Greek Pasta Salad is a delicious side dish you can make in no time at all. It’s easy to make ahead for easy meal prep, makes for a delicious lunch or a crowd pleasing grilling or picnic side dish – and is filled with colorful vegetables and an easy, homemade Greek dressing. Just grab a fork and dig in!
I love pasta salad season so much – when the weather gets warmer, they are on our menu every week. This Greek Pasta Salad in particular is wonderful as a side dish with some Greek grilled chicken, Greek chicken kabobs or a juicy steak.
And then we’ll have leftovers for lunch the next day, because everybody knows pasta salad tastes best once it had time to sit in the fridge for a while! I just love it.
Ingredients you’ll need
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!
Ingredient notes
- Pasta: I like spirals or bow-ties best for this recipe. Make sure to rinse the cooked and drained pasta under cold water for 1-2 minutes, as outlined in my guide how to cook pasta.
- Greek dressing: I use my homemade Greek salad dressing in this recipe. It’s quick and easy to whip up, but feel free to use a bottled dressing if you prefer.
- Tomatoes: I use cherry tomatoes in this salad because I like them better and they usually aren’t so seedy like large tomatoes. If you’re using large tomatoes, remove the seeds first and then dice them.
- Cucumber: I highly recommend seeding the cucumbers before slicing them. Cut the cucumber in half, then split each half lengthwise (cutting it in half first makes it easier to split it). Scrape out the seedy part with a teaspoon and discard, then dice the now seed-free cucumber.
- Yellow pepper: I choose to use yellow here because there’s roasted red pepper, also. If you prefer red peppers, feel free to use a red pepper in place of the yellow. And check out how to cut a bell pepper like a pro!
- Olives: Feel free to use green olives if you prefer them. My favorites are Kalamata olives in this recipe. You can also just leave them out if you’re not a fan of olives in general.
- Parsley: If you can get your hands on fresh oregano, I highly recommend using that in place of the parsley. I only have access to fresh oregano when I grow it myself, which is hardly ever, so parsley is definitely a much more accessible ingredients to use here.
How to make greek pasta salad
1 Add all of the pasta ingredients to a very large salad bowl.
2. Pour the dressing over everything. I prefer pouring it over vs mixing it in the empty bowl before adding the ingredients. This makes a lot of salad and it’s difficult to get the dressing to properly coat all of the ingredients if it’s all the way at the bottom.
add ingredients to bowl add dressing
3. Toss the salad well, then allow it to chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to a day. This helps the flavors to mingle and come together.
Recipe tips
- It’s excellent as an easy make ahead/meal prep lunch: Just store it in a clean, well-closed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- If the Greek lemon dressing isn’t your thing, try my White Balsamic Vinaigrette or even my Honey Mustard Salad Dressing!
- Make it into a full meal by adding some grilled chicken, roasted chicken or shredded chicken – or serve it with Greek turkey meatballs! A personal favorite, as long as we’re being honest 😉
PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.
Greek Pasta Salad
Recipe details
Ingredients
- 1 pound short pasta shapes such as rotini or bow ties
- 8 ounces feta cheese diced or crumbled
- ½ cup chopped roasted red peppers
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
- 1 cucumber seeds removed and diced
- 1 yellow pepper diced
- ½ cup black olives sliced
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- ¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
- ⅓ cup chopped parsley
- 1 ½ cups Greek dressing
Instructions
- Cook pasta: Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool.
- Mix: Add all salad ingredients to a very large salad bowl. Pour dressing over salad ingredients and carefully toss.
- Chill: Cover salad bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.
Notes
Ingredient notes
- Pasta: I like spirals or bow-ties best for this recipe. Make sure to rinse the cooked and drained pasta under cold water for 1-2 minutes, as outlined in my guide how to cook pasta.
- Greek dressing: I use my homemade Greek salad dressing in this recipe. It’s quick and easy to whip up, but feel free to use a bottled dressing if you prefer.
- Tomatoes: I use cherry tomatoes in this salad because I like them better and they usually aren’t so seedy like large tomatoes. If you’re using large tomatoes, remove the seeds first and then dice them.
- Cucumber: I highly recommend seeding the cucumbers before slicing them. Cut the cucumber in half, then split each half lengthwise (cutting it in half first makes it easier to split it). Scrape out the seedy part with a teaspoon and discard, then dice the now seed-free cucumber.
- Yellow pepper: I choose to use yellow here because there’s roasted red pepper, also. If you prefer red peppers, feel free to use a red pepper in place of the yellow. And check out how to cut a bell pepper like a pro!
- Olives: Feel free to use green olives if you prefer them. My favorites are Kalamata olives in this recipe. You can also just leave them out if you’re not a fan of olives in general.
- Parsley: If you can get your hands on fresh oregano, I highly recommend using that in place of the parsley. I only have access to fresh oregano when I grow it myself, which is hardly ever, so parsley is definitely a much more accessible ingredients to use here.
Recipe tips
- It’s excellent as an easy make ahead/meal prep lunch: Just store it in a clean, well-closed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- If the Greek lemon dressing isn’t your thing, try my White Balsamic Vinaigrette or even my Honey Mustard Salad Dressing!
- Make it into a full meal by adding some grilled chicken, roasted chicken or shredded chicken – or serve it with Greek turkey meatballs! A personal favorite, as long as we’re being honest 😉
Nutrition
More recipe information
Recipe first published on 04/27/2018. Updated with new photos, better text and slight improvements to recipe on 04/21/2021.
Sally says
This sounded good when I read the recipe, but it turned out even better than expected. It was very easy to put together. I put diced chicken pieces in and added garlic bread to make a delicious summer meal. I also made the suggested dressings: honey mustard and the balsamic vinegar. They were sooo easy to make and were so good that I some of each on either side of the salad on my plate!
Nora says
I’m so glad, Sally!