Crunchy vegetables, summer sausage, and salty feta are combined with cooked pasta, then drizzled with homemade dressing for this easy and delicious Greek Pasta Salad! Perfect for summer potlucks or all year round.
I absolutely love pasta salad – it’s up there with cookies in my book. That might sound crazy, but the versatility, different textures and flavors, and the ability to feed a crowd always make it a winner. This Greek Pasta Salad is another one of our favorites.
Greek Pasta Salad Recipe
We love a pasta salad with a creamy mayo dressing like our Chicken Broccoli Pasta Salad (so good!), but a light, fresh vinaigrette is also wonderful and perfectly suited for a hot summer day. That’s what you get with this Greek Pasta Salad recipe – filled with garden vegetables, hearty summer sausage, salty feta cheese, and a homemade zesty dressing. Here’s what’s included:
(Scroll down to the complete printable recipe card for details and measurements.)
- Pasta: We recommend something small with curves or ridges, which allows the dressing to cling to each noodle. Rotini, Fusili, and Radiatore are all great choices.
- Summer sausage: This type of cured beef makes the pasta salad more substantial and adds another layer of flavor.
- Bell pepper: We choose red bell pepper for the gorgeous color. Orange and yellow would also be good, or use a combination of all three.
- Cucumber: English or Persian cucumbers are our preference, which both contain less water and have fewer seeds than common waxy cucumbers.
- Onion: Red onion adds a nice pop of color, with a slightly spicy, but mild flavor when eaten raw.
- Olives: A small amount of sliced black olives lend contrasting color and pair great with the other vegetables.
- Feta Cheese: The salty, tangy, lemony flavor of crumbled feta cheese is perfect in this salad.
- Greek Pasta Salad Dressing: Our homemade Greek Salad Dressing is basically perfect for this. You can also use store-bought if you’re in a pinch, but some brands tend to be rather bland, so you might need to doctor it up.
Recipe Variations
- Swap out the summer sausage with grilled chicken.
- Use orzo pasta in place of the regular pasta.
- Sub the regular pasta with tortellini.
- Add in some cubed ripe avocado to individual plates right before serving.
Recipe Tips!
- Salt the pasta water: Generously salting the boiling water while the pasta cooks, ensures the cooked pasta will have some flavor.
- Cook al dente: Pasta can get soggy after sitting in dressing all day. To help avoid that, cook it al dente.
- Rinse under cold water: Another way to help avoid sogginess is to rinse under cold water right when it’s done cooking, which will prevent it from cooking further.
Storing Greek Pasta Salad
- The homemade Greek Salad Dressing can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. I usually make it in advance, so the day I assemble the salad is even quicker. If you’re assembling the salad the day before serving, it should be refrigerated until then.
- How long does Greek Pasta Salad last? Leftovers should also be stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator and will keep for up to 3 days. However, the longer it sits, the longer the pasta soaks up the dressing and can become soggy.
Greek Pasta Salad Video
Other Pasta Salads
I hope you love this delicious and simple recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic , finely minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
For the Salad
- 1 pound rotini pasta
- 8 ounces summer sausage , cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 small red bell pepper , seeds and ribs removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 English cucumber , cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion , cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 ounce can sliced black olives , drained
- 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Make the dressing: Place all ingredients into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake vigorously until well-blended and emulsified. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt and pepper if necessary.
- Cook pasta according to package directions, al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- In the meantime, combine all other salad ingredients in a large bowl. Add cooked pasta.
- Drizzle the Greek dressing over the top and mix well until everything is coated.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Other Notes
Made for a Bbq !! No leftovers. Only the bowl!!
I don’t like dijon mustard can I use regular?
An awesome substitute for the rotini pasta is tortellini (I use both meat and cheese ones together.) This is very tasty – there’s never any leftovers!
This pasta is divine. It has all the right flavors and textures – we loved the dressing! Delectable.
Made it last night–vegetarian. Could have eaten the entire bowl it was so good. Thank you!
I really love the looks of this….it reminds me so much of the one I make that is similar. Okay, so now I’m hungry all over again!
Made this last night and even my picky kids ate it!
You have a great blog. Glad I found it!
Beautiful summer salad
The dressing on this is what makes it. I could drink it, it’s so delicious. I added garden fresh tomatoes, but otherwise didn’t change anything. Keeper!
Love this because I needed something with rotini pasta and a customer gave me a Texas summer sausage and I used cube cheddar because thats what I had
My husband is Requesting this over and over
That looks like one of my ideal lunches.
I went in search of this for lunch, but nothing even remotely presented itself. I ended up with the most boring turkey sandwich ever. Sigh.
This is pretty versatile, using different things you have on hand. I replaced the summer sausage with cubed ham and also added tomatoes. Was GREAT.
“The salad dressing pointed her toward the refrigerator, which included bell pepper, cucumber, and feta cheese.” ….Amy, I need your help. My fridge contains tonic water, a lime, a tub of tofu and a lone Belgian beer.
I love cold pasta salads if they’re not drowning in mayo. This one is pretty healthy and very light with the vinaigrette dressing. Make it for lunch today, minus the summer sausage. It was so delicious!
I just wish we could find a way to make everything lead to cheese and bacon.
Cheese. Bacon.
Cheese. And. Bacon.
This salad looks great – I’m a huge fan of feta cheese. I buy the big tubs at Costco and it doesn’t last long.
Refreshing and tasty!
Thanks for sharing this gorgeous summery salad – brought it to a potluck and everyone loved it and asked for the recipe.
So I went to Greek restaurant last week and had their Greek salad, which was good, but needed something. So last night we had company and I served this Greek pasta salad and nice grilled chicken slices on top….alas, I forgot to take a picture…but this is evidently my new favorite Greek salad.