Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Mediterranean Pasta Salad is packed with miniature farfalle, sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, artichokes, and feta cheese, all tossed in a tangy oregano-lemon vinaigrette. Add grilled or rotisserie chicken for a hearty meal, or enjoy it as a flavorful side dish or potluck favorite.

Try some of our other pasta salads next; this Greek Pasta Salad, Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad, and Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad are all reader favorites on this site!

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Several weeks ago, on a girl’s Bunco night, I enjoyed a delicious pasta salad! Ever since then, I have not been able to stop thinking about it! So many of my favorite ingredients – sundried tomatoes, pasta, Kalamata olives, parsley, and arugula…

And since I can’t get it out of my mind, I had to create my own take on that recipe! I’ve added a few more of my favorite ingredients: avocado (I’m thinking you aren’t surprised with this one!), cucumbers, rotisserie chicken, and feta cheese. I couldn’t quite remember the dressing my friend used on her salad but it tasted light and fresh, so I’ve used a favorite from here on the blog (the lemon vinaigrette from this sweet potato quinoa salad) and tweaked it ever-so-slightly to pair perfectly with this salad.

Picking a favorite pasta salad I’ve shared on this site feels akin to picking a favorite child, but I do have to say this one ranks pretty high up there.

Ingredients

• Sun-dried tomatoes with herbs: These are my current favorite sun-dried tomatoes. They’re sliced (julienne cut) and packed with herbs and olive oil, and don’t require any additional prep. I recommend avoiding the sun-dried tomatoes in a packet; look instead for the olive oil-packed tomatoes for this recipe.
• Use good quality jarred artichokes and olives. The jarred artichokes and olives can be meh or really great depending on the brands you buy. I highly recommend DeLallo’s® (not sponsored, I just love their products) oil-packed artichokes for this salad.
• Lettuce. I like adding a spinach-arugula blend but feel free to add just baby spinach (coarsely chopped) if that’s what you prefer.
• Ripe avocado. A ripe avocado adds a great creaminess and flavor to this salad. You can tell if an avocado is ripe when it yields to gentle pressure (think: touching the tip of your nose).
• Make sure to get flat-leaf Italian parsley, as opposed to curly for this recipe. Flat-leaf parsley has a more robust flavor and curly parsley is used more commonly as a garnish.
• Rotisserie chicken. This salad has some chopped rotisserie chicken in it, but you can easily leave it out to make the salad vegetarian– no changes necessary.
• Feta cheese. If you’re not a fan you can swap for goat cheese or leave the cheese out all together.

How To Make Mediterranean Pasta Salad

1. Cook the Pasta: Boil pasta according to package directions. Salt the water generously for better flavor. Drain, rinse under cold water, let cool, and dry.
2. Prepare Salad Additions: In a large bowl, combine chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, cucumber, olives, spinach/arugula mix, and parsley with the pasta. Keep the feta and avocado separate if you’re not serving immediately.
3. Make the Dressing In a Mason jar, combine all the dressing ingredients. Shake well and taste to adjust seasoning.
4. Dress and Serve: When ready to serve, add feta and avocado to the salad. Drizzle with dressing, toss gently, and adjust seasoning. Add the dressing gradually to avoid over-dressing. Add more as needed.

Pasta Salad FAQs

Can I make this pasta salad for a crowd?

Most pasta salads easily double or triple. They scale well up or down. Just divide or multiply the ingredients based on how many people you’re feeding.

How do you keep pasta salad moist?

Pasta absorbs liquids and can become dry. To prevent this, add plenty of dressing. Start with most of it, then gradually add more as needed to keep the salad moist.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad Tips

• Use pasta that has a lot of ridges: Using pasta that has a lot of texture allows for the dressing to coat it better and get into all the nooks and crannies. This leaves you with a more flavorful pasta salad. Our personal favorite to use in this recipe is miniature farfalle pasta.
• Salt the pasta water. Since this pasta is eaten cold, the flavors tend to get muted. Make sure the pasta is well-salted as it cooks since salting is the only chance you have to season the actual pasta. Don’t be afraid to add more salt to the finished Mediterranean Pasta Salad if it needs it. Read about how to properly salt your pasta water here. As a general rule of thumb, I add 1 teaspoon of salt to every 4 cups of water.
• Assemble this salad right before eating. This is not a pasta salad that sits well with the dressing. The dressing wilts the spinach/arugula mix quickly, giving it an unpleasant texture. If making it in advance, store the salad separately from the dressing and combine the two right before eating. Only dress meal-sized portions.

More Mediterranean Favorites

• Mediterranean Wrap with sun-dried tomatoes
• Mediterranean Tuna Salad with Orzo pasta
• Chicken Gyros with a quick tzatziki sauce
• Greek Ground Turkey with lemon parsley rice
• Mediterranean Sweet Potatoes with a creamy lemon sauce

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5 from 9 votes

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

By Chelsea Lords

Mediterranean Pasta Salad is packed with miniature farfalle, sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, artichokes, and feta cheese, all tossed in a tangy oregano-lemon vinaigrette. Add grilled or rotisserie chicken for a hearty meal, or enjoy it as a flavorful side dish or potluck favorite.

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes minutes

Total Time: 38 minutes minutes

Servings: 10 servings, as a side

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

Salad

• ▢ 3 cups uncooked mini farfalle pasta, (any smallish pasta works great!)
• ▢ 1 cup chopped rotisserie chicken, optional
• ▢ 1/2 cup sun-dried julienne cut tomatoes (packed in oil), drained
• ▢ 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
• ▢ 1 cup chopped English or Persian cucumbers (~1/2 of 1 large English cucumber)
• ▢ 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
• ▢ 2 cups lightly packed baby spinach and arugula mix (or just coarsely chopped baby spinach)
• ▢ 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
• ▢ 1 ripe avocado, pit removed and coarsely chopped
• ▢ 1/3 cup feta cheese

Dressing

• ▢ 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 and 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (do not use regular mustard)
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ▢ 1 clove garlic, minced
• ▢ 1 tablespoon honey
• ▢ 1/2 cup olive oil
• ▢ 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ▢ Fine sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Instructions 

• PASTA: Prepare the pasta according to package directions. (Don't cook all the pasta; only use 3 cups!) Make sure to generously salt the water (I add 1 teaspoon to every 4 cups of water), or the whole salad will taste under-seasoned. Drain pasta, rinse under cold water, let cool, and allow to dry.
• SALAD ADDITIONS: Add the chopped rotisserie chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped artichoke hearts, chopped cucumber, coarsely chopped olives, arugula/spinach blend, and parsley to a large bowl, along with the pasta. If eating right away, also add in the feta and avocado. (If not eating it right away, cover the salad and refrigerate without the feta and avocado -- See Note 1).
• DRESSING: In a large Mason jar, combine all the dressing ingredients. Season to taste with salt (I add 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt), and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place the lid on the jar and shake to combine. Store dressing in the fridge until ready to dress the salad. Shake again before dressing the salad.
• SERVE: When ready to eat, drizzle on the prepared dressing (add to preference; you may not want to add it all right away. We typically add most of it and then a bit more to moisten the salad as it settles). Gently toss salad. Adjust any seasonings (salt and pepper) to taste and serve.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: This salad stores well as long as the avocado, feta cheese, and dressing aren’t mixed in. Store the salad separate from the extra toppings and add those ingredients right before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 509kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 416mg | Potassium: 610mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1985IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 160mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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