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This Greek pasta salad recipe is the perfect salad for summer gatherings, BBQs, or potlucks. Mediterranean-inspired ingredients make it fresh, flavorful, and healthy!
You may also enjoy my Avocado Greek Salad or Mediterranean White Bean Salad next.
Why you’ll love it
Fresh, crisp vegetables are complemented by briny olives and creamy, crumbled feta along with a quick homemade vinaigrette in this Greek salad recipe. The addition of pasta makes it filling and hearty, and it might just be your new go-to pasta salad all summer long!
We’ve got all the classic Mediterranean components in this easy pasta salad that you know and love. There’s something just so special about the simplicity and bright, fresh flavors of Greek cuisine. Enjoy it as a meal in itself, or serve this salad with other seasonal favorites.
What you’ll need
For the salad
- Pasta – I like fusilli/rotini
- Bell peppers – red and green are the traditional color combo
- Onion – red onion is the ideal variety for salads since it’s less sharp than others
- Olives – Kalamata olives are the classic Greek salad olives
- Cucumbers – I prefer mini cucumbers, but English works fine
- Tomatoes – use cherry or grape
- Feta – either crumbled or cubed feta is great
For the dressing
- Red wine vinegar and olive oil – the base to a good Greek vinaigrette
- Dijon mustard – it adds a little zip and depth of flavor. You don’t taste mustard specifically!
- Garlic – for another savory quality
- Fresh parsley and dried oregano – classics for a pop of herby flavor
- Brown sugar – to balance the flavors
Pro tip
My trick for making certain salad dressings (vinaigrettes in particular) is to add a little bit of sugar. It takes the acidic edge off so that the dressing isn’t too sharp.
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- Use a big glass prep bowl to comfortably toss this salad.
- Easily mince garlic with one squeeze of a garlic press (no peeling cloves necessary).
- Quickly chop the veggies with a quality chef’s knife on a sturdy cutting board.
How to make Greek pasta salad
This is an overview, and full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Cook the pasta. Meanwhile, chop and prep the vegetables. Mix the dressing ingredients together in a jar.
- Rinse the pasta under cool water, and let it drain thoroughly.
- Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl, and toss with the dressing. Season generously with salt and pepper. Chill if desired.
Substitutions and variations
- You can definitely use a different kind of pasta, but you may need to adjust the amount of dressing or other ingredients since some shapes take up more/less volume.
- Feel free to double the dressing if you want extra!
- This is a flexible salad. Throw in chickpeas for some protein, sun-dried tomatoes, etc. I’ve also added capers for even more of a briny twist.
What to serve with Greek pasta salad
- It’s a great light meal on its own with a slice of fresh crusty bread.
- If it’s a BBQ/cookout side dish, make some other summer favorites as well like my Avocado Corn Salad, these Easy Grilled Pork Chops or Chicken Burgers, and this Best Coleslaw recipe.
- For more Mediterranean flavors, cook up a Greek feast with warm pita bread and Creamy Tzatziki Dip and this Greek Roasted Eggplant Dip (Melitzanosalata) and this Saganaki (Greek Fried Cheese).
Leftovers and storage
- Leftover Greek salad with pasta will keep for a few days in the fridge, but it will soak up the dressing over time.
- If you’re making this salad a day ahead, I suggest storing the feta and dressing separately from the vegetables. Add them within a few hours of serving it for optimum freshness.
If you made this Greek-style pasta salad, please leave a star rating and review below! You can also tag me on Instagram if you made this or any S&L recipe.
Easy Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups uncooked pasta
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 small red onion chopped
- 1/2 cup Kalamata olives
- 3 mini cucumbers (or 3/4 English cucumber) chopped
- 1 cup little tomatoes (grape, cherry, etc.) halved
- 5 ounces crumbled feta
- Salt & pepper to taste
Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon (packed) brown sugar
Instructions
- Boil a large, salted pot of water and cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Once it’s cooked, drain it and run it under cool water. Let it drain thoroughly.
- Meanwhile, while the pasta is cooking, get all your other ingredients ready. Add the dressing ingredients to a jar and shake vigorously. You may need to add more oil or vinegar depending on your tastes.
- Assemble the pasta salad in a large bowl. Toss with the dressing and season with salt & pepper as needed (I added a fair bit of salt because there’s a lot of pasta). Either serve the pasta salad right away or refrigerate until the flavors meld a bit.
Notes
- Feeds 6+, especially if it’s a side rather than a main dish.
- I pitted the Kalamata olives after measuring a 1/2 cup out. You can leave them whole if you wish.
- All quantities here aren’t set in stone… feel free to use ballpark figures and add more/less of anything that you like.
- I only put 10 minutes prep time because the rest is included in the time it takes to cook the pasta.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Delish!! Any chance you know nutritional facts for this?
Hi Tiffanie!! Just added it for you. Please keep in mind it’s just an estimate pulled from a database of ingredients. Hope you enjoy it!
This was delicious. My entire family enjoyed it.
Wonderful! Thanks, Kim!
Very delicious
Thank you!!
This is a wonderful recipe. Left out the raw onions (ugh!) but put in everything else. It was a big hit and I am making it again today for my guests. I used extra vegetables to stretch it. It’s a meal in itself.
Happy it was a hit, Martha! Thank you for your review. 🙂
Family loved this recipe. I doubled the dressing! So good.
I’m thrilled to hear it!
Absolutely delicious! Left out the olives due to personal preference, but followed everything else. Will definitely make again, maybe with double the delicious dressing.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your review, Amanda!
Delicious. My guests loved it too. Aldi carriers a tiny refrigerated Greek olive salad with red and green olives, feta and spices. I added one of these at the end ( instead of the kalamata olives) and it was oh so good! Perfect salad.
Love that! Thank you!
Made this tonight and it was really yummy. The only thing is we needed to add more dressing than the recipe called for. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you liked it! Yeah, dressing is definitely a bit subjective. Glad you were able to tweak it! 🙂
This is super Natasha. I really love this, and more importantly, so do my children. Taste great, looks fabulous and is healthy too.
So happy you all liked it, Doug! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Delicious! Thanks for the pro tip to add brown sugar, you were right!
Awesome, thanks Beth! 😉
Requesting this now for our picnic. You’ll make it for me, right?
No.