This Greek Pasta Salad is light and fresh, loaded with garden tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers tossed in a homemade Greek dressing with Kalamata olives and Feta cheese. Perfect for summer parties or potlucks!
Greek Pasta Salad
I love pasta salad, but taking my Greek Salad recipe and adding it to pasta is my favorite when I want a light pasta salad with no mayo. It’s easy to make and even tastes great the next day or two. Want to try something more traditional? This Summer Macaroni Salad is perfect!
For extra flavor I like using the brine from the olives in my vinaigrette. I love mixing up the colors so I used orange bell peppers but green or red are perfectly fine. Any variety of cucumbers will work here, I usually use English cucumbers or a few smaller Persian cucumbers because you don’t have to peel them or remove the seeds but if your garden is overgrowing with other varieties of cucumber, you make want to scoop the seeds out first. You can use wheat or gluten-free pasta, for added fiber adding chickpeas would also be great.
Tips for Cooking Perfect Pasta for Salad
For perfect pasta salad here’s a few tips for success.
- Choose the best shape. Look for short pasta shapes with nooks and crannies to trap the dressing such as fusilli, rotini, cavatappi or bow ties.
- Salt the pasta water. Because pasta salad is eaten cold, the flavors tend to get muted so you want to make sure your pasta is well-salted as it cooks.
- Cook the pasta a little past al dente. Since you’re serving the pasta cold, cook the pasta a minute or two longer than you normally would, but careful not to let it get mushy. Pasta gets hard as it cools, so the extra cooking time will keep it moist.
Variations
- Swap the pasta for spinach tortellini to make it a Greek Tortellini Salad
- Cut the veggies small and use orzo in place of the pasta to make a Greek Orzo Pasta Salad
- Make it a meal and add grilled chicken to make it a Greek Chicken Pasta Salad
More Pasta Salads
- Summer Pasta Salad with Baby Greens
- Macaroni Salad with Tomatoes and Zucchini
- Macaroni Salad with Tomatoes
- Shrimp Tortellini Salad
- Summer Cavatelli
Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 16 oz pasta (rotini, cavatappi or bow ties), wheat or gluten-free
- 1/2 cup halved pitted kalamata olives, plus 2 tablespoons brine
- 1/3 cup red onion, diced
- 3 cups (from 1 large) English cucumber, diced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 orange bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, cubed
- fresh oregano, optional garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente, adding an extra minute.
- Drain and rinse under cold water, drain.
- Meanwhile, In a large bowl, combine the dressing ingredients.
- Add the olives, red onion and brine from the olives and mix to combine.
- Stir in the pasta with the cucumber, tomatoes and bell pepper and toss well. Add the cheese just before ready to serve.
Last Step:
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Photo credit: Jess Larson
Excellent pasta salad! Easy to make, flavorful, and all the different colors make it beautiful as well. You can go easier on the red onion if you’re not a huge fan … a little raw red onion goes a long way!
This salad was so yummy! I wonder how it would be if I substituted some of my fresh dill or basil. Thoughts?
I chose this Greek pasta salad recipe as the oil content was considerably less in the dressing. We added some black olives to the Kalamatas. Easy to prepare and very flavorful. Thank you!
This was great. Want to make it more awesome? Add a can of Trader Joes Greek Chickpeas with Parsley and Cumin. SO GOOD.
It was good. I added cooked chicken cubes to make it a little more of a hearty meal.
It is good and I’ll make it again with less pasta and move veggies.
What is the specific serving size?
One cup
Very tasty! Can’t even tell it’s got whole wheat noodles. Great summer salad 😊
Huge hit! I made this for 4th of July and brought leftovers to work the next day- Absolutely Everyone loved it😍