Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Quick Green Goddess Dressing

One can never have too many really good pasta salad recipes up their sleeve. Now that’s a good motto. This Mediterranean Pasta Diet is our newest kitchen creation for weekday lunches. It’s gluten free, plant based, easy, quick and most of all delicious!

Gluten Free Pasta Salad

You read that right…gluten free pasta salad. We’ve been huge fans of Banza Chickpea Pasta for a long time now. It’s one of our favorite gluten free pastas available at the grocery store. We are still working on writing up our reason for trying to go gluten free but in the meantime, trust us when we say even regular pasta lovers like this recipe.

Why we love this chickpea pasta you ask?

• Plant based
• High in protein
• High in fiber
• Moderately priced
• Available at most local grocery stores
• Similar taste and texture to regular pasta

Full of Mediterranean Diet Ingredients

This pasta salad is easy because there are only a handful of ingredients –

• pasta
• cucumber
• bell pepper
• olives
• sun-dried tomatoes
• fresh herbs

They may seem simple but when all combined and tossed into the creamy dressing, it’s fantastic. You can also fully customize this recipe based on your own likes or what you have on hand. Don’t like olives, no problem. Making this in the summer…use fresh tomatoes instead. Have some mushrooms that are getting near their end date…toss them in there. Fully make it your own.

This recipe definitely falls under the plant based category because there isn’t any meat, chicken or fish. It’s all veggies and bean based pasta. A perfect example of how plant based doesn’t mean bland.

If you are looking for more info on the benefits of including meatless meals in your diet, check out this post – What Does Eating a Plant Based Diet Even Mean?

Quick Green Goddess Dressing

If we had to choose one dressing for the rest of our lives, it would be Green Goddess dressing. It’s so fresh and full of herbs and spices. While there is nothing that beats the taste of freshly made Green Goddess dressing, sometimes we just don’t have the time to bring out the food processor and whip up a batch.

That’s where we consider ourselves realistic. Don’t have time for the real thing, take a shortcut. This Quick Green Goddess Dressing is our time saving shortcut in this recipe.

We saved time and simply combined greek yogurt, Green Goddess Seasoning from Trader Joe’s, a little dijon mustard, a squeeze of lemon and a little minced garlic. The end result, a delightfully creamy dressing that is ready in under a minute.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad Recipe

Here she is folks…your newest favorite, meatless, plant based, simple and quick Mediterranean pasta Salad with Quick Green Goddess Dressing.

Let me know if you whip up a batch!

Print Pin

Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Quick Green Goddess Dressing (gluten free)

A delicious and simple plant based, gluten free lunch recipe – this Mediterranean Pasta Salad is quick and perfect for any weekday lunch.

Course entree, lunch

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword gluten free, pasta salad

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Brynn McDowell, RDN at The Domestic Dietitian

Ingredients

• 1 box Banza Chickpea Pasta (or pasta of your choice)
• 1 medium Cucumber, diced
• 1 Bell Pepper, diced
• 1 tbsp Kalamata Olives, chopped
• 1 tbsp Sun-dried Tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbsp Cilantro, chopped
• 1 tbsp Italian Parsley, chopped

Quick Green Goddess Dressing

• 1 cup Greek Yogurt, plain
• 2 tbsp Green Goddess Seasoning (we get ours at Trader Joe's)
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 clove Garlic, minced

Instructions

• Add pasta to pot of boiling water and cook until al dente (about 8-9 minutes, depending on your pasta choice). Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking process. Let cool while you prep other ingredients
• In a small bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, green goddess seasoning, dijon mustard, lemon juice and garlic. Stir until well mixed and set aside.
• Once pasta is cooled, add to a large mixing bowl. Add diced cucumber, bell pepper, olives and sun dried tomatoes.
• Pour dressing over pasta salad and mix until well combined. Top with fresh herbs and enjoy.

More Mediterranean Diet Lunch Ideas

We’ve got a lot of great Mediterranean diet inspired lunch recipes on our site. Some of our favorite plant based recipes include –

• The Ultimate Green Veggie Sandwich
• Mediterranean Plant Protein Power Bowl
• Ridiculously Easy Meatless Chili

You can also check out our entire collection of Mediterranean Diet Lunch Recipes here.