An Easy Greek Pasta Salad for Summer

This Greek pasta salad is a summer staple for us, filled with seasonal ingredients – cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper and mixed with a fresh, light dressing. Olives and feta add a little richness and salty, briney bites throughout. A good short pasta with texture is key to this salad.

When it’s hot out (keep in mind that I live in Europe, no AC even if I wanted to use it) we eat salads like this every day. It has such a minimal cooking time. During extreme heatwaves, I take my portable cook top and boil the pasta outside rather than heating the house up any further.

If you want to take this salad on a picnic without a cooler, simply omit the cheese or use a non-dairy alternative that won’t spoil as quickly. It’s just as good without the feta.

I don’t use affiliate links. Any links you see here are to other recipes or related information, not paid links.

Ingredients You’ll Need and Why

Typical Greek salad ingredients – cucumber, tomato, onion, feta – make up the base of this salad, with pasta bulking it out and adding some real heft and a textural contrast. These are my notes from recipe testing and you can find the full recipe card below with complete measurements and instructions.

• Pasta: pictured is spelt girandole, a slightly smaller version of fusilli. Any short pasta with texture can be used, even shells. Use your favourite gluten-free pasta if needed. I recommend something chickpea-based, which holds up pretty well.
• Cucumber: a large English cucumber or equivalent cucumber(s). Persian and suyo cucumbers are excellent thanks to their low seed content, if you can get or grow them.
• Tomatoes: if you can’t get cherry tomatoes, diced larger tomatoes will be fine in a pinch. I like the taste and look of yellow tomatoes here but it doesn’t matter. Yellow tomatoes are generally less acidic than red.
• Red pepper: sub yellow, orange, or even green peppers. Red peppers are simply fully ripe and therefore sweetest. This isn’t traditional but neither is adding pasta!
• Feta: use sheep feta, a similar crumbly cheese, or a dairy-free version as I do. My friend Sophie has a good almond-based vegan feta recipe if you’d like to make it yourself.
• Olives: use whichever olives you like best. I’m not a fan and always pick them out and give mine to Graham to eat, but they are kind of what makes it a Greek salad. If you want a stronger olive flavour throughout, you can roughly chop the olives rather than leaving them whole. Olives can be replaced with capers for a more Cypriot-style salad.
• Onion: red onion is traditional and delicious, but if you find raw red onion too strong for you, substitute a salad onion or sweet onion instead. Rose des Cévennes and Roscoff are excellent options if you can find them.
• Olive oil: a good, spicy olive oil is great, but use what you have. This is definitely the time to use real extra virgin olive oil.
• Vinegar: this should be red wine vinegar. White wine vinegar is fine, balsamic is too strong, apple cider vinegar could be used in a real pinch. Lemon juice is an excellent substitution if you prefer a milder vinaigrette.
• Oregano: dried oregano is best as it incorporates more fully into the salad. If you only have marjoram, use three teaspoons instead. Fresh oregano can replace dried if very finely chopped but note that the flavour will change.

How to Make Greek Pasta Salad

It really couldn’t be easier, and you can prep all the vegetables while the water comes to a boil and the pasta cooks. Mix it all together in a bowl and you’re done!

Step 1: cook the pasta and let it cool slightly before adding to a large bowl with the vegetables, vinaigrette ingredients, and oregano. There’s no need to mix the vinaigrette separately because it doesn’t have any honey or hard-to-mix ingredients added.

Step 2: mix very well to combine and serve immediately or refrigerate for later. I recommend mixing in a different bowl than you plan to serve in if you’re having guests, and transferring the pasta salad to the serving bowl before placing it on the table.

Related: Greek Chickpea Salad

Expert Tips for the Best Salad

• Use short pasta with texture: this is not the time for penne lisce – use something like fusilli instead, or something that can hold on to the vinaigrette and get some of the cheese and onion pieces mixed into its ridges and folds.
• Mix while the pasta is warm: it shouldn’t be hot, but adding the pasta while it’s still warm helps it absorb the vinaigrette and makes the salad much more flavourful. The feta is added last to avoid it breaking apart or melting.
• Don’t skimp on the dressing: it seems like a lot, I know, but the pasta will soak it up and if you reduce the amount the salad turns out bland and dry.

More Summer Salad Recipes

• Lentil Tabbouleh – with loads of fresh herbs, this is tabbouleh with lentils in place of bulgur. I make this all the time in the summer.
• Dill Pickle Pasta Salad – essentially a pickle in pasta salad form. Very good.
• Avocado Bean Salad – avocado, mixed beans, and cucumber salad for a crunchy, creamy, high-protein and very easy salad.
• Chickpea Quinoa Salad – what I’ve been bringing to family potlucks for about 20 years now, everyone loves this simple salad.