This vibrant Greek Pasta Salad is filled with deliciously crunchy vegetables, tender pasta, and a sprinkle of feta cheese, all topped with a sweet lemon herb vinaigrette. The result is a delectable salad perfect for summer.
Why You’ll Love This Greek Pasta Salad
- Veggie loaded. This pasta salad is packed to the gills with deliciously fresh and in-season produce, like cherry tomatoes, spinach, cucumber, bell pepper, and red onion. As a result, this pasta salad is lighter and more nutrient dense than your typical pasta salad.
- Higher in protein. We added chickpeas to this recipe to give it an extra boost of protein, helping you stay fuller longer. Plus, the feta gives a little extra kick of protein as well.
- Quick and easy. This recipe is insanely quick and easy to throw together. The majority of the 30 minutes it takes to make this recipe is dedicated to preparing the veggies. And if you have handy kitchen gadgets to help with the prep, it takes even less time!
- Easily made 100% plant-based/vegan. Our recipe calls for regular dairy feta cheese, but if you want to make this recipe 100% plant-based or vegan friendly, swap out the feta with vegan feta cheese. You’ll also want to replace the honey in the herb vinaigrette with agave or maple syrup.
- Perfect for Summer. Pasta salads are all the rage in the summer. This one is going to be a hit at the next summer backyard barbecue, pool party, or park outing, trust us. Plus, it keeps things light for swimsuit season (sun’s out, buns out am i right?).
Pasta Salad Variations
You can customize this Greek Pasta Salad to your tastes.
- Veggies. You can add in as many veggies as you like. Omit the olives if you’re not a fan or swap kalamata olives with green or black olives. Replace spinach with arugula or throw in some extras, like sliced zucchini, squash, carrots, or even green onion.
- Dressing. We love the simple and sweet lemon herb dressing a lot with this recipe, but feel free to sub in your favorite dressing, like Greek salad dressing, lemon vinaigrette or your favorite vinaigrette. It’s hard to go wrong here.
- Pasta. Any pasta will do wonderfully in this recipe–use what you’ve got on hand, be that rotini, penne, rigatoni, or orzo. Swap in whole wheat, chickpea, or plant pasta of your choice for a little more nutrients. It’ll all be tasty.
- Meat. We used chickpeas as our protein source in this recipe, but if you’re a fan of meat in your pasta dishes, feel free to add shredded or grilled chicken, shrimp, steak or whatever protein you’re craving.
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How to Make Greek Pasta Salad
Greek Pasta Salad
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta to the pot and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or until tender. Strain and rinse with cold water to stop the pasta from cooking further. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with a light drizzle of olive oil. Cover and refrigerate.
Prepare the ingredients for the pasta salad. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Halve the tomatoes. Coarsely chop the spinach. Dice the English cucumber, red onion, and bell pepper. Slice the olives.
Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, spinach, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, and olives to the bowl with the pasta. Sprinkle with feta cheese. Drizzle with Sweet Lemon Herb Vinaigrette. Toss thoroughly to combine.
Sweet Lemon Herb Vinaigrette
Combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic cloves, parsley, honey and a pinch of salt in a blender or small food processor. Blend for 60 seconds, until smooth.
*To make this recipe 100% plant-based/vegan, swap out feta cheese with vegan feta cheese and replace the honey in the dressing with agave or maple syrup.
Let us know if you enjoyed this recipe by dropping a comment and/or rating below! We love to hear from you! And be sure to check out our Instagram and Pinterest accounts for more healthy recipe inspiration.
Looking for more summery dishes? Check these out:
- Summer Peach Pasta Salad
- Greek Turkey Meatball Bowls
- Strawberry Couscous Salad
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Creamy Chipotle Chicken
- Chipotle Shrimp Bowls
Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Greek Pasta Salad
- 16 oz garden rotini or small shaped pasta
- 1 14.5 oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 3 c spinach, coarsely chopped
- ¼ c kalamata olives, sliced
- 1 English cucumber, finely diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- ½ red onion, diced
- â…“ c feta or vegan feta cheese
Sweet Lemon Herb Vinaigrette
- ¼ c extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- ½ lemon, juiced and zested
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ c fresh parsley
- 1 tsp honey or agave syrup
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
Greek Pasta Salad
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta to the pot and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or until tender. Strain and rinse with cold water to stop the pasta from cooking further. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with a light drizzle of olive oil. Cover and refrigerate.
- Prepare the ingredients for the pasta salad. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Halve the tomatoes. Coarsely chop the spinach. Dice the English cucumber, red onion, and bell pepper. Slice the olives.
- Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, spinach, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, and olives to the bowl with the pasta. Sprinkle with feta cheese. Drizzle with Sweet Lemon Herb Vinaigrette. Toss thoroughly to combine.
Sweet Lemon Herb Vinaigrette
- Combine olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic cloves, parsley, honey and a pinch of salt in a blender or small food processor. Blend for 60 seconds, until smooth.
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