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I swear I can be the most spastic person ever. Yesterday, I went to get a pedicure and even though I knew it was a hot stone massage, when the technician brought the stones to my station and placed it on my leg, I almost kicked my technician in the face because I didn’t hear her say that she was about to place it on me. I literally was like ‘holy crap what is this super hot thing on me?’ and flicked my shin and feet up in the air. Yeah, maybe giving me a pedicure is some sort of liability ;)

This chilled Mediterranean pasta salad comes together in no time! Perfect for warm days and parties!
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Also speaking of pedicures, the nail polish station where you choose a color. I think they need to give me a timer like the Jeopardy countdown or something. I literally take forever to choose a color. It’s like I’m making a huge decision or something. Just like paint swatches or pens or shirts…if you throw 50 colors in front of me with very similar shades, I just want to pick them all. Oh, and remember my Tieks post? Just like picking nail colors, picking three pairs of shoes was nearly impossible! Haha, please tell me you have similar issues…or do you have a go-to color for nails? I typically lean towards pinks and reds but there are always so many shades!

This chilled Mediterranean pasta salad comes together in no time! Perfect for warm days and parties!
This chilled Mediterranean pasta salad comes together in no time! Perfect for warm days and parties!

I was craving a cold Mediterranean pasta salad one afternoon and by golly, I went ahead and made one! They’re so easy to make and you can bring them to large parties and they’ll serve everyone! The most amount of work you’d have to do is chop up all the ingredients and boil water for the pasta so if you can handle that, you can totally whip up this pasta salad! I loved eating it cold out of the fridge. You know how in college (or maybe this was just me), you’d eat cold pizza or cold baked ziti or just anything cold from the fridge after a night of drinking? Well, this is the perfect pasta salad to actually eat cold and enjoy cold! It’s really refreshing on a hot summer day when you’re grilling out or taking it on a picnic. Yes, very picnic friendly since feta tends to not go bad as quick in the heat. Or at least that’s just my experience. Of course, I wouldn’t recommend sunbathing this pasta all day – just the normal sitting out at room temperature, ya know? Anyway! Enough rambling! Go gather the ingredients and toss this baby together!

This chilled Mediterranean pasta salad comes together in no time! Perfect for warm days and parties!
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5 from 5 votes

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

This chilled Mediterranean pasta salad comes together in no time! 
Prep Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours
Servings: 8

Ingredients 

  • 1 pound (454 g) of dried fusili/rotini pasta, or whichever pasta shape you like – bowties work well in this too
  • 1 large cucumber, diced
  • 1 pint (473 g) grape tomatoes, sliced in half
  • ½ red onion, diced
  • 1 cup (135 g) kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup (135 g) green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
  • 1 ½ cup (225 g) crumbled feta cheese
  • 5 ounces (142 g) hard salami, sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds and then quartered
  • cup (79 ml) olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • cup (29 ml) balsamic vinegar*
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions 

  • Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box then drain well and place in a large bowl.
  • Add the cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, olives, feta, and hard salami on top.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper.
  • Pour over pasta mixture and toss well to coat.
  • Place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours (I did 6 hours).
  • Serve chilled.

Notes

I used regular balsamic vinegar for this but a reader mentioned it turned her pasta salad a bit brown when she used regular balsamic. You can use white balsamic vinegar if you don’t want to possibly get a brown tint.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 345kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 26g, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 3g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For the most precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator based on the actual ingredients you used in the recipe.

The default measuring system for this website is US Customary. Unit conversions are provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. While we strive to provide accurate unit conversions, please be aware that there may be some discrepancies.

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48 Comments

  1. Follow up on my last post — Just made your Pasta Salad Recipe – AH-mazing! I’m a home chef and I am not exaggerating – this is a wonderful delicious fantastic salad! This will now be my go to Pasta Salad. This would also be delicious with some sauteed chicken or shrimp added in as an extra protein, but does not need it. Thank you again for posting, followed the recipe exactly and it is superb!

  2. My pasta is cooking as I write this – excited to make your pasta salad recipe! This looks delicious and like something I would eat every day :)
    Will let you know how it turns out. And thank you for posting this. Have a great evening!

  3. Excellent recipe but make sure you adjust the servings counter. I love this recipe and it has a great flavor. I made it as a meal prep for lunches for 4 days. Being a disabled Vietnam Vet with multiple health issues I cannot use the salami. Did not discover that until day 3. Next time I will use chicken or salmon.

  4. Excellent pasta salad! Never made pasta salad before and I found it quite simple and everyone loved it.

  5. What is the nutritional value of this recipe? I plan on making it tomorrow… looking forward to it, sounds delicious.

    1. Hi, some recipes on my site don’t have nutritional information yet; working on it. In the meantime, please use Google and one of the many nutrition calculators out there.