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Farfalle Pasta Salad Mediterranean Style is a great bow tie pasta salad with super fresh ingredients like cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Kalamata Olives, marinated artichokes and feta cheese, combine to enhance those Mediterranean flavors. Dressed with a red wine based vinaigrette, instead of mayo, makes for super light and refreshing spin on a classic.
Farfalle Pasta Salad – Great for Entertaining
This Farfalle Pasta Salad Mediterranean Style is great for entertaining! It tastes really fresh, and since it’s not mayonnaise based, this cold pasta salad can maintain much longer on those hot summer days.
Therefore this Mediterranean pasta salad is the perfect option for summer parties or picnics. Fear not, despite not being drenched in mayo, this bow tie pasta salad is still enticing and delicious. Actually, my red wine vinaigrette with garlic, olive oil, and oregano, is so flavorful that this Mediterranean salad is simply irresistible.
Why Mini Bow Tie Pasta?
For this recipe I used mini Farfalle pasta for several reasons:
- These mini bow ties look great (they are super cute and you just want to pop them in your mouth);
- They’re easy to manipulate onto a fork, with other awesome ingredients from this salad; &
- They cook faster.
However, if you don’t have mini Farfalle pasta, you can substitute the regular one or even different kind of pasta like penne or rotini.
Other Ingredients for this Cold Pasta Salad with Mini Farfalle
Other ingredients for this pasta include vegetables that you usually may have in your pantry:
- Cucumbers;
- Cherry tomatoes;
- Bell peppers;
- Red onion;
- Kalamata olives;
- Marinated artichokes; &
- Feta cheese.
Ingredients In Dressing For Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Additionally, the dressing is also super simple and contains:
- Extra virgin olive oil;
- Red wine vinegar;
- Garlic;
- Dried oregano; &
- Salt and pepper.
Scroll down for full printable recipe.
What to Serve this Farfalle Pasta Salad With
This Farfalle Pasta Salad Mediterranean Style will pair really well with these meat dishes:
- Grilled Chicken Shawarma
- Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs
- Brown Sugar Pork Chops
- Olive Oil Chicken Mediterranean Style
- Honey BBQ Pork SouvlakiÂ
- Smoky BBQ Burger With Egg and Garlic Aioli
So it can serve as a perfect side dish for most meats OR as a light vegetarian lunch. If you want to go down the vegetarian road, I suggest you pairing this Farfalle Pasta Salad with these Mushroom Black Bean Veggie Burgers.
Other Awesome Salads to Try:
- French Salad with Brie and Pears
- Summer Panzanella with Garlic Butter Croutons
- Greek Panzanella with Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette
- Antipasto Pasta Salad with Salami and Bologna
- Italian Rice Salad with Tuna
- Burrata Pasta with Pesto
Here is Your Printable Recipe:
Farfalle Pasta Salad Mediterranean Style
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 1/2 lbs Farfalle pasta mini
- 1 Cucumber English, cut into half slices
- 2 cups Cherry tomatoes cut in half or quarter
- 2 cups Bell peppers cut in small squares
- 1/2 Red onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Olives Kalamata
- 1/2 cup Artichokes marinated
- 4 oz Feta cheese crumbled
- 1 tbsp Parsley Italian, chopped
- 1 tbsp Oregano fresh, chopped
For the Dressing
- 1/2 cup Olive oil extra virgin
- 1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
- 2 Garlic cloves chopped
- 1 teaspoon Oregano dried
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to instructions. Once done, rinse it with cold water, let it sit in coriander for a minute or two to get rid of the extra water;
- Add pasta and all the vegetables and herbs into the big bowl and mix it well;
- Add all the dressing ingredients into the mason jar and mix well. Add salt if needed more;
- Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well;
- Sprinkle the salad with crumbled feta and serve.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on June 15, 2017, and since then was updated to provide additional information.
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This looks amazing! Great lunch or side dish option in my book!
Thanks Kristina
Literally just made this. Marinated the pasta a couple of hours before I put in the veggies. Ur recipe is kick butt. Serving at a Women’s mtg tonight.
Such a lovely summer salad! I love making pasta salads during the summer, especially when they’re so colourful like the one that you just shared.
Thanks Diana
I love farfalle pasta, what a bright and colorful salad for summer!
Thanks Renee
I love pasta salads at this time of the year, they are my go to picnic recipes, this one sounds lovely.
Thanks Brian
Love this, so many good flavors in here and farfalle is my favorite pasta shape 🙂
Thank you!
This salad is perfect all year round 🙂
Pasta salad is the perfect summer dish. Looks lovely:)
Thanks Monika! So great to see you here
I love the sound of this salad – it is very light, but filling! Thank you for sharing at Fiesta Friday party!
Thanks Jhuls!
Pasta salads are my favourite kinds of meal, Edyta! Awesome recipe!
Thanks Agness
What an excellent salad to bring to a summer BBQ pot luck!
Thanks Liz!
HI- How many days ahead can this be made?
There are fresh veggies in this salad so you don’t want them to sit together for too long. I would say, a day ahead is fine, but don’t dress it up and don’t put fresh herbs. Add those right before serving. I hope that helps.
Why rinse the paste
Because it’s a salad and you want to first: remove the starch and second: cool it off.