Greek Pasta Salad

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This Greek Pasta Salad is a great side dish or potluck recipe. It’s also great as an easy weeknight meal with leftovers for lunch the next day,

It’s a traditional Greek salad made with orzo and a greek vinaigrette!

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You know one of the things I hate about getting older? Hurting yourself by doing seemingly nothing at all. Like, you cough and throw your back out. Or you wear high heels for a few hours and damage your arch. Or you get a good nights sleep and wake up with a bruised hip.

How do you hurt yourself in your sleep? Seriously.

Last weekend, when Jordan and I were staying at The Beverly Hilton, I slept really hard for several hours on my right side. When I woke up during the night my hip hurt but I turned over and tried to get comfortable and go back to sleep. The next morning it still hurt. It hurt to walk, to bend, to stretch, to lay down. It hurt for 3 days!

Yes, my friends, I’ve reached the age where I can hurt myself while sleeping.

So now I have to avoid carbs, eat more salad, and….stretch before sleeping? Or something?

Luckily, I have the “more salad” thing covered. This easy Greek Pasta Salad was so refreshing and easy to make. Greek salad is one of my favorites and by adding some pasta it became a simple dinner (and lunch the next two days).

I love a good Greek salad. It’s always my go-to order at Panera, because I love their Greek vinaigrette so much.

This Greek dressing is almost a Panera copycat recipe. It’s full of flavor and has that same taste. The dressing makes the salad and this one satisfies.

How do you make the best ever Greek salad dressing? This one has a secret ingredient!

Feta cheese. That’s right! I added a bit of feta cheese to the dressing. When you shake it up it mixes in and becomes a bit creamy without being too over-the-top. I’m not a fan of creamy dressings, so the light extra flavor the feta lends this vinaigrette is perfect.

The dressing is also amped up with red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, and oregano. All are an important part of any Greek salad flavor profile.

Greek pasta salad can have so many different ingredients in it, but I went with traditional and easy favorites.

This is a pasta salad, so you need pasta, obviously. One of my favorite pastas of all time is Orzo. In my mind it’s an under appreciated pasta. Orzo is a small pasta that looks like rice but it’s all pasta. It’s hearty and perfect for pasta salad or hot past dishes, but can stand up to soups and stews also. I love putting it in chicken noodle soup as well.

Even though orzo is pasta, I feel like it’s kind of a cheater pasta because it’s not huge. Adding a bunch of fusilli or shells or elbows to a salad can make it a carb buster, but I find the orzo adds that pasta flavor without being overwhelming.

Besides the pasta, this Greek pasta salad has what you’d expect in a Greek salad:

• Romaine
• Red peppers – I used fresh but you can also use roasted
• Kalamata olives – be sure to buy them already pitted
• Cucumber
• Garbanzo beans
• Tomatoes
• Feta cheese

All combined these flavors and textures create the perfect crunch. This would be a great salad for a party or any night when you want to have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Greek pasta salad is a fresh salad with orzo pasta, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, feta, beans, and a homemade Greek vinaigrette.

If you’re looking for an easy Greek Pasta salad this is the one you need to make!

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Greek Pasta Salad

Print Recipe

This Greek Pasta Salad has all the delicious flavors of olives, cucumber, tomatoes, and garbanzo beans with a bed of lettuce and orzo and a Greek vinaigrette.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Chill Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Ingredients

Yield: 8-12 servings

For the Salad:

• 1 cup (uncooked) orzo pasta
• 4 cups chopped romain lettuce
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 1 jar (approximately 10 ounces) pitted Kalamata olives, sliced
• 1/2 a seedless cucumber, chopped to bite size pieces
• 1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup feta cheese

Use your favorite Greek dressing or make your own:

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
• 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions

1. Cook 1 cup orzo pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water, cool.
2. Place lettuce, pasta, tomatoes, onion, olives, beans, cucumber, and feta cheese in a large bowl.
3. Make the dressing: place all dressing ingredients in a jar. Seal and shake until emulsified.
4. Pour dressing over salad and toss. Store, tightly covered, in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Notes

Add shredded rotisserie chicken for a complete meal!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

16

Serving Size:

1 serving
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 224 Total Fat: 17g Saturated Fat: 5g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 7g Cholesterol: 21mg Sodium: 597mg Carbohydrates: 11g Fiber: 2g Sugar: 2g Protein: 6g

Mediterranean Chicken Pasta Salad is another summer favorite!

If you love tortellini, this Pesto Tortellini Salad is for you!

Craving BBQ chicken? Make a BBQ chicken pasta salad!

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