This easy Mediterranean orzo pasta salad with crunchy vegetables, spinach, briny olives, and feta cheese is the perfect meal-prepped meal or flavorful pasta salad side.
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“I’ve made this for everyone and unfortunately that never stopped! I’m continually asked to bring it to most all get togethers. It’s one of our very favorites here at home too!” -Lou Ann, FoodieCrush reader
This Is the Perfect Meatless Main or Potluck Side Dish
I LOVE any recipe that shines with Mediterranean flavors, and this orzo pasta salad is just one example of that fact. Because if you’ve been a reader here for a while, or perused my recipe archives, you’ll see that Mediterranean recipes are very well represented.
I just can’t get enough, because when I make this pasta salad, I literally eat it all week long. This feta-laden orzo salad can be served as a meatless main or a hearty side, and it’s a VERY good one to add to the ever-growing list.
This Mediterranean orzo salad is a little bit Greek, a little bit Italian, and every bit delicious.
Enjoy!
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
Buy a block of feta and crumble it yourself for maximum creaminess. When it comes to feta cheese, always choose the block feta instead of crumbles, which can taste more chalky and dry.
For the perfect bite every time, dice the veggies into bite-sized pieces so you can get a little of everything on your fork. I can usually finish all the chopping and dicing while the orzo cooks, so embrace multitasking here.
If possible, make this orzo salad the night before to give the flavors time to meld and reach peak levels of delicious. Just like a classic pasta salad, the orzo tastes even better after it’s had time to soak up some of the lemony dressing.
What’s in This Recipe?
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Orzo pasta — Looks like long-grain rice, but it’s actually pasta! Always choose a high quality pasta (Italian-made DeLallo is my favorite).
- Veggies — I loaded up this salad with Mediterranean vegetables like red bell pepper, cucumber, spinach, and red onion, but you can mix and match whatever is in your produce drawer.
- Castelvetrano green olives — These mild, buttery olives from Sicily are perfectly poppable on their own but also work beautifully in salads.
- Kalamata olives — Bold, briny, and fruity, these Greek olives pack in lots of flavor yet have a similar buttery texture to the Castelvetrano olives. To make things easier, choose pitted olives.
- Feta cheese — Less than a cup of crumbled feta adds just the right amount of creamy, salty texture to the hearty orzo salad.
- Dressing — The pasta salad dressing gets a dose of Mediterranean flavor thanks to a combination of lemon juice, dried oregano, olive oil, and canola oil. The canola oil is milder than olive oil so the combo makes a mellower dressing that flavors but doesn’t take over.
How to Make Mediterranean Orzo Salad
- Cook the orzo pasta. Be sure to cook the orzo just until al denté as it will absorb the dressing as it sits, and you don’t want it to become mushy. Rinse and drain the pasta and make sure it’s cool before adding the other ingredients.
- Add the veggies and feta. Once the orzo has cooled, add to a large serving bowl along with the vegetables.
Heidi’s Tip: Chop the vegetables in same bite-size pieces so the flavors are equally enjoyed with each forkful. Roughly tear the baby spinach leaves in big pieces for the best green, leafy bites.
- Whisk together the dressing. There isn’t much to this dressing except for the glorious fact that It’s easy to make.
- Chill. Toss the orzo salad with the dressing to coat every nook and cranny in the lemon vinaigrette. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to give the flavors time to meld and for the orzo to soak up some of the dressing.
Ingredient Substitutions
You can swap other Mediterranean-inspired ingredients for those listed above, like:
- Artichoke hearts
- Fresh, sun-dried, or roasted tomatoes
- Green peppers or roasted peppers
- Avocado
- Grilled eggplant
- Garbanzo or cannellini beans
- Arugula
- Dried basil or Italian seasoning
You can even replace the lemon dressing with my homemade Italian dressing or Greek dressing.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Mediterranean Orzo Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Pasta Salad:
- 16 ounces orzo
- 3 cups baby spinach leaves , gently torn into large pieces
- 1 ½ chopped red bell pepper , about one red bell pepper
- 1 cup cucumber , diced and seeded, about one medium
- ¾ cup red onion , diced
- 5 ounces Castelvetrano green olives , drained and halved
- 5 ounces Kalamata pitted olives , drained and halved
- 7 ounces feta cheese
Dressing:
- ½ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 lemon , juiced
- 1 ½ teaspoons oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil, season with salt, and cook the orzo for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse, and set aside to cool.
- Transfer the cooled orzo to a large mixing bowl. Add the spinach, chopped vegetables, and olives, then crumble half of the feta cheese over the pasta.
- In a small bowl, whisk the canola oil, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and salt and pepper until mixed. Pour the vinaigrette over the pasta mixture and gently fold until the pasta and veggies are coated. Taste for seasoning and top with the remaining feta cheese.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Make-Ahead Tips
All of the ingredients in this pasta salad hold up well and develop even more flavor over time, making it a great pasta salad recipe to make ahead of time for meal prep, picnics, bbqs and parties.
This pasta salad can be made the day before serving and will last in the refrigerator for up to one week.
FAQs
To make this a main dish salad, top it with Greek marinated chicken, grilled shrimp, grilled balsamic chicken, or pan-seared salmon.
This dish is easy to make gluten-free by using your favorite brand of gluten-free orzo pasta. Read the instructions to see how long the orzo must be cooked (aim for a chewy al dente texture).
What to Serve with Mediterranean Orzo Pasta Salad
More Mediterranean-Inspired Pasta Salads
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Kale Caesar Pasta Salad
- Creamy Tuscan Pasta Salad
- Easy Italian Spaghetti Salad
- Nicoise Pasta Salad
- Asparagus Orzo Salad
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Kay
Made this Sunday morning. Added cherry tomatoes and chopped marinated artichoke hearts. It came out super tasty and I’d make it again! Thanks!
Happy to hear you enjoyed it Kay, thanks for making it and leaving a comment and 5-star rating!
Dan
What is a good sub for feta….? Can’t stand it…
Hey Dan, goat cheese or diced provolone would be tasty in this orzo salad. Enjoy!
Lee Ann Carr
I made this tonight for Christmas Eve dinner. It is delicious. I expect that it will be even better after it sits for 24 hours. It’s a side for leg of lamb. Made exactly as written – no changes needed!
Yaaaaas! Thanks for the approval Lee Ann! What an honor to accompany your Christmas Eve dinner. And thank you for the comment and 5-star rating!
julie B
Love this salad. Have made it many times and sometimes swap out the ingredients for things I need to use up in my fridge.
Been doing keto for almost a year, so I cut back on the amount of orzo.
Hayley
Thanks Julie, we’re so happy to hear you love it!
Carol
I really liked this but next time I will use less dressing. I also felt like it was missing something so I took a small sample and added tomatoes – that was perfecto! before I serve I am going to cut up a few tomatoes
Glad you adapted it make it more to your taste!
Jacquelyn
I made this recipe as indicated and it turned out really well. I agree with the comments about halving the dressing. Next time I will do that and also halve the feta and just sprinkle on top.
Hayley
So glad you enjoyed it, Jacquelyn!
JoAnn Buchanan
I am so excited to try this recipe this week for a summer luncheon. I have a question, in reading the recipe it seems that adding the spinach and dressing is still okay for overnight? I love the fact that it can be prepared in advance, I just want to make sure. Thank you!
Yes, you can add it for overnight. But if you’re nervous about, simply toss it in right before serving :)
JoAnn Buchanan
Thank you for your prompt reply Heidi, I know this recipe will be put on repeat!
Coral K
This salad was delicious! All four family members approve (2 adults, 16 yo, 12 yo). I omitted the olives and added some sage to the dressing so it wasn’t all oregano. I will definitely make this again!
So glad you enjoyed it Coral. Thanks for the 5-star rating!
Darlene Taylor
This was excellent, I have made it several times. Can leftovers be frozen?
I’ve never frozen it Darlene so I’m not sure. Let us know if you do!
Michael Bennett
I cheated and used 3/4s of a bottle of Italian Dressing and 2 minced garlic cloves. (what’s a Mediterranean dish without garlic?) It went together quick and came out excellent.
Sounds delicious Michael!
Shaye
Made this delicious salad for a family gathering and it was amazing. Everyone loved it and my daughter-in-love was a big fan as well.
Happy to hear you all enjoyed!
Teresa
I substituted a jar of roasted red pepper for the red bell pepper and it was delicious!
I’m glad you enjoyed Teresa!
Laurie Courter
Very good-made half the recipe and cut out half the oil. Easy and fresh!
Sounds delicious Laurie!
Michele
Delicious salad. The whole bowl was gone in 3 days. Dinner with chicken, lunchtime snack, late night snack. Gone!
Great to hear Michele!
Marcy
I loved this recipe except I swapped the canola oil for olive oil. Even better the next day!
I’m glad to hear Marcy!
Laurie
I made this for a family gathering and everyone raved about how amazing this is. I’m making it again today for a cookout with friends. The only thing I changed was to use fresh oregano. I learned about using block feta instead of crumble from this recipe. What a difference. I’ll never go back to crumble! This is a wonderful, flavorful salad!
I’m glad you all enjoyed it Laurie!
Linda Smith
Made this last night and it was AWESOME!! Great recipe! Thank you!
I’m glad you enjoyed Linda!
Pam
So good !!!
Anita Green
I made this today and can’t wait to eat it tonight with our rotisserie chicken! One member of our family doesn’t care for olives so I pulsed the olives in the food processor and they’ll never know! The taste just wouldn’t be the same without olives. I also used garden-fresh oregano and I halved the dressing recipe, and it’s truly perfect and refreshing. I appreciate your encouragement to buy the block of feta because you are right…it’s much better than crumbles! Great recipe, and thank you for sharing it!
Sounds delicious Anita!
Robin
Why Canola oil? I never use Canola. Can I use all EVOO instead?
Canola oil is more neutral in flavor. If you like EVOO better, go for it!
Kelly
We made this salad for a family reunion. It is so delicious and well-liked we are making it again on our next trip with friends.
I’m glad it was a success Kelly!
Amanda
Made this and it was delish! It makes me soo happy when I can find a healthy recipe that’s yummy. Thank you!
Thank you Amanda! Glad you enjoyed!
Anna
I have made this salad several times and it is quickly becoming my favorite summer salad. The whole family loves it.
I’m glad everyone enjoys, Anna!
Chelle
This is my new go to salad. My whole family loves it!
Happy to hear it Chelle!
Jane
Love this orzo pasta salad
Thank you Jane!