Greek Pasta Salad – Orzo pasta is tossed with Greek dressing, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, cucumbers and feta cheese, to make a yummy side dish for any occasion.
Welp, January is here. Let the healthy eating begin! I think most of us are sick of sweets and rich foods from the holidays so we’re actually looking forward to putting those behind us. Well, just until Valentine’s Day. Then it’s time for all the chocolate!
To kick off your healthy eats, I have a yummy Greek Pasta Salad. It’s got a lot of veggies and healthy protein like feta cheese and garbanzo beans. It’s the perfect snack or side dish to enjoy this first week of the New Year!
Tips & Tricks
- Cooking the pasta is more important than you think. You gotta make sure it’s perfectly seasoned and not overcooked. Therefore, don’t forget to add salt to the boiling water before cooking the pasta and only cook the pasta until it is al dente. Don’t let it get mushy!! If it’s mushy, it will fall apart in the pasta salad.
- Dressing tastes better over time. The herbs and spices in the dressing will only build flavor the longer they sit together. So if you want to make anything ahead of time, make the dressing.
- Add lettuce last. The lettuce will wilt over time so do not add it to the salad until right before you plan to serve it, give or take a couple hours.
- Slice the onion thin. Red onion can be overpowering if the pieces are too big. Therefore, it’s best to slice it thin for this salad.
Greek Pasta Salad
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup orzo pasta
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- ½ red onion sliced
- ½ English cucumber diced
- 4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
- 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
For the Greek dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¾ cup canola oil
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- Place a small pot of water on the stove to boil. Add a tablespoon of salt. Once boiling, add orzo and cook until al dente (should take between 6-8 minutes; check package directions for exact time). Drain pasta. Add to a large bowl with ⅔ cup of Greek dressing (recipe below). Toss to combine. Let the pasta cool before adding the rest of the ingredients.
- Once the pasta has cooled, add in the rest of the pasta salad ingredients. Season with a little salt and pepper, as needed. Serve immediately or within 12 hours. If making ahead, add in the romaine right before serving.
For the Greek dressing:
- Add all ingredients to a mason jar. Cover and shake to combine.
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More recipes you’ll love:
Caesar Pasta Salad
Lemon Avocado Pasta Salad
Tomato Panzanella Salad
My son had been asking me for a long time to make something with Orzo. This pasta salad was perfect and he just loved it. He liked it so much that he took some for his lunch box today as well.
Pasta salad with Greek flavors is hard to beat. Yay for orzo and feta cheese. Thanks for sharing.
This made a great dinner that wasn’t too heavy! Loved it and will definitely make it again.
I’m an orzo girl, so this Greek sala calls my name! I loved it, and I can’t wait to make it again. Thanks for the inspiration.
I brought this to a party yesterday and everyone really loved it! I’ll be making this throughout picnic season!
This was perfect after all the heavy holiday recipes! It was nice and refreshing and kept me full. Thanks!
Absolutely delicious! It’s finally warm enough here to barbecue and last night we did chicken souvlaki and your salad. It was such a break from the heavy holiday meals and seemingly endless leftovers we’ve been eating.
Absolutely delicious! I’m loving salads lately and this one hit the spot. It’s a great combination of a tossed Greek salad and a pasta salad ~ so tasty!
A terrific salad, we had it with our steaks and honestly it would be great as a main dish as well!
So good! Even my son liked it, and that says a lot. lol.
This was so amazing! My entire family loved it, I can not wait to make it again!! It will also be great to take to a party!!
This looks delicious! I’m ready for lots of salads after a month of indulgence over the holidays hahah
This is my kind of salad! I love all the flavors and textures of this Greek salad and the dressing is so good!
This not only looks amazing it sounds delicious. Love that you used orzo as it gives a perfect flavor and texture to this dish.
This pasta salad was so good! I love anything with Greek flavors!!
Yes, so ready for some salads and lighter foods. Made this for lunch today and it was great.
I always grew up having LOTS of pasta salad in the summer, and this makes me look forward to those warmer months!
This looks like my kind of salad. I am excited to make it for lunch one day.
First of all; LOVE your blog! It’s super cute and so is the logo! Second this recipe looks really yummy too! I can’t have just a plain salad with lettuce and dressing; it need to have meat of something crunchy thrown in, or I can’t eat it. And this looks totally up my alley! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!