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Greek Pasta Salad
Greek pasta salad features all the best traditional Mediterranean flavors. Serve this refreshing cold pasta salad as a side dish or even a main dish.
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Bright and refreshing, with plenty of fresh veggies, this cold pasta salad features all the best traditional Mediterranean flavors. Enjoy this colorful Greek Pasta Salad as a side for dinner or as a perfect dish to bring to summer parties or potlucks.
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Greek Pasta Salad
Greek pasta salad is light and fresh with kalamata olives, tomatoes, and cucumber, mixed with salty feta cheese, tender rotini pasta, and tossed with a bold homemade dressing.
Hearty enough to serve as the main course, you can also pair this delicious Greek feta salad with another main dish. Sure to please, this appetizing salad would work well with grilled chicken or BBQ recipes.
Whether you enjoy your Greek Pasta Salad as a filling lunch or scrumptious side dish, you can round out your meal with a cold glass of iced tea, and don’t forget a simple dessert. Whip up some lemon sugar cookies or classic brownies.
Greek Pasta Salad Ingredients
- Vinegar - red wine vinegar
- Oil - olive oil
- Lemon juice - fresh lemon juice
- Garlic - fresh garlic cloves
- Oregano
- Salt
- Pepper - black pepper
- Pasta - rotini pasta
- Cucumber - English cucumber
- Bell pepper - yellow bell pepper
- Bell pepper - red bell pepper
- Onion - red onion
- Olives - kalamata olives
- Tomatoes - grape tomatoes
- Cheese - Feta cheese crumbled
While Kalamata olives are the most authentic choice for this Mediterranean pasta salad recipe, you could also substitute black olives. If you’re not a fan of olives you could also leave them out of the pasta salad altogether.
If you don’t have any rotini pasta on hand you can easily change up the kind of pasta in your salad. Any pasta that can hold the dressing, including fusilli, bow ties, or penne pasta, would be perfect choices. Just make sure that you cook the pasta al dente, meaning the will be tender but will still have a slightly firm texture when you bite into it.
For extra protein in the salad, you could add chopped-up pieces of grilled or rotisserie chicken. Another tasty addition would be creamy slices of avocado added to individual plates just before serving.
How to Make Greek Pasta Salad
FIRST STEP: In a small jar or bowl make the dressing by combining the red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, black pepper, and garlic cloves. Set aside.
SECOND STEP: Boil the pasta until al dente, approximately 7 minutes (be very careful not to overcook the pasta). Drain and immediately rinse with cold water to prevent further cooking.
THIRD STEP: Chop all of your vegetables.
FOURTH STEP: In a large bowl combine the vegetables, feta cheese, and dressing. Before adding the dressing, shake or stir it well.
FIFTH STEP: Add the rotini pasta and stir until well combined.
SIXTH STEP: Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or even overnight.
Can I use black olives?
In addition to Kalamata olives, you could also use black olives. You could also omit the olives if you prefer.
Can I use a store-bought dressing?
If you don’t want to make the homemade dressing, there are plenty of tasty store-bought Greek salad dressings that you could choose from.
Can I add meat to the pasta salad?
You could easily add cooked chicken to this Greek pasta salad. You could also add meat or cheese-filled tortellini to create a more filling salad.
How to Store Greek Pasta Salad
IN THE FRIDGE: Store leftover Greek pasta salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. The lemon juice in the salad helps keep the veggies bright and flavorful even a day or two later.
MAKE-AHEAD: You can easily make this simple Greek pasta salad the day before and give the veggies and pasta time to mingle and soak up all the dressing’s tanginess before serving.
Greek Pasta Salad
Greek pasta salad features all the best traditional Mediterranean flavors. Serve this refreshing cold pasta salad as a side dish or even a main dish.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 7 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 17 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar plus 2 teaspoons
- ½ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 4 to 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 16 ounces rotini pasta
- ½ English cucumber cut lengthwise and then sliced across (half-moons)
- ½ cup yellow bell pepper seeded and cut into bite-size pieces
- ½ cup red bell pepper seeded and cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup red onion sliced (soaked in 1 cup cold salt water to reduce the “bite”)
- 1 cup kalamata olives sliced and pitted
- 2 cups grape tomatoes halved
- 5 ounces Feta cheese crumbled
Instructions
- In a small jar or bowl make the dressing by combining the red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, black pepper, and garlic cloves. Set aside.
- Boil the pasta until al dente, approximately 7 minutes (be very careful not to overcook the pasta). Drain and immediately rinse with cold water to prevent further cooking.
- Chop all of your vegetables.
- In a large bowl combine the vegetables, feta cheese, and dressing. Before adding the dressing, shake or stir it well.
- Add the rotini pasta and stir until well combined.
- Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or even overnight.
Nutrition
Calories: 286kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 509mg | Potassium: 233mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 525IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 1mg
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