Dinner can be on the table in less than 15 minutes with this easy midweek after work supper dish, inspired by the classic Greek salad. This vegetarian Greek salad pasta dish will transport you the islands and villages of Greece.
Greek Salad Pasta
Pasta makes an excellent after-work midweek staple – comforting, easy and super speedy, which is just what you need after a busy day at work and a long crowded commute home.
This Greek salad pasta made with tomato, feta and olives is perfect all year round – best served with a glass of wine.
This dish uses a few pantry and fridge staples all of which can be picked up from the corner shop or local supermarket on the way home.
A great midweek after work supper
This delicious Greek salad pasta is a fusion dish that would probably horrify both Greeks and Italians, but as I’m neither, I’ve no qualms about making dishes like this. Obviously this isn’t in anyway authentic, and I’d never pretend it is, but it is delicious, quick and easy which ticks all my boxes for a stress free supper.
Making the sauce takes about the same time as cooking the pasta, so dinner can be on the table in double quick time. Pasta with a simple sauce of tomato, onion, olives, feta and oregano, serve with some cubes of cucumber.
When shopping for this dish select pitted olives in oil if possible, it doesn’t matter if they are black or green, and the most fragrant vine tomatoes you can find.
We’ve given amounts for two people, but it’s easy to scale this recipe depending on how many people you’re feeding, or double it up and take the leftovers to work the next day as a packed lunch.
How to make Greek Salad Pasta
Step one – Start cooking the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water. Use your largest pan, the pasta needs room to move as it cooks.
Generally boiling the kettle to fill the pan is faster and more energy efficient than heating the water on the stove top.
Step two – Pour a good glug of olive oil into a large frying pan. Fry the red onion and garlic with a sprinkling of salt, until it starts to go soft, add a good pinch of oregano. Chop the tomatoes, and add to the frying pan along with the olives.
Add a few spoons of the pasta water to the sauce. This is important because the starchy water helps coat the pasta and adds a silkiness to the sauce. This makes it less likely that I’ll add another glug of oil to the dish!
Step three – Strain the pasta when cooked and give it a good shake.
Step four – Add the pasta to the sauce in the frying pan and stir to mix. Add the cubed feta, check the seasoning, and stir gently a couple of times. Serve immediately with some freshly chopped parsley or chives.
I like to serve a few ribbons of cucumber on the side of this dish. It’s an important part of that Greek salad flavour combination and gives your that extra portion of veg.
Our top tips for Greek Salad Pasta
- Use whatever pasta you have, but this recipe works particularly well with larger shapes.
- It’s very easy when cooking pasta to cook far too much. We have learnt to always weigh out a portion of pasta; about 60g is a generous portion per person.
- If the tomatoes in the shops look insipid, pale, watery and lacking in flavour, then you can use sun dried tomatoes as a substitute.
- Olives should be pitted, if possible. If you only have olives with stones, then just think of it as an opportunity to play tinker, tailor!
- If your jarred olives come in olive oil then use that oil for frying the onion and garlic.
- Slice leftover jarred olives and free freeze them. Then pack them into a plastic tub to keep in the freezer and cook from frozen. That way you don’t forget all about them and let them go mouldy at the back of the fridge.
How to use leftover feta
Feta will keep for several months in a sealed packet in the fridge. Once opened, store in an airtight box in the fridge and eat within 5 days.
Leftover feta can be used in all sorts of ways
- In my spicy chicken pasta
- In my feta filo pie
- Baked with Greek lemon potatoes
- Sprinkled onto a shop pizza to jazz it up
- Crumbled over soup
- In salads – feta is especially delicious when paired with watermelon
- Whizzed with some Greek yogurt and oregano into a feta dip.
Greek Salad Pasta
Ingredients
- 120 g pasta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small red onion (peeled and sliced)
- 1 clove garlic (peeled and sliced)
- 1 tbs black olives (sliced)
- 1 tbs green olives (sliced)
- 150 g tomatoes (chopped)
- 1 tsp oregano
- 50 g Greek feta (cubed)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta.
- Pour a good glug of olive oil into a large frying pan. Fry the red onion and garlic with a sprinkling of salt, until it starts to go soft, add a good pinch of oregano. Chop the tomatoes, and add to the frying pan along with the olives.
- Add a few spoons of the pasta water to the sauce - the starchy water helps coat the pasta and adds a silkiness to the sauce.
- Strain the pasta when cooked and give it a good shake
- Add the pasta to the sauce in the frying pan and stir to mix. Add the cubed feta, check the seasoning, and stir gently a couple of times. Serve immediately with some freshly chopped parsley or chives.
Notes
- Use whatever pasta you have, but this recipe works particularly well with larger shapes.
- It's very easy when cooking pasta to cook far too much. We have learnt to always weigh about 60g is a generous portion per person.
- If the tomatoes in the shops look insipid, pale, watery and lacking in flavour, then you can use sun dried tomatoes as a substitute
- Olives should be pitted, if possible. If you only have olives with stones, then just think of it as an opportunity to play tinker, tailor!
- If your jarred olives come in olive oil then use that oil for frying the onion and garlic.
- Slice leftover jarred olives and free freeze them before packing into a plastic tub then cook from frozen, that way you don't forget all about them and they go moldy at the back of the fridge.
- This recipe is 13 Weight Watchers Smart Points per portion
Update Notes: This recipe was originally posted in 2012, but was rewritten and republished with new photos, step by step instructions and hints & tips in February 2019.
Hannah @ Love to Dine
Sounds lovely – and what a good idea about the olives. I’ve never known anything go mouldy so quickly in a jar as black olives seem to. Will be freezing them from now on!
Helen
Love my freezer! I buy the Waitrose already sliced ones. Use from frozen. Very good for tarting up a shop pizza!
A Trifle Rushed
What a superb salad.Easy to make and full of flavour.
Helen
Thanks Jude.
Workinglondonmummy
Lovely recipe and perfect for a quick meal.
Ruth
Great post and the pasta sounds like a delicious way to enjoy a lighter meal.
Jemina Frank
You’ve just reminded me of playing tinker, taylor, soldier, sailor with my Grandmother. I was always disappointed if I got poor man.
Lovely easy recipe Helen, perfect for a mid-week meal.
Kelsey Wright
I often mix and match cultures when it comes to food. More about the taste than the authenticity. This looks yummy and just the kind of meal I like to have.
Wendy M
Olives are one of those love and hate things aren’t they. My youngest and I love them, but my husband and my son hate them and cannot understand why we eat them. Great idea to freeze them. Nothing worse than finding mouldy olives in the fridge.
Robert Joy
Nice and easy recipe, great for busy week nights. I do appreciate pasta dishes on those days.
Amy
Love pasta meals, so easy to make and nice and filling. This fits nicely in to my eating healthier regime.
Caroline Jessop
Great recipe. Perfect for my busy family and fussy kids. Guarantee they always eat pasta.
Paula
I love the flavours of a Greek salad, so what a great idea to add them to a pasta dish.
Ferne L
Sounds and looks delicious. Great for an easy meal.
Heather
Pasta dishes are great. I often make them to take to work in my lunch box.
Lisa Dodds
Pasta dishes are so good for easy meals, and this sounds ideal. I’d have to leave the olives though, not a fan.