Easy Greek Pasta Salad

A fresh and easy Greek Pasta Salad just in time for summer! This crowd-pleasing side dish is tasty with grilled meats and at all your backyard barbecues.

Easy Greek Pasta Salad

This Easy Greek Pasta Salad is all about one thing: The chunks of feta cheese. Yes, I love the chewy pasta, the crunch of the fresh veggies, and the tangy dressing. It’s basically summer in a bowl, colorful and fresh.

But honestly? It’s all about the feta for me.

Every time I see someone on the Food Network making a salad with chunks of feta cheese, I vow to stop what I’m doing and immediately follow their lead.

And now, you can too.

What Pasta for Pasta Salad

First, you can use whatever pasta you want in this Greek Pasta Salad. I love rotini because it’s fun to eat and the kids love it. I also love the way the dressing gets caught in the crannies and infuses the pasta with flavor. Since all the other ingredients are chopped, I definitely suggest going with something bite-sized (as opposed to spaghetti noodles).

 Easy Red Wine Vinaigrette

This red wine vinaigrette is so simple and flavorful, you can throw it together right before you need it. And, it comes together in minutes with just a few pantry ingredients. Save the recipe because you’ll want it on all your other salads, too!

What to Put in Pasta Salad

I love the classic combination of cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, and olives. I use Persian cucumbers because they taste the best (as if I just picked them from my own garden). They also have soft skins (no peeling) and minimal seeds (no seeding). Hothouse or Japanese cucumbers are another good choice if you can’t find Persians.

In traditional Greek salads, chopping up a tomato is the norm. Since grocery store tomatoes can be unpredictable, I go with my favorite brand of grape tomatoes and slice them lengthwise. I also use red onion and kalamata olives, but you are welcome to substitute your favorite onions and olives.

Feta, Glorious Feta

Be sure to buy a CHUNK of feta cheese, not the crumbled kind. It’s just not the same. The goal is uniformly cubed salty bites of feta because they look great and taste even better. It really brings the salad together!

Feta cheese is sold in a lot of varieties lately, so if you’re up for it we totally recommend trying a flavored versus traditional feta cheese. There’s not going to be a huge change but it gives an extra little something.

If you’re not feeling the feta cheese thing you can easily use parmesan or skip the cheese all together.

This is one Greek Pasta Salad your guests will rave over! It is simply the BEST with your favorite summery grilled meats (find my favorite grilled chicken recipe here) or at any potluck or picnic you are attending.

Check out our full video to see just how easy this Greek Pasta Salad Recipe is to pull together and remember, slightly undercooked pasta is best so that it doesn’t absorb all of that dressing and go extra soft in serving.

Best of luck!

Easy Greek Pasta Salad

 Easy Greek Pasta Salad

Yield: 6-8

Easy Greek Pasta Salad

A fresh and easy Greek Pasta Salad just in time for summer! This crowd-pleasing side dish is tasty with grilled meats and at all your backyard barbecues.

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 pound rotini or other small pasta
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 8 ounces Persian cucumbers, diced (about 3)
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 1 (8 ounce) chunk feta cheese, cubed
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives

Directions:

1. To cook the pasta, bring 4 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil.
2. Add pasta and cook according to package instructions, about 7 to 10 minutes.
3. Drain well and rinse with cold water.
4. Meanwhile, to make the dressing, in a small bowl whisk oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.
5. In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, cucumbers, onion, tomatoes, feta, and olives.
6. Drizzle with dressing.
7. Toss gently until uniformly combined and serve.

Nutrition Information

Yield: 6-8, Serving Size: 1

• Amount Per Serving:
• Calories: 428 Calories
• Total Fat: 21.3g
• Cholesterol: 25.2mg
• Carbohydrates: 47.2g
• Fiber: 2.8g
• Sugar: 4.5g
• Protein: 12.1g

All images and text ©Carrian Cheney for Oh Sweet Basil.

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