The Best Easy Greek Pasta Salad
Looking for a flavorful and easy pasta salad recipe to try out this summer? Look no further than this Greek pasta salad! Made with fresh and colorful ingredients like creamy feta cheese, juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, crunchy green bell pepper, pungent red onion, and tangy Kalamata olives, this dish is sure to be a hit at your next gathering.
What’s more, it only takes 20 minutes to prepare from start to finish, making it perfect for last-minute gatherings or as a quick lunch to enjoy throughout the week.
Serve it as a side dish for dinner, save leftovers for lunch, or bring it to your next picnic, potluck, or BBQ.
If you’re a fan of my Mediterranean Pasta Salad or Summer Pesto Pasta Salad, I’m sure you’ll love this Greek pasta salad recipe too! It’s light yet filling, with the perfect balance of flavors and textures.
Aside from the pasta, nothing else requires cooking—which is really nice when you don’t want to heat up your kitchen.
Serve it as a side dish, or add some breaded chicken breast or garlic shrimp to turn it into a full meal. You can also prepare it entirely ahead of time for stress-free entertaining and prep.
Why you’ll love this easy pasta salad
- Quick and easy – with just a few ingredients that you already have in your pantry and minimal prep time, you can have a delicious meal ready in no time.
- Versatile – this recipe can be modified to suit your taste. You can add or remove ingredients to create your own unique version.
- Great for meal prep and leftovers as it keeps well in the fridge for a few days.
- Perfect for any occasion – this dish is perfect for any occasion, as it’s a crowd-pleasing dish that can be made in large quantities.
Ingredients & easy swaps
Here are a few notes about the ingredients that you will need to make this recipe:
- Pasta – I used fusilli, but you can make this with any short-shaped pasta with nooks and crannies to trap the dressing. I recommend tri-color fusilli, penne, ziti, small shells, casarecce, orecchiette, elbow macaroni, penne rigate (ridged penne), or farfalle (bow tie).
- Tomatoes – I love the sweetness and juiciness of ripe cherry or grape tomatoes. Quarter large tomatoes or halve smaller ones.
- Cucumber – Persian cucumbers are perfect for this recipe because they are thin-skinned (no need to peel them) and have minimal seeds.
- Olives – I like to buy pitted Kalamata olives and leave them whole. You can substitute Kalamata olives with black olives.
- Green bell pepper – green bell peppers are traditional in a Greek salad, but you can use red, yellow, or orange if that is all you have on hand.
- Feta cheese – it’s sold by the block or in crumbles. If you buy a block of feta cheese, cut it into 1/2-inch cubes. Crumbled goat cheese is a great alternative to feta.
- Red onion – to tame the bite of raw onions, soak them in a bowl of cold or ice water for 10 minutes, drain, and use them in your recipe.
See the recipe card below for a detailed ingredient list and step-by-step instructions
Greek salad dressing
The dressing is a simple mix of olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, dried oregano, salt, and pepper.
While you could use a bottled Greek vinaigrette, this homemade dressing gives the salad a bright, zingy flavor. Plus, it’s easy to whisk together and tastes better than anything you can buy at the store.
Whip up a batch and store it in a covered glass jar in the fridge, it will last for up to one week.
Customize it!
Adjust the recipe to your taste. For example, you could…
- Pasta – swap the pasta for tortellini, orzo, quinoa, or couscous.
- Veggies – add more veggies like artichoke hearts, spinach, corn, asparagus, zucchini, or avocado.
- Add protein – make it a complete meal by adding rotisserie chicken, grilled shrimp, tuna, or even sliced steak. If you want to keep it vegetarian, try out cubed firm tofu, black beans, chickpeas, or kidney beans.
- Make it vegan – without any substitutions, this recipe is vegetarian. You can easily make it vegan by omitting the feta cheese.
- Make it gluten-free – swap the whole wheat pasta for an alternative flour, like chickpea, lentil, quinoa, or brown rice pasta.
How to make pasta salad
- Boil the pasta – In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Then drain, rinse under cold water, and toss with a little oil to prevent sticking.
- Chop up your vegetables – prepare the cucumber, tomatoes, green bell pepper, and red onion.
- Make the dressing – add all the dressing ingredients to a mason jar, close the lid, and give it a shake. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Combine all the ingredients – toss everything together in a big bowl, and finish it off with a sprinkle of oregano.
- Serve – although this cold salad is delicious served right away, it tastes even better if you have time to chill it for 30 minutes before serving.
Tips for success
- Use the right size and shape of pasta – short pasta shapes with plenty of nooks and crannies are ideal choices for pasta salad. Avoid using fresh pasta, which doesn’t hold up quite as well, and long-shaped pasta like linguine and spaghetti.
- Salt the pasta water – seasoning the pasta water is how you flavor the pasta itself. Bring the water to a rolling boil, add the salt, wait for the water to come back to a boil, and then add the dry pasta. As a rule of thumb, use 1 liter of water (4 cups) for each 100 grams (3.5 oz) of dry pasta and 10 grams (1 1/4 teaspoon) of salt for each 100 grams (1/2 cup) of water.
- Don’t overcook the noodles – or you will get mushy pasta
- alad. Cook the pasta until al dente (check the box).
- Cool the pasta before adding the toppings – don’t forget to let your pasta cool completely before tossing it with the veggies (you don’t want the other ingredients to cook or wilt).
- Chill before serving – if you have time, chill the pasta for 30 minutes before serving.
How to store and make-ahead
Leftovers – store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Just be sure to keep a little extra dressing on the side to drizzle over when you are ready to serve it.
Make-Ahead – because this cold pasta salad doesn’t have any greens, it’s perfect to make ahead for gatherings. Pasta and vegetables can be prepped the day before and stored in the refrigerator in separate containers. And you can make the dressing up to 1 week in advance.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, I recommend rinsing the pasta for two reasons: to stop the cooking process and to remove some of the starches so the pasta doesn’t stick together as it cools.
It’s a personal preference, but I prefer my pasta salads cold.
– Grilled meat – burgers, steaks, or BBQ chicken.
– Soups – Any cold soup like gazpacho will pair wonderfully.
– Sandwiches, wraps, or panini.
Pasta salad is not recommended for freezing as it may result in a mushy texture and loss of flavor.
If you tried this pasta salad with feta or any other recipe on the blog, let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment/rating below! I love hearing how it turns out for you! ♡
HOW TO MAKE IT: Easy Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the pasta salad
- ½ lb (230 g) dry pasta I used fusilli
- a drizzle of olive oil to toss the pasta
- 1 cup (150 g) grape or cherry tomatoes sliced into halves or quarters
- 1 cup (120 g) sliced Persian cucumbers
- 1 green bell pepper seeds and ribs removed, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 small red onion thinly sliced then rinsed to remove harsh bite
- ⅓ cup (65 g) pitted Kalamata olives
- 3 oz. (85 g) feta cheese crumbled or cut into ½-inch cubes
For the Greek vinaigrette:
- ¼ cup (55 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 garlic clove minced
- ½ lemon juiced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano more for sprinkling
- ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Cook the pasta
- In a pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta al dente according to the package instructions. Then drain and rinse under cold running water to stop the cooking process, and toss it with a little bit of olive oil.Set aside to cool.
Prepare the dressing+veggies
- While the pasta boils, slice the red onion and cucumber, chop the green bell pepper, halve the cherry tomatoes, and crumble or cut the feta into small cubes.Shake all the dressing ingredients in a mason jar and refrigerate until ready to use.
Combine all the ingredients
- Place all the ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle with the dressing, and toss to combine.
- Finish it off with a sprinkle of oregano and serve immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Nutrition: 1 portion is equivalent to 200 grams (1 cup).
- Pasta – I used fusilli, but you can make this with just about any short-shaped pasta. You can also swap the pasta for tortellini, orzo, quinoa, or couscous.
- Red onion – to tame the bite of raw onions, soak them in a bowl of cold or ice water for 10 minutes, drain, and use them in your recipe.
- Make it vegan – without any substitutions, this recipe is vegetarian. You can easily make it vegan by omitting the feta cheese.
- Make it gluten-free – swap the whole wheat pasta for an alternative flour, like chickpea, lentil, quinoa, or brown rice pasta.
- Add protein – make it a complete meal by adding rotisserie chicken, grilled shrimp, tuna, or even sliced steak. If you want to keep it vegetarian, try out cubed firm tofu, black beans, chickpeas, or kidney beans.
- Leftovers – store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Taste and season again before serving, if needed.
- Make ahead – prepare the dressing up to 1 week in advance. Pasta and vegetables can be prepped the day before and stored in separate containers.
- Scaling the recipe – you can easily double or triple the recipe. Simply click on the number of servings in the recipe card and slide the toggle that appears to the number of servings you want to make. The ingredient amounts will change accordingly.
I love this Greek pasta salad! Thank you!
ricetta che mi fa venire voglia di provarla, grazie per la condivisione!
I have mare this salad several times. It is the best one I have ever tried. I shared with a lot of my friends and family… It is so simple, yet so tasty. Thank you for sharing!!!
Thank you for the feedback, Carolina! Glad your family and friends loved this recipe!