente.
- Drain and Cool the Pasta – Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water for 10 seconds. Drain excess water and then add the pasta to a large bowl.
- Layer the Pasta Salad – Top the pasta with cucumbers, bell pepper, tomatoes, red onion, and kalamata olives.In a small bowl, gently combine the feta cheese, 1 ½ teaspoon olive oil, and ½ teaspoon dried oregano. Add to the bowl of pasta or add it later as garnish before serving.
- Make the Dressing – In a medium bowl, whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, mustard, honey, minced red onion, minced garlic, chopped basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Slowly add the olive oil, vigorously whisking until a thickened dressing is formed. Taste and season with more salt and pepper as desired.
- To Serve – Drizzle lemon herb dressing over the Greek pasta salad and gently toss until combined, serve immediately.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Make Ahead: The Greek pasta salad can be prepared up to one day in advance. Do not add dressing until ready to serve.
- Storing: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Brian Fox says
Absolutely delicious. My wife and I are trying to eat healthier and this Greek Pasta Salad was a great start for us. I served this with the grilled chicken recipe as part of a few dishes I made for some friends and everyone was raving about it. This will become a staple in our home for sure.
Jessica Gavin says
Thanks, Brian! Grilled chilled chicken is the perfect pairing with the pasta salad. Great job!