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This delicious and easy Greek Pasta Salad is the perfect side dish for your summer barbecue or potluck. It has an added boost of protein from the lemon garlic shrimp and is Greek-inspired with feta, cucumbers, tomatoes, and olives.
Why You’ll Love Greek Pasta Salad
- Quick: Make this Greek Pasta Salad in only 25 minutes. Perfect for when you forget a side dish or need a quick dish to bring to a BBQ or potluck.
- Nutritious: This recipe is loaded with fresh, delicious ingredients that are packed with nutrients that’ll fuel your body and keep it healthy.
- Versatile: You can swap the shrimp for chicken, or leave it out completely. You can also swap in whatever veggies you love to make this Greek Pasta Salad your own.
Ingredients
Shrimp: Shrimp is such an easy protein to add to your diet, you can buy it fresh or frozen, and easily marinade it in so many ways (or eat it on its own). Shrimp also is full of vitamin B12, and selenium. Add it to salads like this Greek Pasta Salad, air fry them for the perfect crunch like in this recipe, or add them to pasta dishes like this Greek Shrimp and Orzo Bake.
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Artichoke Hearts: Artichokes are rich in fiber, antioxidants, and other nutrients. They are great for heart health and your digestion, plus they taste so damn good. Buy them in a can or a jar and throw them into salads, on top of pizzas, or in pasta dishes.
Orzo: A form of short-cut pasta that is shaped like a grain of rice. It’s made with flour and makes a perfect noodle for pasta salads.
How to Make
- Cook the pasta according to package directions, making sure to cook to al dente since the pasta will continue to soften once it’s mixed with the dressing. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse in cold water. Set aside.
- To a small bowl or in a jar, add the dressing ingredients and whisk together or shake it. Set aside.
- Add defrosted, cooked shrimp to a bowl and add 2 tbsp of the dressing. Stir and set aside. Turn a medium-sized frying pan to medium heat. Once warm, add shrimp and cook 1 minute per side. Remove the shrimp and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl toss gently together all of the salad ingredients and cooled pasta with the dressing. Add the shrimp and gently toss. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 3 days until enjoying.
Tips and Tricks
Variations
If you like this Greek Pasta Salad, try one of these other orzo recipes:
Best served with
How to Store Leftovers
Store leftovers of this Greek Pasta Salad in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also prep the recipe without the shrimp and have it on hand for up to 5 days then cook the shrimp fresh when you’re ready to eat.
Common Questions
You can make an orzo salad in so many ways. May a vinaigrette dressing, add in whatever protein you like such as shrimp or beans, and chop up in-season veggies.
Uncooked shrimp is translucent in color, whereas cooked shrimp is pink. This makes it very easy to tell when it’s cooked because of the color alone.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup dried orzo pasta
- 1 lb cooked, peeled frozen shrimp (defrosted)
- ½ cup chopped artichoke hearts
- 1 cup halved baby tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped cucumber , (about 2 mini cucumbers or 1/2 large)
- ⅓ cup kalamata olives, chopped
- ¾ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 yellow pepper, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
- ⅓ cup chopped pistachios
Greek dressing
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ tbsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- juice of one lemon
- ½ tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 small garlic cloves, pressed
Instructions
Start Cooking- Cook the pasta according to package directions, making sure to cook to al dente since the pasta will continue to soften once it’s mixed with the dressing. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse in cold water. Set aside.
- To a small bowl or in a jar, add the dressing ingredients and whisk together or shake it. Set aside.
- Add defrosted, cooked shrimp to a bowl and add 2 tbsp of the dressing. Stir and set aside. Turn a medium-sized frying pan to medium heat. Once warm, add shrimp and cook 1 minute per side. Remove the shrimp and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl toss gently together all of the salad ingredients and cooled pasta with the dressing. Add the shrimp and gently toss. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 3 days until enjoying.
Notes
- If you don’t love shrimp you can simply omit it and the salad will still be extremely delicious!
- This salad is great to mealprep for lunches or even dinner.
- Serve this salad as a side to our delicious Greek Chicken Souvlaki
11 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
Delicious! I meal prepped this and had four days in a row. I did not get tired of it!
isn’t it a fantastic recipe!!!
Holy moly goats in a cannoli, did this hit the spot! Even my kids enjoyed the potatoes and salmon.
Fantastic recipe! We switch out what meat we use! So good so good! It’s hearty and filling!
Thank you so much for the love on my recipes, Sher. Truly means alot!
A fun way to mix up the summer flavors of our favorite Greek salad with enough heartiness to get us through this snow storm. Added lemon zest to the dressing and some red onion to the salad.
YESSSSSSSS!!!!! I love this!
I absolutely loved this recipe ! I add the garlic shrimp as well as the chicken and it was incredible !! 10/10 would recommend
thank you so much, lilian!
awesome! there’s so much good stuff in this recipe
thank you nancy!