An Easy Greek Pasta Salad with shrimp that’s tossed in a Greek vinaigrette. It’s perfect to meal prep ahead for lunch or a quick weeknight dinner!
I don’t know about you, but I always have a few staple dishes that I keep in rotation like this Easy Greek Pasta Salad with shrimp. Luckily this dish is perfect for any meal prep or a quick weeknight dinner and comes together in less than 30 minutes.
This delicious Greek Pasta Salad is made with fresh and wholesome ingredients and topped with a Greek Vinaigrette. The dish is a perfect Mediterranean recipe with or without any kind of protein. If you would like to use another protein and substitute the shrimp, you can always add it in. You can dress the Greek Pasta Salad up or down depending on what you like.
Ingredients in the Greek Pasta Salad:
The ingredients for the salad are simple and easy. You can play around with the ingredients, as I personally do not like olives, but feel free to add in whatever ingredients you prefer.
- Pasta, I used Banza elbow pasta but feel free to use your favorite kind of pasta
- Shrimp, or another protein you prefer
- Handful of spinach
- Fresh cucumbers
- Ripe grape tomatoes
- Red Onion, thinly- sliced
- Feta cheese
- Primal Kitchen’s Greek Vinaigrette, or your favorite Greek dressing
Alternate Pastas To Use:
Although I used elbow pasta, Rotini pasta is another great option because the spirals tend to hold onto the dressing the best. If you would prefer a different noodle, here are some more options:
- Rotini
- Farfalle
- Fusilli
- Tri-Color Rotini
- Orzo
- Penne
How to Make Greek Pasta Salad
- Cook your pasta al dente and rinse under cold water to stop cooking.
- While the pasta is cooking, wash and chop all of your fresh veggies
- Combine everything in a large bowl and toss with dressing, chill before serving!
Tips for making the Pasta Salad:
- Use English or Persian Cucumbers for less water and less seeds.
- Grape and Cherry Tomatoes are a better match for pasta salads than a medium-sized tomato as they are already bite-sized.
- If raw red onion is too harsh for you, place the chopped red onions in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes before removing and drying them. This will remove some of the raw onion bite from them.
- If you choose to add olives to the pasta salad, Kalamata ones will always deliver a more authentic Greek salad flavor.
- If using this dish as a meal prep, I would recommend keeping the dressing separate and serving it on the side when you are ready to eat it.
More Recipes You May Like:
Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad
Easy Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 2 ounces pasta dry
- 3 ounces shrimp peeled, deveined and tail off, or your protein of choice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- baby spinach handful
- 1/3 cucumber diced
- 4-5 grape tomatoes halves
- red onion medium, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 ounce feta cheese crumbled
- 3 tablespoon Greek vinaigrette
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Once cooked, drain the pasta, and rinse under cold water for about 10-15 seconds or until the pasta has cooled. Transfer the pasta to a large mixing bowl.
- While the pasta is cooking, clean the shrimp then pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Preheat a cooking pan over medium to medium-high heat first. Once the pan in hot, add oil and spread it around. Add shrimp in one even layer and let them cook until opaque on that side. This will only take a couple of minutes.
- Flip each shrimp onto the other side and let them cook until opaque on that side. Here, I like to season my shrimp with a little garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper and toss them until all the shrimp are coated evenly. Then remove the shrimp out of the pan, so they don't keep cooking.
- In the large mixing bowl with the cooked pasta add in the shrimp, spinach, cucumber, grape tomatoes, red onion and feta cheese to the mixing bowl.
- Drizzle the Greek vinaigrette evenly on top. Toss until all of the ingredients are evenly coated with the dressing.
- Serve immediately, or pack in an air tight container. Garnish with extra feta and black pepper if desired.
Nutrition
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