I am so happy to share this recipe with you today. I just LOVE this salad. If you like Greek salad you will love this one too. This simple Greek salad with pasta is quick to put together, it tastes delicious, and it makes 6 generous (1-1/2 cup) servings! Anytime you combine red wine vinegar, red onion, and feta cheese, invite me over please, because YUM! 🙂 What really makes this salad fun, though, is the pasta that gets tossed in.
Can we just talk about how much I adore the pasta in this salad?! Ditalini is the cutest pasta EVER (right up there with pastina pasta) and incredibly easy to eat because of its small size. The first salad I ever had with this kind of pasta was at Portillos, in their chopped salad. It is one of my all-time favorite salads, so when I saw that you could buy this pasta at the grocery store I was giddy with excitement to try it in a salad at home.
Another Greek Salad inspired recipe.
One more thing: If you like this salad, you are going to LOVE our Greek Chickpea Salad that is becoming a very popular zero Smart Point snack for Weight Watchers members!
On to today’s recipe…
Here is what you will need:
Vinaigrette:
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1-1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
Salad:
1-1/2 c. uncooked Ditalini pasta (or other small pasta)
1 small red onion
1 c. grape tomatoes
12 pitted olives (optional)
1 (7-8 oz.) package salad blend
1/3 c. (about 2 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
Here is what you do:
Start cooking the pasta according to the directions on the box.
While pasta is cooking prepare the vinaigrette and vegetables.
For vinaigrette, combine lemon juice, vinegar, oil, sugar, oregano, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl. Whisk until blended and set aside. Side-note: If you make your own salad dressings often you might want to invest in a special container that measures, mixes, pours, and stores your dressing. I use my Pampered Chef Measure, Mix & Pour and I love it!
For vegetables, slice onion, cut tomatoes in half, and slice olives if they are not already sliced. Side-note: If you slice small tomatoes, olives, and grapes (amongst other things) often, you might want to invest in the Pampered Chef Close & Cut. It makes cutting lots of grape tomatoes go super fast. I also use mine to cut large pieces of meat in half to make them quicker to cook.
Combine onion, tomatoes, and olives to the salad greens. (I left the black olives out at this point and added them to my salad at the end since I am the only one who likes them in our family)
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse the pasta under cold running water.
Combine cooked Ditalini pasta with the salad/veggie mixture.
Pour vinaigrette over salad, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with feta cheese.
- Vinaigrette:
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
- 1-1/2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
- Salad:
- 1-1/2 c. uncooked Ditalini pasta (or other small pasta)
- 1 small red onion
- 1 c. grape tomatoes
- 12 pitted olives (optional)
- 1 (7-8 oz.) package salad blend
- 1/3 c. (2 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
- Start cooking the pasta, according to the directions on the box.
- While pasta is cooking prepare the vinaigrette and vegetables.
- For vinaigrette, combine lemon juice, vinegar, oil, sugar, oregano, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl. Whisk until blended and set aside.
- For vegetables, slice onion, cut tomatoes in half, and slice olives if they are not already sliced.
- Combine onion, tomatoes, and olives to the salad greens.
- Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse the pasta under cold running water.
- Combine cooked Ditalini pasta with the salad/veggie mixture.
- Pour vinaigrette over salad, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with feta cheese.
Makes 6 (1-1/2 cup) servings.
Just 5 WW Freestyle Smart Points per serving.
Inspired by a recipe in the Pampered Chef cookbook, “It’s Good for You”.
Patricia Bolt says
Would Mozzarella cheese work if you don’t care for Feta?
Alisha Hughes says
Hi Patricia, Do you like soft goat cheese or Parmesan cheese? I think one of those would make a good substitute for this particular recipe.
Lynn says
What would the weight watcher smart points be? thanks!
Alisha Hughes says
Hi Lynn, One (1-1/2 cup) serving is 6 Smartpoints. 🙂