This Greek pasta salad recipe is the perfect pasta salad for summer gatherings, BBQs, or potlucks. It's flavorful and healthy!
Memorial Day is coming up fast for my American readers, and this would be a delicious addition to the menu! I hope you're getting outdoors and enjoying the nice weather.
Love Greek-inspired salad recipes? You may also like my Mediterranean quinoa salad, my Mediterranean orzo salad, or my Mediterranean chickpea salad.
How to make Greek pasta salad
- Cook your pasta. You can definitely use a different kind than I did (I used fusilli/rotini), but you may need to adjust the amount of dressing/other ingredients since some shapes take up more/less volume.
- While the pasta is cooking, I like to chop the other ingredients and make the dressing.
- Rinse the pasta under cool water once it's done, and let it drain thoroughly.
- Toss the pasta and other ingredients with the dressing and season it well (lots of pasta means a fair amount of salt is required to get enough flavor). Taste and adjust as needed.
- This pasta salad can be enjoyed right away or chilled first.
Greek pasta salad recipe tips
- You can used cubed feta if you prefer. Whatever's easiest or you can find at the store.
- If you're making this pasta salad a day ahead, I suggest adding the feta and dressing within a few hours of serving it for optimum freshness.
Greek salad dressing
For the pasta salad dressing I used red wine vinegar, olive oil, a touch of Dijon mustard, fresh chopped parsley, garlic, dried oregano, and a little bit of brown sugar. I find it easiest to put it in a jar and shake it up prior to tossing the salad.
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 the dressing isn't too sharp.
Other pasta salad recipes you may like: healthy tuna pasta salad, this Cajun pasta salad, my chicken ranch pasta salad, this Mexican street corn pasta salad, my easy Italian pasta salad, or this balsamic Caprese pasta salad.
Questions? Let me know in the comments below!
Easy Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups uncooked pasta
- 1 red pepper chopped
- 1 green 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.
Martha Campbell says
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.
Miranda @ Salt & Lavender says
Happy it was a hit, Martha! Thank you for your review. 🙂
Syl says
Family loved this recipe. I doubled the dressing! So good.
Natasha says
I'm thrilled to hear it!
Amanda says
Absolutely delicious! Left out the olives due to personal preference, but followed everything else. Will definitely make again, maybe with double the delicious dressing.
Natasha says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your review, Amanda!
JKB says
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.
Natasha says
Love that! Thank you!
Aly says
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!
Natasha says
I'm so glad you liked it! Yeah, dressing is definitely a bit subjective. Glad you were able to tweak it! 🙂
Doug Barton says
This is super Natasha. I really love this, and more importantly, so do my children. Taste great, looks fabulous and is healthy too.
Natasha says
So happy you all liked it, Doug! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Beth says
Delicious! Thanks for the pro tip to add brown sugar, you were right!
Natasha says
Awesome, thanks Beth! 😉
Natasha's Sister says
Requesting this now for our picnic. You'll make it for me, right?
Natasha says
No.