Greek Avocado Pasta Salad

This light and fresh pasta salad has classic Greek ingredients along with a fun twist of silky avocado slices and a refreshing olive oil-lemon dressing, topped with lots of feta cheese. Bring this salad to any summer cook-out and watch it disappear!

‘Tis the season of barbecues, cook-outs, and summer salads.

Just a warning: This is the first pasta salad recipe of many yet to come. All I can say is I hope you guys like your pasta. 🙂

I practically live on pasta salad in the summertime. Hot pasta is a no-no in this household when it’s over 90 degrees outside, so I almost always have a pasta salad in the fridge during the summer.

I literally have at least 10 different variations of pasta salad that I make regularly, and I love them all dearly, but this one. Oh my gosh, it’s my absolute new favorite. For a few reasons…

1. I LOVE Greek food!

2. It’s so easy! It calls for only a handful of ingredients and it’s on the table in less than 30.

3. It’s goes amazing-ly with any summer meal. Hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, ect.

4. It’s lighter in calories. No gloppy mayo dressing in this salad! Although I do enjoy a good classic pasta salad with mayo dressing, sometimes I want something a little lighter and fresher for dinner. This pasta salad fits the bill. 😀

5. It has avocados in it. Need I say more?

I’m a California-girl at heart, even though I live in Wisconsin. — Avocados are my best friend and I CANNOT get enough of ’em.

Speaking of which I have a FAB avocado salsa recipe that I cannot WAIT to share with y’all. It’ll change your life it’s so amazing.

 So let’s talk about the components of this amazing salad: We’ve got pasta (obviously) cherry tomatoes, sliced black olives, feta cheese (lots of feta) and avocados…Ohh avocados…They just complete this salad.

Yeah, I know I kind of went non-traditional by adding sliced avocado to a Greek pasta salad, but I couldn’t help myself. I had TON of ripe avocados on the counter that were just begging to be thrown into this salad.

I’ve never been one to ignore the helpless cries of an avocado.

Okay, that sounded just a little bit weird. Let’s just forget I said that and move on.

 The finishing touch for this pasta salad is just a simple olive oil-lemon dressing, but it really transforms this salad. After adding the dressing, I like to add about 1/2 cup of reserved pasta cooking water to the salad. — I do this with nearly all my pasta salads because it keeps the pasta moist and will prevent it from drying out.

I prefer to chill this pasta salad about 30 minutes before serving, just to give the pasta a chance to soak up and marinate in the dressing. The longer this pasta salad sits = better flavor. — It will keep well in the fridge for up to 2 days, so feel free to mix it up in advance.

Pasta salads are technically only supposed to be for summer, but this salad is so fantastic, I think I’m gonna have to bend some rules and make it year-round.

I’m a pasta salad-holic. What can I say?

This pasta salad is going on my menu for Memorial Day on Monday, and can I just say that it really needs to be on yours too? It’s so easy anyone can make it and I PROMISE you won’t be disappointed.

Bring it to any cook-out or barbecue and prepare to come home with an empty container and numerous recipe requests.

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Greek Avocado Pasta Salad

Prep Time 30 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 16 oz package shell pasta
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 can 20 oz black olives, drained and sliced
• 2 avocados pitted, peeled, and diced
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water. Drain and rinse pasta and place in a large bowl. Set both aside.
• Add halved tomatoes, olives, avocado, and cheese to pasta in bowl and stir to combine.
• In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine oil, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and coconut sugar. Shake until smooth.
• Pour dressing over salad and stir until evenly coated. Stir in reserved pasta water and season salad with salt and pepper to taste. Store pasta salad in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Notes

Store pasta salad in refrigerator up to 2 days.

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below. Feel free to share a picture on Instagram and tag @wholeandheavenlyoven or hashtag it #wholeandheavenlyoven

May I suggest that you serve this pasta salad alongside one of these juicy burgers??

All-American Loaded Hamburgers