Need a healthy pasta salad recipe? This High-Protein Mediterranean Pasta Salad has everything you need: tons of protein using Barilla chickpea pasta, lots of fresh veggies, and a dairy-free lemon-herb vinaigrette dressing! There's nothing like cold, refreshing pasta salad on a super hot summer day.

This high-protein Greek pasta salad has to be in your regular rotation! It's savory, with a lemony vinaigrette dressing, and gives you a full serving of healthy vegetables. It tastes so good cold or room temperature. It's one of my favorite work lunches because of how easy it is to make and pack to-go.

Ingredients

Barilla Chickpea Rotini Pasta - I tried this plant-based pasta for the first time and absolutely love it. It only has one ingredient - chickpea flour - and has a very good texture compared to a lot of other chickpea pasta!
Cucumbers & Tomatoes - To keep with the Greek/Mediterranean theme, we're using some of the top veggies from that region... organic cucumbers and tomatoes. Grab the English cucumbers for less watery seeds.
Marinated Kalamata Olives - I just love the taste of these; they give a great savory, almost meaty flavor and texture to this vegetarian pasta salad.
Feta Cheese - A sprinkle of feta cheese really sets this pasta salad off! You can skip if you prefer, but it honestly tastes so good with all of the other ingredients.
Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette - Another dressing recipe I have on the blog that comes together in literally 3-5 minutes. It has the perfect light, lemony flavor to go with all of these fresh veggies, and it's dairy-free!
Mayonnaise/Greek Yogurt - This is actually optional; but if you want a hint of creaminess, stir a little mayo or greek yogurt into the pasta salad. Greek yogurt will add even more protein to the dish!

How to Make Greek Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad is one of my favorite lunches to meal prep because it doesn't take tons of effort and you can add lots of veggies to up your intake.

Start out by cooking your pasta for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain, and immediately add the pasta to a large bowl of cold water and ice. This stops the pasta from cooking!
Chop up your veggies into bite-sized pieces.
Drain your pasta, then add in the veggies, fresh chopped basil, and feta cheese.
Pour in the lemon-herb vinaigrette dressing and (optional) mayo/greek yogurt. Stir well.
Season to taste with salad supreme seasoning, salt, and black pepper.
That's it! You can eat immediately, or let everything marinate in the fridge for about an hour to deepen the flavors.

A wooden spoon containing a scoop of High Protein Mediterranean Pasta Salad with the rest of the bowl in the background.

Variations/Substitutions

The great thing about making pasta salad is it's so easily customizable! If you wanted to switch this Mediterranean Pasta Salad up, try adding the following: