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This Gluten Free Greek Pasta Salad is one of my favourite lunch recipes for BBQ side dish ideas. I took my favourite Greek Salad recipe and whipped it into a simple gluten free pasta salad to create this summer side dish everyone will love.
You can’t beat a classic Greek Salad when it comes to the summer months. So turning this into a gluten free pasta salad recipe seemed like the best idea ever!
Gluten free pasta is mixed with feta, olives, cucumber, tomato and onion and swirled in a lemon, feta and oregano dressing.
It’s a great cold gluten free pasta salad and perfect as a side dish for a BBQ, a picnic or summer salad spread. It is also great as a gluten free lunchbox idea.
If you already love my gluten free tuna pasta salad recipe then this has to be next to try.
Let me show you how to transform gluten free pasta with this Greek pasta salad dressing you’ll want to make over and over again!
Why make this recipe?
- Super Simple: This recipe for Greek pasta salad only needs a few simple ingredients and can be whipped up in a matter of minutes.
- Eat Hot or Cold: Follow my top tips to find the best gluten free pasta for pasta salad below and you can enjoy this recipe hot or cold.
- Fresh Flavours: The feta and lemon add a real zing to the refreshing cucumber and tomato, making this the perfect recipe for a summer’s day.
- Dairy Free Option: Avoiding dairy? No problem. See my Ingredients and Substitutions section below for how to make this a gluten and dairy free Greek pasta salad.
Ingredients and Substitutions
You only need a few ingredients for this easy Greek pasta salad, which are either fresh vegetables or storecupboard staples.
Here are the Greek pasta salad ingredients you’ll need:
- Gluten Free Pasta – See the section of this blog post below for the best gluten free pasta for pasta salad. Brands can really vary so if you want to be able to eat this pasta salad cold, you’ll need a decent gluten free pasta.
- Feta cheese – use a dairy free one for a vegan version or a low fat feta for a lighter version.
- Cucumber – I just use half a standard cucumber but you could use mini cucumbers instead if you prefer.
- Tomato – I use plum tomatoes because they’re easy to just halve but you could chop up larger tomatoes if you only have them to hand.
- Red onion – You can omit this if you find the flavour too harsh but I find the lemon juice in the dressing takes some of the kick out of the raw onion. Spring onions are not traditional but would have a more subtle flavour.
- Kalamata olives – you can use black olives if you prefer but these are by far the best type of olives for a Greek salad. Make sure whichever olives you use are pitted.
The ingredients you need for the Greek pasta salad dressing are:
- Greek Yoghurt – Using Greek yoghurt in pasta salad helps to keep it really light without being too heavy. For a vegan version use a coconut yoghurt or soy yoghurt.
- Oregano – I use dried oregano but you can use fresh if you prefer. This herb is key to the flavour so feel free to add more if you like.
- Olive Oil – Use a good quality, extra virgin olive oil if you can afford to.
- Lemon Juice – This adds a great tang to your Greek salad. I squeeze mine fresh but you can use lemon juice from the bottle if easier.
- Red Wine Vinegar – To me this is the best (and only!) vinegar to use in a Greek salad. However, if you want to keep costs down and already have something like apple cider vinegar, you could substitute for that instead.
- Garlic – I use chopped frozen garlic for ease, but you could chop or crush a garlic clove. Garlic paste would also work well.
- Feta – Yes, that’s right! Use a little extra feta in the dressing (instructions in the recipe card below) and you won’t regret it! Trust me, it makes all the difference.
- Salt and Pepper – I like to season my dressing with a little extra salt and pepper to suit my tastes, but you can skip this if you like.
The best gluten free pasta for pasta salad
Gluten free pastas do vary a lot by brand and you will find that some gluten free pasta does not work well cold.
For example, some gluten free pasta is fine freshly cooked but becomes very hard or brittle once chilled. It also does not reheat well.
I have found if you spend a little more on a gluten free pasta then you definitely get a better result when eating it cold.
The best gluten free pasta for pasta salad I have found are:
- Napolina Gluten Free Pasta – This is brilliant the next day and reheats without falling apart. Find it in the free from aisle of UK supermarkets.
- Garofalo Gluten Free Pasta – I buy this from Amazon as you can get all sorts of different shapes from the standard penne or fusilli. It is really good cold too.
- Barilla Gluten Free Pasta – This is another Italian brand of gluten free pasta you can find in some supermarkets. It is good cold and reheated.
- Brown Rice Pasta – Usually pasta made from brown rice is much better cold than pasta made from corn. So if you can’t find the brands above, look for this instead – just double check it is gluten free.
Serving Suggestions
There are lots of ways you can serve up this gluten free Greek pasta salad recipe, including:
- As a BBQ side dish: Serve it up alongside classics like my gluten free potato salad and some barbecued Greek chicken kebabs or beef burgers in the summer months. Don’t forget to make sure the BBQ is gluten free!
- As a salad spread: This Greek pasta salad pairs so well with my feta and watermelon salad and my Chickpea and Halloumi salad for a summer dinner.
- In a lunchbox: If you want to enjoy this recipe cold you can have it for lunch – simply make it ahead of time and pop it in your lunchbox ready to eat.
- With grilled chicken: For a really easy and delicious dinner, try serving this Greek pasta salad with grilled chicken. It’s one of those simple, summer pleasures.
How to make Greek Pasta Salad
Making this pasta salad Greek style is actually very easy, and it can be thrown together in less than 15 minutes.
There’s a printable recipe card below, but the basic steps of making this recipe are:
- Cook the gluten free pasta as per the pack instructions. Once cooked, drain and set to one side.
- Meanwhile, chop the cucumber into 2cm chunks and cut the tomatoes in half (if using larger tomatoes, cut them into similar-sized chunks to the cucumber). Finely chop the onion.
- Mix all of the dressing ingredients together in a separate, small bowl, using a fork to ‘mush’ the feta into the mixture. A few little lumps is fine but you want it to be fairly well mixed together.
- Add the cucumber, tomato, red onion, olives and cooked gluten free pasta to a large bowl. Crumble the feta using your hands (or roughly chop into small pieces) into the bowl. Mix together well.
- Pour the dressing over the salad, mix well and then serve straight away. Alternatively, leave to cool and enjoy chilled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pasta is made from durum wheat so is not gluten free. It’s hard to buy a gluten free pasta salad in the shops but you can find gluten free pasta in the free from aisles to make your own. I have suggested the best gluten free pasta for this recipe in the blog post above.
Greek salad is naturally gluten free, made from fresh vegetables, olives, feta cheese, oregano, olive oil and lemon. I have a cracking gluten free Greek Salad recipe and I love it so much, that’s why I wanted to create this gluten free pasta salad version of it.
Orzo pasta is really popular in Greek cuisine, so I know you were possibly expecting a Greek orzo pasta salad. But sadly, orzo is not gluten free. It’s quite difficult to find a gluten free version – I have written a whole post on gluten free orzo if you want to read more into it and try and track down some gluten free orzo for this recipe.
Yes, this recipe is easy to make vegan and dairy free. I have made some suggestions in the Ingredients and Substitutions section above. You would need to replace the feta and Greek yoghurt with a dairy free alternative, but these are readily available. Then this recipe would be gluten free and vegan.
Yes, if you are making this recipe ahead of time that’s absolutely fine. I would recommend keeping it in the fridge and eating it cold, it’s not one for reheating. Ideally I’d make this the night before or the morning of eating it – but it’s much better cooked just before eating.
Once the pasta has cooled, keep this Greek pasta salad in the fridge. It will keep for 2-3 days but I recommend eating it as close to cooking the pasta as possible. It cannot be frozen.
This easy gluten free Greek pasta salad recipe serves 4 people as a side dish – or would serve 2 people as a main dish.
Serve it with some of my other Greek-inspired recipes below or let me know in the comments below how you’re enjoying yours!
More Greek style recipes
If you make this recipe and love it, please do let me know by tagging me on my Instagram or using #theglutenfreeblogger. You can also share your creations in my Facebook group! And please do leave a 5* review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to let others know you loved it too! It would mean the world to me and really helps support my website.
Greek Pasta Salad (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 300 g gluten free pasta
- Half a cucumber
- 150 g plum tomatoes
- 100 g feta cheese
- 100 g pitted Kalamata olives
- 1 red onion
For the dressing:
- 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 50 g feta
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Cook the gluten free pasta as per the pack instructions. Once cooked, drain and set to one side.
- Meanwhile, chop the cucumber into 2cm chunks and cut the tomatoes in half (if using larger tomatoes, cut them into similar-sized chunks to the cucumber). Finely chop the onion.
- Mix all of the dressing ingredients together, using a fork to ‘mush’ the feta into the mixture. A few little lumps is fine but you want it to be fairly well mixed together.
- Add the cucumber, tomato, red onion, olives and cooked pasta to a large bowl. Crumble the feta using your hands (or roughly chop into small pieces) into the bowl. Mix together well.
- Pour the dressing over the salad, mix well and then serve straight away. Alternatively, leave to cool and enjoy chilled.
Video
Notes
- See the blog post above for my top tips on the best gluten free pasta for pasta salads, and how to store this Greek pasta salad. I also have some handy swaps to make this recipe dairy free and vegan.
Nutrition
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