Greek Orzo Pasta Salad | Slimming Friendly
, Updated Dec 19, 2019
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This summery Greek Orzo Pasta Salad with tomatoes and feta will be your go-to side dish for barbecues and is also perfect for picnics and packed lunches. A healthy vegetarian pasta salad that’s Slimming friendly.
Try also my healthy Greek Potato Salad.
I debated for ages whether to post the recipe for Greek Pasta Salad. It’s such an easy recipe that it felt like it didn’t deserve any space on the blog. I keep forgetting that it’s the simplest recipes that are always the most popular!
But I am glad to report I have gotten over myself and decided to post it since it happens to be such a versatile summer side dish. It will happily support BBQ dishes, it’s picnic ready and even a great packed lunch staple.
GREEK PASTA SALAD INGREDIENTS
Basically this is your traditional Greek salad mixed with orzo pasta – simplicity itself. The secret to making a great Greek salad is using the best produce – sun ripened tomatoes still warm from the sun, proper barrel-aged feta and lots of Greek extra virgin olive oil.
- Tomatoes: I used cherry tomatoes but any type of ripe tomatoes can be used, sliced small
- Cucumbers: If you can find mini snacking cucumbers otherwise remove the seeds
- Onion: in Greece it’s always red onions
- Black olives: Kalamata olives preferably!
- Feta cheese: for maximum flavour look for authentic Greek barrel-aged feta cheese
- Bell pepper: Green peppers are often added in Xoriatiki (Greek Salad)
Greek Salad Dressing
- Greek extra virgin olive oil (see notes for a Slimming Wold variation of this orzo pasta salad)
- Red wine vinegar
- Oregano: both fresh and dried oregano can be used here, the dried oregano has a more pronounced taste
- Minced garlic: You can leave this out if preferred
HOW DO I MAKE GREEK PASTA SALAD?
First you have to cook your orzo pasta. Orzo is commonly used in many Italian and Greek recipes and can be used in salads, stews and soups. If you can’t find orzo you could replace with small macaroni or giant couscous.
The name means ‘barley’ in Italian, as does the Greek name, κριθαράκι. Orzo needs to be boiled for about 10-12 minutes in salted water, as all pasta. Cool the orzo before adding the remaining salad ingredients.
This pasta salad is best eaten within a couple of days as it relies on fresh ingredients. You could however cook a large batch of the orzo and keep it in the fridge so you can easily throw the salad together in minutes.
MAKE IT SLIMMING WORLD FRIENDLY
This pasta salad is perfect for Slimming World provided you make a few minor tweaks. Black olives are only 2 Syns per 25g, feta is part of your healthy extra allowance and remaining ingredients are syn-free.
To reduce the overall syn value of the salad omit the olive oil in the dressing and instead spray the salad with olive oil spray which is only half a syn per 5 sprays.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH GREEK PASTA SALAD
Serve this salad with Greek Bifteki, grilled Halloumi cheese (leave out the feta in this case), Souvlaki pork, or Greek Grilled Lamb Chops (paidakia). Simply added some cooked chicken or grilled shrimp to turn it into a main meal.
HAVE YOU MADE MY GREEK PASTA SALAD?
Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes. I can’t wait to see your take on it!
MORE HEALTHY SALADS
- Grilled corn avocado salad { vegetarian | gluten free }
- Lebanese Tabbouleh salad { vegan }
- Crunchy Rainbow Thai Salad
Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 200 g | 7oz orzo pasta
- 200 g | 7oz cherry tomatoes halved
- 150 g | 5 1/2 oz feta cheese cubed
- half a cucumber seeds removed, cut into cubes
- 1 red onion sliced thinly
- ½ green pepper siced thinly
- handful pitted black olives siced
- handful fresh oregano leaves to garnish
Dressing
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil see notes for Slimming World variation
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 garlic clove minced
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to pack instructions until al dente. Rinse thouroughly in cold water, drain and transfer to a large bowl. Add a little olive oil and toss together so that it doesn't stick.
- Add the cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, cucumber, onion, pepper, and olives and toss to combine.
- Mix the alll the ingredients for the dressing together and then drizzle over the salad.
- Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Garnish with a little fresh oregano and either serve immediately or keep chilled until needed.
Notes
Please note I am not affiliated in any way with Slimming World. Syn values are based on the Slimming World online calculator.
Nutritional information is always approximate, and will depend on ingredients you choose as well as serving sizes.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate, and will depend on quality of ingredients and serving sizes.
I also added green olives and avocado. Delicious!
Now this looks so fresh, healthy and tasty too. The perfect summer salad
So many great colors and textures in this recipe.
I love how bright and refreshing this looks! Summer is definitely pasta salad season!
What a great looking salad. Lots of colours and textures. The dressing sounds wonderful. Perfect way to feed a crowd durning grilling season.
Summer is all about the pasta salads! This one sounds fab!
Thanks Rebecca – it certainly feels this way right now it’s so hot!