Easy Greek Pasta Salad with feta, a homemade vinaigrette, pasta, and olives is a perfect, easy lunch you can enjoy at room temperature in 30 minutes!
We love pasta salads including Easy Pasta Salad, Easy Macaroni Salad, and a fun Italian Antipasto Pasta Salad that tastes like an Italian sub meets pasta salad.
Easy Greek Pasta Salad
Easy Greek Pasta Salad is such an easy-to-make recipe, with just a quick homemade vinaigrette and a few ingredients, you’ll have a delicious lunch dish ready to go.
I have an easy Greek Salad Recipe on the blog too, this recipe makes an easy vegetarian meal out of the same recipe by adding in pasta along with a few more ingredients.
With spring and summer just around the corner I’m all about easy side dishes that can be enjoyed at room temperature. In fact I have a few more fun pasta salads you can enjoy on the blog too.
If you’re a fan of all things chicken bacon ranch like I am (the Slow Cooker Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches on the blog are still one of the most popular recipes I have ever posted!) you have to try this Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad.
You can also try a Caesar Salad Pasta Salad, a Caprese Tortellini Pasta Salad or even a Cheesy Florentine pasta salad.
Looking for more easy PICNIC FOODS?
Additional Mix-Ins for Greek Pasta Salad
- Chickpeas
- Roasted Zucchini
- White Beans
- Pepperoncinis
- Sun-dried tomatoes
Alternate Pastas for this Greek Pasta Salad
You don’t have to use Rotini Pasta in this recipe, I use it because the spirals tend to hold onto the dressing the best. If you would prefer a different shape noodle, here are some more options (the first one is my favorite I often use!).
- Cheese Tortellini
- Farfalle
- Fusilli
- Tri-Color Rotini (like in my Classic Pasta Salad Recipe)
- Orzo (be sure to mix this well, orzo tends to stick together)
- Penne
Why I love this Pasta Salad
This delicious Easy Greek Pasta Salad is made with a quick homemade vinaigrette and tastes fresh with the addition of fresh dill, tomatoes, and cucumbers. It tastes great at room temperature, and you can dress it up or down depending on what you like.
With the addition of the feta and olives, this Greek pasta salad is also filling without the need for any additional proteins. If you would like to add some to the dish you can always add chicken or shrimp, just marinate for 30 minutes in a few tablespoons of the dressing before grilling or sautéing on a medium-high heat until just cooked through.
Greek Salad Dressing
A traditional greek salad dressing is a red wine vinaigrette that comes together in just one minute. If you’d like to add more of a tangy flavor or more of a punch add two tablespoons of lemon juice to the mixture. If you’d like to make the dressing creamy add mayonnaise to the dressing in place of the olive oil.
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill finely chopped
- Whisk together all the ingredients and toss with your pasta salad.
If you’d like to make this a creamy Greek yogurt dressing like a Tzatziki sauce, add 1/2 cup greek yogurt to the dressing and whisk it well with the olive oil before adding in the rest of the ingredients and double the spice mixture.
Tips for making the best Greek Pasta Salad:
- Use English or Persian Cucumbers for less water and less seeds.
- Grape and cherry tomatoes are a better match for salads than a medium-sized tomato as they hold their seeds better and are already bite-sized.
- The best feta for salads is Bulgarian Feta because of it’s creamy texture while still being crumbly, it being the most cost effective of all feta brands and how smooth the flavors are.
- You can use any olives you have from sliced canned olives to kalamata olives but kalamata ones will always deliver a more authentic Greek salad flavor.
- Add protein – add grilled chicken/shrimp/tofu/steak to the salad (marinated with more of the dressing).
- Add some lettuce or arugula if you want to add fresh greens to the salad as well.
- If raw red onion is too harsh for you place the chopped red onions in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes before removing and drying them. This will remove some of the raw onion bite from them.
- You can bulk up the salad more with bell peppers too, red would be the best as they’d add sweetness but green would work too. Just know green bell peppers would add a hint of bitter flavor to your Greek salad in a way no other ingredients in the recipe would.
- Remember that if you’re going to store this Greek pasta salad in the fridge before serving it is best to add the tomatoes in last, tomatoes are best unrefrigerated.
- I recommend dressing this Green Pasta salad just before serving as pasta will soak up dressing very quickly then you’ll need to re-dress your salad (which really just adds extra calories for no good reason).
- If you like your salad dressing to have a bit more of a punch and less oil flavor you can add additional lemon juice or additional vinegar. Just remember to dress your salad as soon as you make the dressing so the oil doesn’t separate from the vinegar as you let it sit.
- If you let the dressing separate before tossing the oil will coat the pasta and the vinegar will fall to the bottom of the bowl creating uneven flavors.
- Make this Greek Pasta Salad Recipe gluten-free by choosing a gluten free pasta. I find using a chickpea pasta tastes great with this mix of ingredients.
- You can make a quick and easy Fattoush recipe from this recipe if you swap the pasta for pita chips and top the salad with a seasoning called sumac which is flavored like lemon and looks purple.
What to serve with Greek Pasta Salad?
We love serving this Greek Salad with Falafel, Hummus, Pickled Turnips, Greek Meatballs, Greek Chicken and Rice, Greek Pastitsio and my super popular Copycat Halal Chicken and Rice.
Why I love this Greek Pasta Salad
This delicious Easy Greek Pasta Salad is made with a quick homemade vinaigrette and tastes fresh with the addition of fresh dill, tomatoes, and cucumbers. It tastes great at room temperature, and you can dress it up or down depending on what you like.
With the addition of the feta and olives, this Greek pasta salad is also filling without the need for any additional proteins. If you would like to add some to the dish you can always add chicken or shrimp, just marinate for 30 minutes in a few tablespoons of the dressing before grilling or sautéing on a medium-high heat until just cooked through.
Easy Greek Pasta Salad
Easy Greek Pasta Salad with a homemade vinaigrette, pasta, feta, and olives is the perfect, easy lunch meal you can enjoy at room temperature. Also great with added chicken or shrimp. Pairs well with Pure Leaf® Unsweetened Black Iced Tea.
Ingredients
Pasta Salad:
- 1 pound rotini pasta
- 1 cucumber chopped
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 red onion sliced thinly
- 4 ounces Feta cheese cubed
- 1/2 cup Kalamata olives pitted and cut in half
Dressing:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook the rotini according to the instructions.
- Drain and place in a large bowl.
Add the cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, red onion, feta and olives to the bowl.
- To make the dressing combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk.
- Pour over the bowl of pasta salad ingredients and toss together carefully.
- The Easy Greek Pasta Salad can be served cold or at room temperature.
You can also enjoy this recipe with a bottle of Pure Leaf Ice Tea for an easy lunch option.
This recipe pairs perfectly with Pure Leaf® Unsweetened Black Iced Tea. The classic flavor of the iced tea complements well with the clean, fresh flavors of the Easy Greek Pasta Salad.
And, there is actually a story about why I paired this Easy Greek Pasta Salad with feta with the Pure Leaf® Unsweetened Black Iced Tea. As a kid anytime we were feeling under the weather or it was a cold day our mom would make us a cup of Lipton® Black Tea for breakfast. We would drink the tea paired with pita bread, feta cheese, and black Greek olives. To this day if I feel sick, I immediately prepare the same breakfast.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pure Leaf® Tea.
Hi Sabrina,
Can you substitute dry dill for fresh dill?
Thanks!
Yes, but you’ll only want to use around 2 teaspoons as dried is much stronger. Enjoy!
Could you substitute the red wine vinegar with something else?
You can substitute with white wine vinegar to get the closest taste though sherry, apple cider vinegar and even rice wine vinegar would work in a pinch. Good luck!
I also put kidney beans or chick peas in the salad. I don’t use too much dill. I also use different colored pasta. Love this salad.
I also put kidney beans or chick peas in the salad. I don’t use too much dill. I also use different colored fussily. Love this salad
I love Greek salad and pasta. Combining them together is a great idea. This would be the perfect BBQ party salad. The guests would love it for sure.
So perfect for that, Gloria!