Pasta salads are great to have on a picnic, BBQ lunch, or as a side dish for any main meal. My Mediterranean Pasta Salad is a healthier version without using any mayonnaise or nasty’s but not missing on any flavour!
Without any cooking at all besides cooking the pasta, it can be made in 15 minutes. All you need to do is dice the beautiful ingredients, combine it all together with your dressing and give it a good toss together and you’re done!
You can also add your favourite protein of choice to make it more of a main meal like beans, chickpeas, or even grilled chicken. This is a light recipe which will taste amazing with anything. It's also a great salad to make in advance and keeps for days, so can be made to take to work or pack for kids school lunches.
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Ingredients to Make Mediterranean Pasta Salad
- Pasta, I've used Fusilli but any other short pasta will do the trick
- Cherry tomatoes, for this salad I prefer the tomatoes to be a little ripe as they are juicier and sweeter
- Kalamata olives bring a punch of saltiness to this salad
- Red onion for its sweetness but you could use shallots as a substitute
- Parsley brings this salad together. I use 2 decent bunches chopped finely that is used to coat the pasta in it's dressing before all the other ingredients are added in
- Feta cheese is just perfect for salads and this is no exception. I like to crumble over just before serving.
Important Tips
- Don’t overcook the pasta as it will become soft and mushy. You want it to keep some texture
- It’s best to toss the cooked pasta into the dressing while it’s still hot so it absorbs all the flavours and dressing.
- Then let the pasta cool down for 5-10 minutes before adding the remaining ingredients
- I always add the feta cheese after all other ingredients have been mixed in together so its at the top before serving. That way it doesn’t all get lost and too crumbly and stuck at the bottom of the bowl
More Salad Recipes
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Recipe
Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 500 g short pasta (I’ve used Fusilli)
- 500 g cherry tomatoes
- 180 g kalamata pitted olives
- 1 red onion
- 2 bunches parsley leaves chopped finely
- 50 g feta cheese
Dressing
- 1 lemon squeezed
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Dice onion into small cubes
- Slice cherry tomatoes along with kalamata olives into halves.
- Boil pasta to al dente in heavily salted water (refer to instructions on packet for the timing). Note don't overcook the pasta as it will become mushy.
- While the pasta is cooking, pour dressing ingredients into a large bowl and whisk until combined. Reemember not to add too much salt as the olives and feta are quite salty.
- Add half of the chopped parsley to the dressing
- Once pasta is cooked, strain and add straight to the big bowl with the dressing while its still hot. Mix well so the dressing coats all the pasta.
- Let stand for 5-10 minutes until it has cooled, then add all ingredients except for the feta. Mix until all well combined.
- Crumble over the feta upon serving alongside your favourite protein or enjoy on it’s own. This salad also works great as a side dish for a barbeque or picnic salad
Emily Trandafilu
The most delicious and easy meal ever! So fresh and the lemon dressing was the most perfect touch! I also added chili flakes to garnish for some spice! Thank you Ayeh!
Ayeh
Oh yummy! One of my fav pasta salads 🙂