Description
We love this Greek pasta salad with shrimp during the summer. It’s light, refreshing, packed with veggies, pasta, and succulent shrimp. It’s all tossed in a tangy Greek vinaigrette! Perfect for feeding a crowd, or for meal prep!!!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Pasta + Shrimp
- 8 to 10 ounces short cut pasta
- 1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined (can be frozen, shelled shrimp)
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, divided (for seasoning the water)
Greek Dressing
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Greek seasoning (see notes for options)
- 2 to 3 teaspoons kosher salt (if using table salt, reduce the amount to 1 to 2 teaspoons. Taste as you go)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons honey, or granulated sugar
Remaining ingredients
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced in half
- 2 to 3 mini cucumbers, sliced (or full sized cucumbers cubed)
- 1 red bell pepper (yellow, or orange work great too)
- 15 ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained, and roughly chopped
- 8 ounces of grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- optional: 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh dill, roughly chopped
Optional Garnishes
- extra crumbled feta cheese
- extra dill
Instructions
- Boil the water – Bring two pots of water to a boil, one large (for the pasta), and one medium sized (for the shrimp). Have your shrimp ready to go. You can either use frozen shrimp, or fresh shrimp/frozen shrimp that’s been defrosted – just make sure they’re shelled, and de-veined.
- Make the Greek Dressing – While the water is coming to a boil, make the dressing. Add all of the dressing ingredients: red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, Greek seasoning (see notes), kosher salt, garlic, Dijon mustard, honey, or granulated sugar, to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until well combined. Taste, and adjust the seasoning.
- Pickle the onions – Slice the onion up first and place them directly into the dressing, making sure they are coated in the dressing. Allow them to sit in the dressing while you finish preparing the rest of the ingredients. The onions will get pickled, which I like. If you prefer your onions to be on the more raw onion-y, side, then just add the onions into the salad along with the remaining ingredients.
- Prepare the ice bath for the shrimp: Once the water has almost come to a boil, add 2 cups of ice to a medium sized mixing bowl, then, fill up the bowl with cold water. This will stop the cooking of the shrimp, and allow it to cool.
- Cook the shrimp: Meanwhile, once the water for the shrimp has reached a boil, add the 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to the pot of water. Then, add the shrimp, giving it a stir. If your shrimp is frozen, cook it for 3 minutes, or until it curls up in on itself, and turns pink. If it’s not frozen, cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until the shrimp curls up and turns pink – this happens fast with fresh shrimp, so don’t walk away. Once the shrimp has cooked, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to the ice bath.
- Cook the pasta: Once the pasta water has come to a boil, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to the boiling water. Add the pasta and follow the package directions for cooking the pasta. You want to cook the pasta to al dente, so cook it 1 or 2 minutes below the recommended cooking time. Once the pasta is done cooking, drain the paste trough a colander, and rinse the pasta in cold water until the pasta has cooled off, and is cold.
- Prepare the remaining ingredients – Slice up the rest of the salad ingredients: kalamata olives, cucumbers, red bell pepper, artichoke hearts, grape tomatoes, feta cheese, and dill. Transfer all of these ingredients to the mixing bowl. NOTE: the tomatoes do get kind of mushy when the salad is leftover. If not eating the salad within a day or two, I like to reserve the tomatoes and add them to the salad just before serving so they are nice and fresh.
- Add the remaining ingredients – To the mixing bowl add the cooked, cooled pasta, the cooked, and drained shrimp. Gently toss everything together until it is well combined.
- To serve: You can serve the pasta salad immediately, or chill it for up to 2 hours – it is best when served cold. Transfer the pasta salad to a serving bowl, or portion out into smaller bowls, and garnish with extra feta cheese, and dill, if desired.
- Leftovers: Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days if you added the tomatoes right away. The salad does keep well as leftovers, but only for 1 to 2 days before the tomatoes get kind of mushy. If you want the salad to last longer, then omit the tomatoes initially and add them in just before serving. Without the tomatoes the salad will last for up to 4 days.
Notes
Shrimp substitutes – You could also swap it for some cooked, cooled chicken, and maybe some cooked, or canned salmon.
Greek seasoning – You can use store bought Greek seasoning – make sure it’s unsalted. I love to make my own Greek seasoning, I always have it on hand. I use this Greek seasoning recipe, from Inspired Eats.
Feta cheese – I recommend getting a block of feta cheese and crumbling it yourself, when possible. It has so much more flavor than the pre-crumbled stuff.
Gluten free – To make the salad gluten free be sure to use gluten free pasta.
Dairy free option – omit the feta cheese. Try adding some capers to replace that tangy, salty bite.
Side option – if you want to serve this as a side salad instead of an entrée salad, simply omit the shrimp.
