This easy Vegetarian Mediterranean Pasta Salad is full of fresh and savory flavors that will transport you to the Mediterranean! It is also super easy to put together and ready in less than 30 minutes. It is a wonderful summer recipe for lunch, dinner, or as a side dish.
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I love pasta and pasta salads. They are easy to make and can be customized to suit personal taste. For this recipe, I have chosen to try a Mediterranean flavor profile. This pasta recipe uses many ingredients common in Mediterranean cuisine, and I am so excited to share it with you.
When you think of Mediterranean food, ingredients like olive oil, tomatoes, cheese, olives, and basil come to mind. These ingredients are notorious for being delicious and also have nutritional benefits. I love making Mediterranean dishes in the summer because they are filling, refreshing and fairly easy to prepare.
This salad must be on your summer menu as it can be eaten cold or at room temperature. Serve this pasta as a main or side for lunch or dinner, at BBQs, picnics and potlucks. Oh, and did I mention it only takes 30 minutes to prepare?
You'll also enjoy this, Easy Tuna Pasta with Mayo, Vegan Creamy Pasta Tahini and Creamy Yellow Pepper Pasta.
Vegetarian Mediterranean Pasta Salad Ingredients
This recipe is very easy to make and it uses easy-to-access ingredients.
For this recipe, you will need ingredients for the salad and the dressing that goes with the salad.
For the salad, you will need:
- Olives: You can use black or green olives
- Feta cheese: I use cubed feta but feel free to use crumbled feta instead.
- Cucumber: Regular English cucumber works fine.
- Fusilli pasta: If you don’t have fusilli, you can use penne, farfelle or cavatappi.
- Cherry tomatoes: I use ripe, fresh cherry tomatoes for this pasta salad because they are bite-sized and easy to eat but feel free to use any tomato of your choice.
- Basil leaves: Fresh basil leaves work best in the recipe and add a delicious herby flavor to this salad.
Dressing
- Olive oil: Use quality olive oil for this dressing. If you can, use extra virgin olive oil.
- Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed lemon juice works best for this recipe but if you don't have any use lemon concentrate instead. You may have to add less lemon if you are using lemon concentrate as it tends to be quite strong.
- White wine vinegar: If you don't have white wine vinegar use white vinegar instead.
- Salt, pepper and oregano: to taste
How to Make Vegetarian Mediterranean Pasta Salad
- To make the recipe, you will first boil the pasta with some salt. Once the pasta is ready, drain and set aside to cool.
- Next, make the dressing in a separate bowl by mixing together the olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper and oregano.
- Once your dressing is ready, mix your pasta and chopped vegetables together in a bowl. Add your dressing and mix well until everything is well combined.
5. And that is it. Super quick and easy to put together, making it perfect for weekdays when you need a quick meal to prepare.
Top Tips
- Olive oil: Use quality olive oil for this recipe, preferably extra virgin olive oil. It makes a world of difference to the flavor of your salad.
- Pasta: Feel free to use another pasta shape for your salad if you haven’t got fusilli on hand. Penne, rotini and farfalle pasta are great alternative pasta shapes as they are easy to serve and eat and their shapes can trap in and hold dressings and small ingredients, leading to an overall tasty pasta salad.
- Wholewheat Pasta: If you want to go healthier, try using wholewheat pasta for your salad.
- Storage: Any leftover dressing or salad can be stored in the fridge for up to three days.
FAQs
Aside from having pasta salad on its own for lunch and dinner, pasta salads are also a great side dish. As a side dish, you can serve pasta salad with BBQ chicken, sandwiches or burgers, corn on the cob, grilled hotdogs, paninis, baked sweet potatoes and even baked beans.
Feel free to also experiment with chicken and other grilled vegetables.
The basic pasta salad dressing requires olive oil, lemon juice and white wine vinegar, However, you can experiment with other sauces such as mayonnaise, mustard or even sour cream if you want a creamy salad dressing.
To make pasta salad from scratch, you will need sliced olives, crumbled feta cheese, sliced cucumber, cooked fusilli pasta or any pasta shape of your choice, sliced cherry tomatoes and chopped basil leaves.
You will also need to make the salad dressing that will go with your pasta salad. Simply mix in a bowl some olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper and oregano.
In a clean bowl, mix together your pasta, vegetables, dressing until everything is fully combined.
Serve on its own or as a side dish.
Pasta salad is best eaten on the day it is made. However, if you need to store it in the fridge, pasta salad should be placed in a bowl and sealed tightly. It will keep for three days in the fridge.
Thanks for reading this recipe, comment below if you made this and let me know how it went! Follow @simshomekitchen on Instagram, take a photo, tag and hashtag it with @simshomekitchen.
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Vegetarian Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Equipment
- 1 Large Bowl
- 1 Saucepan
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup black or green Olives
- ⅔ cup feta
- ¼ cup red onion
- ¾ cup cucumber
- 350 g fusilli pasta
- 1 cup cherry Tomato
- ¾ cup basil
Lemon Dressing
- ¾ cup of olive oil
- 3-4 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 3-4 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- ¼ teaspoon of oregano
Instructions
- Cook Pasta: Start by adding water and a pinch of salt to a saucepan. Bring to a boil then add pasta and cook for 10-12 minutes. Once the pasta is ready, drain out the water and leave it to cool.
- Make dressing: Add olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, salt to taste, pepper to taste and oregano to a bowl and whisk for 2-3 minutes. Set aside for later.
- Prepare veggies: Chop tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olives, feta and basil.
- Mediterranean pasta salad: Add pasta to a large bowl. Then, add the chopped veggies and feta. Pour the lemon dressing into the bowl, mix and toss the ingredients until well combined and serve.
Notes
- Olive oil: Use quality olive oil for this recipe; preferably extra virgin olive oil. It makes a world of difference to the flavor of your salad.
- Pasta: Feel free to use another pasta shape for your salad if you haven’t got fusilli on hand. Penne, rotini and farfalle pasta are great alternative pasta shapes as they are easy to serve and eat and their shapes can trap in and hold dressings and small ingredients, leading to an overall tasty pasta salad.
- Wholewheat Pasta: If you are looking to go healthier, you can try using wholewheat pasta for your salad.
- Storage: Any leftover dressing or salad can be stored in the fridge for up to three days.
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