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One of my favourite pasta dishes for the summer time. I first experienced this on holiday in Kos and then went on to see it in lots of Mediterranean places. My Greek Pasta Salad with Feta dish combines the best ingredients of the varieties that are used.
There are plenty of options and dressings to add into this dish however I keep it quite simple. This is my take on a traditional dish, but with a little dressing to give it some zing.
While this is a great dish to accompany BBQ recipes, it works all year round as a healthy pasta salad dish for lunch.
My raclette cheese salad was a partial inspiration on this recipe. While it offers up a nice salad, this is another cheese salad recipe to go as a side dish.
Contents
- Ingredients to make Greek Pasta Salad with Feta
- How to make a Greek Pasta Salad
- Other ingredients you can use for this recipe
- Variations on greek pasta salad
- Useful equipment when making greek pasta salad
- How to store greek pasta salad
- Top tip
- FAQ
- Recipes Related to greek pasta salad
- Greek pasta salad pairs well with...
- Food safety
- The Recipe
- Your Comments
Ingredients to make Greek Pasta Salad with Feta
There are plenty of options for ingredients but these are my go to selection for this dish in its simplest (and tastiest) form.
Remember, the fresher you can get the ingredients, the better it will be.
- Red onion - check out my how to chop onions for the salad onion chopping instructions.
- Tomatoes - salad tomatoes work best, but you can use cherry or vine tomatoes if you want to do a bit more chopping.
- Cucumber - slice lengthways and then chop into half cm pieces.
- Pepper - any type but red or orange tend to be sweeter.
- Feta cheese - This comes in a block in a watery coating. Be careful when opening to make sure you don't get splashed (speaking from experience).
- Pasta - any dried pasta works well. In my picture is penne however fusilli is a nice one to use with this dish as the cheese gets stuck in the twists!
- Oil - olive oil all the way - see the FAQ section for why.
- Maple syrup
- Salt
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make a Greek Pasta Salad
This Greek pasta salad is a simple dish to prepare. The trick is to take your time and not rush the pasta cooking/cooling stage. If you try and make this with warm pasta you will get in a sticky mess. Wait for it to cool.
Boil the pasta in salty water for 10 minutes. Then drain and let it cool.
Chop the veg up slicing and dicing to the appropriate size.
Once the pasta has cooled, drizzle with olive oil and stir to coat. This stops all the pasta sticking together.
Slice up the feta cheese. You don't need to be accurate as it will crumble up further when added to the rest of the dish.
Mix the salad into the pasta and the cheese.
Drizzle with a little of the maple syrup, lemon juice and olive oil dressing and serve.
Hint: The tomatoes do not need to have the wet seed part adding to the salad. if you do it can be a bit mushy and not as crispy. Therefore when chopping the tomatoes, try removing the inside first and only putting the fleshy bits in.
Other ingredients you can use for this recipe
The dish can be made to suit a vegan diet by changing out the cheese and the pasta Find a vegan cheese alternative to make this a vegan Greek pasta salad.
- Feta Cheese - find a suitable vegan cheese alternative.
- Pasta - most pasta is made with egg and therefore not suitable for a vegan diet. You'll have to source a vegan pasta option to replace the pasta.
- Vegetarian - this dish is vegetarian friendly so can be served as it for anyone on a vegetarian diet.
Variations on greek pasta salad
The feta is really one of many interchangeable parts to this dish. Depending what goes in can determine if it is a main course or a side dish. You can use a different cheese or even different salad ingredients. Add or remove as much as you need to.
The dressing will vary drastically with differing measures. If you want a more zingy dressing then add in some more lemon or lime juice. If you want less zing and more sweet then add more maple or even honey.
The beauty of this dish is how simple and changeable it can be. Try these other ideas:
- Spicy - add chili pepper flakes to the final salad for a bit of a kick.
- Pasta flavour - add a stock cube when boiling the pasta to give it a bit of extra stock flavour.
- Fancy pasta - Try making your own pasta and using that in the dish instead.
Useful equipment when making greek pasta salad
There are no special pieces of equipment needed for making this dish. The skill is in the ingredients and their freshness.
Making sure the pasta is fully cooled before mixing it with the cold ingredients is important too. To make this task easier, consider a decent sieve or colander to drain the water out.
How to store greek pasta salad
This Greek pasta salad with feta does not last much more than 3 days in the fridge. It is best consumed within 24 hours of making the dish however it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.
If you plan to serve the next day, refrain from adding the dressing until you are ready as it will make it go soggy if left on for a long time.
You can just use the salad part on another dish such as serving with a raclette cheese or as part of a wrap for lunch.
Top tip
This is a great lunch recipe. If you make with the amounts in this post you will have 4 decent lunches. Try storing them in plastic takeaway style tubs in the fridge for ease.
FAQ
You can add lots of salad veg in a healthy pasta salad dish. Items like onion, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, beetroot, carrot, olives are all good items.
Feta cheese has few calories than any other cheese, so it a good choice for weight loss. However keep in mind it has high sodium content meaning if you are looking to reduce salts, you might want to avoid it.
Being part of a staple Mediterranean diet (due to the high availability of olive groves) olive oil is seen to be one of the healthier oils available. Extra virgin olive oil is also rich in fat-soluble vitamin K and vitamin E, and is often noted for its antioxidant properties, one of the primary health benefits of olive oil.
Recipes Related to greek pasta salad
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Greek pasta salad pairs well with...
Serving up a salad is a real treat when matched with these dishes:
Food safety
Don't forget these important pointers when preparing this dish.
- Make sure you wash all ingredients before use.
- Check the date on any cheese for use by dates.
- Don't leave refrigerated food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
The Recipe
Fresh Greek Pasta Salad with Feta for Summer Lunches
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 200 g Pasta
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 Red onion
- 2 Salad tomatoes
- 1 Red pepper Any colour works, red/orange are sweeter
- ½ Cucumber
- 1 Block Feta cheese
For the Dressing
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Maple Syrup
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice Fresh or bottle
- 1 Pinch Dried mint leaves
Instructions
Prepare the pasta
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until soft. This will take around 10 minutes if using normal dried pasta. When cooked, drain the pasta and allow it to cool fully.200 g Pasta, ½ tsp Salt
Prepare the salad
- Chop up the onion, pepper, tomato and cucumber into pieces (similar to sizes in the pictures).1 Red onion, 2 Salad tomatoes, 1 Red pepper, ½ Cucumber
- Once the pasta is cooled, place in a mixing bowl and splash with 1 tablespoon of Olive oil. Mix around thoroughly. This will stop the pasta sticking to itself and clumping together. Make sure the pasta is cool before you try this or it will be messy.1 tbsp Olive oil, 200 g Pasta
- To that bowl now add the chopped salad ingredients and stir.
- Dice up the feta cheese and add this to the bowl then mix it through for 30 seconds or so. The cheese will break up into smaller pieces and gradually coat the pasta.1 Block Feta cheese
Prepare the dressing
- Mix together the maple syrup, olive oil and lemon juice in a ramakin dish or small bowl. Add salt to taste (you may not need all the salt). Sprinkle in the mint leaves.¼ tsp Salt, 2 tbsp Maple Syrup, 1 tbsp Olive oil, 1 tbsp Lemon juice, 1 Pinch Dried mint leaves
Serve
- Serve the salad and pour a little of the dressing on top to taste.
Notes
Nutrition
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