Pasta salad is music to our ears, and this delicious and healthy Mediterranean Pasta Salad is a flavor-packed twist on everything a great pasta salad should be. Tender pasta, zesty red onions, sweet tomatoes, roasted red peppers, hearty chickpeas, briny artichoke hearts, and tangy Kalamata olives all mixed with a mouth-watering Mediterranean dressing is a perfect feast for picnics, work lunches, or potlucks. This easy to make, tasty pasta salad is loaded with wholesome deliciousness.
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Hi there! Ameera here!
Yup, that’s right, another pasta salad! LOL As if you haven’t figured out by now that Mom and I love salads, and it’s even better when pasta is involved.
We could probably live on pasta salad that is how much we love them. They are so delicious, fun, festive, and filling.
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
Mediterranean Spin
This pasta salad is filled with a bunch of wholesome goodness and the Mediterranean dressing we created for it packs a delicious zing of flavor.
Don’t let the impressive list of dressing ingredients deter you from making this salad. You won’t be sorry! It totally delivers on Mediterranean flavor!
Artichokes, Olives, and Peppers, oh my!
Not only does the dressing deliver, but the brininess from the artichoke hearts and Kalamata olives with the smoky roasted red peppers really adds layers of flavor to this pasta salad.
We literally inhaled it during kitchen testing. Dad was ticked because we didn’t leave him much to taste test. He loves pasta salads too and this one was right up his alley. He loves Kalamata olives, well in all honesty, he loves all olives. He grew up eating a lot crusty Italian bread, provolone cheese, and olives.
Every time Dad eats cured black Moroccan olives, he talks about how his dad loved these olives. They are the small, black ones that are wrinkled all up; they are super briny and tasty. His family sometimes referred to them as Sicilian olives, probably because his family is Sicilian, but I think they are really called cured black Moroccan olives.
I’ll let Mom tell you more!
Hi there! Robin here.
Yes, TP is an olive connoisseur, or at least he thinks so. LOL After the initial kitchen test was gobbled up, we had to make it again right away because he loved it so much. He was complaining because he didn’t feel like he got his fair share!
We typically have multiple kitchen tests going on every day of the week, so we wouldn’t get to another kitchen test of this recipe until several weeks away, but he was adamant that we make it again the next day.
Always a good thing when TP loves a recipe so much that he wants another kitchen test asap, right?
We would love for you to try this recipe!
If you try this delicious dish, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
Products Used:
- Stock pot to cook the pasta
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
Mediterranean Pasta Salad
- Prep Time: 25 Minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4-5 1x
- Category: Salads
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Description
Pasta salad is music to our ears, and this delicious and healthy Mediterranean Pasta Salad is a flavor-packed twist on everything a great pasta salad should be. Tender pasta, zesty red onions, sweet tomatoes, roasted red peppers, hearty chickpeas, briny artichoke hearts, and tangy Kalamata olives all mixed with a mouth-watering Mediterranean dressing is a perfect feast for picnics, work lunches, or potlucks. This easy to make, tasty pasta salad is loaded with wholesome deliciousness.
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup diced English cumbers, unpeeled
- ½ cup red onions, diced
- 1 cup tomatoes, seeded and diced *
- ½ cup roasted red peppers, chopped
- 1 – [ 15.5 oz. can ] chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 – [ 14 oz. can ] brined artichoke hearts, chopped (optional)
- ½ cup Kalamata olives, chopped (optional)
- 8 oz. GF penne pasta, cooked * (or pasta of choice)
Dressing Ingredients:
- ¼ cup unsweetened plain plant yogurt
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon tahini
- 6 sundried tomato halves *
- 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons tamari *
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons dried minced onions
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon dried basil (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper (+/-)
Instructions
- Make the pasta according to package direction, then drain and rinse thoroughly in cold water to cool the pasta. Rinse in cold water until all the pasta is cooled, shake off the excess water, then let the cooled pasta sit in a colander to drain until ready to use. Set aside.
- Place the sundried tomato halves in a small bowl and cover with boiling water for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, drain off the water, then mince finely. Set aside.
- Make the salad dressing by adding all the Dressing Ingredients (including the finely minced sundried tomatoes) into a bowl and whisking until well combined. Set aside. (The dressing will appear thick, that is fine.)
- Place the cooked, rinsed, and cooled pasta, and all the remaining salad ingredients into a large bowl and then add in the salad dressing, tossing gently as you go until everything is coated in the dressing. Taste test for flavor, ramp up any spices as needed until you reach the desired flavor.
- Serve immediately at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers. If salad has been refrigerated, then remove the salad from the fridge approximately 30 minutes prior to serving to allow the flavors to wake up.
Notes
*Tips: Thoroughly rinse the cooked pasta in cold water until the pasta is cold, then shake off any excess water and allow to drain for a few minutes, then shake the pasta again before adding to the bowl. Any lingering water that hangs onto the pasta will water down your dressing. The same goes for draining and rinsing the chickpeas, thoroughly rinse them, but also shake off as much excess water as you can.
*Dressing Amount: If you are a saucy pasta salad lover, we recommend doubling the recipe or make one and a half of the recipe, keeping some extra dressing on the size for drizzling on top or for after refrigeration.
*Chopped Tomatoes: We used small Campari tomatoes (cocktail tomatoes), removed the seeds, and then diced.
*Sundried Tomatoes: We used Mediterranean Organic Sundried Roman Tomatoes. Be sure to select oil free sundried tomatoes. They are typically dried like dates.
*Tamari: We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium. You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.
*Gluten Free Pasta: If using a gluten free pasta, then you know the issues with refrigerating gluten free pasta. Some GF pastas really tighten up in the refrigerator making for a very unpleasant eating experience when served cold. We absolutely loved this pasta salad right after making it at room temperature. It was crazy delicious. If you do have to refrigerate it before serving or refrigerate any left-overs, we suggest removing it from the fridge about 30 minutes to an hour before serving. We have found Tinkyada Gluten Free Pasta and Bionaturae Organic Gluten Free Pasta work well in refrigerated GF pasta salads.
*Penne Pasta: We used Tinkyada Pasta Joy Brown Rice Pasta Penne.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Servings: 4-5
*Storage: Refrigerate, use within 5 days.
*Nutritional Information: Does not include optional ingredients: artichokes and olives.
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
Just made this and it is amazing! I added a little Aleppo pepper and Za’atar spice and cut the cucumbers in quarter slices and olives in half for a chunkier mix. Do easy and I had everything in hand.
Hi there Cheryl 🙂
Yaaayy!!! We are so thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe. Love the addition of the Aleppo pepper and za’atar spice – totally drooling, YUM! Thank you so much for your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Hello, I have just found your website and am in Love. Please think about creating a recipe book ?
Hi there Lisa 🙂
Yay!!! We are so thrilled you found us! Thank you so much for your kind words and support. Hopefully we will have a recipe book soon <3
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it. I have a question on the nutritional information. Olives and often, artichoke hearts have salt and you talk about the olives being briny, but there is no salt listed in the nutritional information. Does the process of boiling the olives remove the salt?
Hi there Jana 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind words – we truly appreciate it! Thank you so much for reaching out to us. There is sodium in this recipe, we just do not show the sodium content in our nutritional information chart because it varies so greatly depending on if you are using canned beans or homemade cooked beans, which products you choose, as well as sea salt amounts can be adjusted to personal preference. You can always use an app like chronometer and include the exact products and ingredients to create a more in-depth nutrition facts… Read more »
Hi, there. Tamari has an asterisk by it, but no note. Just wondering if there was something I needed to know about it before making.
Hi there Angela 🙂
Thank you so much for reaching out to us and bringing this to our attention. We put an asterisk there to describe which tamari we used, as well as, a soy free replacement. We just added it to the notes now.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I just made this salad for my book club and it was DELICIOUS!!! I loved the salad dressing and am going to use it as a sandwich spread for a party tomorrow. I’m sure it will be a hit!
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!
Hi there Lourdes 🙂
Yaaaay!!! We are so thrilled that you and your book club members enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
This was amazing! I’ll admit I thought the sauce ingredients a little odd sounding but when whipped together oh man it was super! Im so happy I had most the ingredients on hand as I was planning on making something like this but I had no exact recipe in mind. (subbed Cucumber for chopped red and green bell pepper and used oil packed sundried tomatoes) Glad I stumbled on your recipe it was a big hit! Even my 15 month and 3.5 year olds loved it as well as my picky hubby! Thx ladies! Love that your a mother daughter… Read more »
Hi there Christina 🙂
Yaaaay!!! We are so thrilled to hear that you and your family enjoyed this pasta salad – *doing a happy dance*. We appreciate you sharing your adjustments and fantastic feedback with us! Got to love family time in the kitchen cooking up healthy, tasty goodness! Thank you so much for your support and kindness; we appreciate you!
-Ameera and Robin 🙂