In my opinion, pasta salad is the perfect summer lunch. It’s cold and refreshing on a hot day, it shines a spotlight on my favorite summer vegetable of all time (the cherry tomato) and it’s pretty easy to make.
That said, my pasta salad game isn’t anything to write home about, as I usually just make it with whatever ingredients I have around the house rather than follow a specific recipe. And although it always turns out tasty, it’s about time I take my pasta salad game to the next level—specifically, my Greek pasta salad game.
So, I turned to Christina Gdisis, the Greek vegan homestyle chef behind the brand Conscious Vegan Kitchen, under which she hosts in-person cooking retreats and teaches online cooking classes. Here, Gdisis exclusively shares with Parade her recipe for Greek orzo pasta salad, as well as a few tips she learned from her grandmother, aka her Yiayia Giannoula.
“What I love about this recipe so much is that it pulls from ingredients and proportions of traditional dishes—like my family’s patates salata (potato salad) and xoriatiki salata (village salad),” she tells Parade. “The Greek pasta salad is a way of allowing the orzo to showcase both of them.”
🍳 SIGN UP to get delicious recipes, handy kitchen hacks & fun food news in our daily Pop Kitchen newsletter 🍳
Why This Greek Pasta Salad Is So Good
“I grew up watching more than cooking, so I absorbed measurements and ratios through my senses,” Gdisis says. “When I started to develop my own plant-based versions of these recipes, this Greek inspired pasta salad formed into a salad that happens to have orzo in it, versus a salad wearing Greek ingredients.”
Gdisis’ Greek pasta salad recipe is different than what you might be used to in the U.S., where sugar is typically used to cut acidity. In fact, there are only two ingredients in her dressing: olive oil and red wine vinegar.
“The dressing ratio in this recipe comes straight from horiatiki and potato salads, and truly it doesn’t get more Greek than that,” she tells Parade. “Xoriatiki salata alone is the quintessential Greek summer salad. The olive oil is doing a lot of the work and the vinegar plays an essential supporting role.”
Related: 40 Plant-Based Tofu Recipes Even Meat Lovers Will Enjoy
Another important component of a Greek pasta salad is feta cheese. Gdisis likes to make vegan tofu feta from scratch, as this allows her to “get the real briny and salty taste that dairy feta has.” There are plenty of recipes for tangy vegan feta online, from popular plant-based recipe blogs like Rainbow Plant Life and It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken.
Alternatively, Gdisis recommends Just Like Feta, which she says has a “good flavor profile.” This plant-based cheese is made by Violife, a company based in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Additionally, make sure to buy fresh cherry tomatoes when making pasta salad. In summer, “tomatoes are the star of the season, when they’re super juicy and flavorful,” says Gdisis.
Ingredients Needed
Gather and prep all of these ingredients for the pasta salad and dressing:
-
1 pound orzo, cooked and cooled completely
-
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
-
1 English cucumber, diced
-
Half a red onion, thinly sliced, dipped in cold water to “soften the bite”
-
1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
-
Half cup single origin extra virgin olive oil, stored in dark glass
-
1–2 tsp dried oregano, rubbed between your fingers before adding
-
Handful of kritamo, aka sea fennel, chopped (“if you can find it,” says Gdisis)
-
1 block vegan feta, crumbled
How To Make Greek Pasta Salad
Here are the steps to follow, according to Gdisis.
-
Cook orzo and let it completely cool.
-
In a large bowl, toss the cooled orzo, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives and capers.
-
Make the dressing by whisking together the olive oil and red wine vinegar.
-
Generously pour the dressing over the salad and toss.
-
Rub the dried oregano between your fingers as you add it to the bowl.
-
Add the chopped kritamo (optional).
-
Fold in the vegan feta, making sure to keep it in crumbles and not smush it into a paste.
Related: These 44 Meatless and Dairy-Free Casserole Recipes Will Complete Your Vegan Dinner Goal Dreams
Chef Tips To Make Greek Pasta Salad Taste Extra Amazing
After you cook the pasta, make sure to let it cool completely before combining it with any other ingredients. “Warm orzo wilts the cucumber and turns the whole bowl soft,” warns Gdisis.
When adding the dressing to the pasta salad, don’t hold back. “The oil should coat everything generously, and the vinegar is there to cut through it,” she explains.
Dried oregano is a key ingredient in Greek pasta salad—just make sure to rub it between your fingers as you add it to the salad, as this will “wake up the oil in the leaves.”
But Gdisis’ No. 1 tip is to listen to your tastebuds and adjust accordingly.
“Taste it standing at the counter the way my Yiayia would,” Gdisis says. “This recipe is finished by tasting it and deciding if it needs anything else.”
For instance, if the salad tastes too dry or acidic, add more olive oil. If it tastes flat, add more vinegar. And most importantly: “Salt last, and only if something is still missing.”
Up Next:
Related: I Tried Sourdough French Toast and Will Never Use ‘Regular’ Bread Again
Source:
This story was originally published by Parade on Aug 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Food & Drink section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.