This Greek Yogurt Pasta Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing is both creamy and light with a zippy yogurt dressing flavored with feta, basil and garlic.
Add your choice of additional ingredients, such as chicken breast, tomatoes, snap peas, cucumbers or roasted zucchini.
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This light and tangy Greek yogurt pasta salad is a welcome change from cold macaroni salads that are heavy with mayonnaise. Instead, this pasta is dressed with creamy basil dressing and garnished with crumbled feta and green onions.
Another recipe you'll love is Green Goddess salad, a colorful chopped salad drizzled with creamy dressing made from sour cream, fresh herbs and lemon.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This recipe has just six main ingredients. Then it's up to you to decide if you want to add more, like chicken breast, tomatoes, snap peas, cucumbers or roasted zucchini.
Pasta: Macaroni is a good choice for this cold salad, but you can use any short pasta shape for this recipe, including small shells, rotini, fusilli, or cavatappi or tortellini.
Greek Yogurt: Full-fat Greek yogurt makes the creamiest dressing. You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt. If you like the flavor and consistency of mayonnaise in cold pasta salad, then try using half yogurt and half mayonnaise.
You can find a similar dressing made with sour cream by checking out my recipe for Green Goddess salad.
Basil: Fresh basil gives this salad wonderful summer flavor, but you can try using dill or parsley, for a completely different flavor.
Feta: Adding feta to the dressing and crumbling it over the pasta salad gives the dish rich flavor that complements the tanginess of the yogurt. If absolutely necessary you can skip the feta and make the dressing without it.
Step-by-Step Instructions
For detailed instructions & ingredient amounts, see the recipe card at the end of the post.
Step 1: Cook the pasta in generously salty water. Drain and rinse briefly in cool water. Coat lightly in oil.
Step 2: In a food processor, combine the Greek yogurt plus basil, feta, green onion, garlic and salt.
Step 3: Mix the dressing into the cooled pasta.
Step 4: Add any additional ingredients that you like, such as cherry tomatoes, green onion, crumbled feta, cucumber, roasted zucchini, chicken breast, etc...
Helpful Tips for Making Cold Pasta Salad
Most importantly, don't boil it for too long. Boil only until el dente (tender but slightly firm). Error on the side of undercooking the pasta slightly, as it will continue to soften while it sits in a bowl soaking up dressing. Also, rinse the cooked pasta under cold water to cool it down immediately.
Cold pasta salad needs a generous amount of salt to bring out flavor. Don't be shy with salt! First, salt the water generously when you boil the pasta. For this recipe using ½ pound of pasta, add 1 teaspoon of table salt to 3 cups of boiling water. The dressing also contains salt. Finally, add more salt and a few grinds of black pepper after the entire salad is put together.
It depends. When you're using a creamy dressing, rinsing cooked pasta briefly in cold water is a good idea because it cools the pasta down immediately. Rinsing also removes some starch and prevents the pasta from sticking together. Lastly, a little bit of moisture left on the pasta after you rinse it is a good thing when you're using a creamy dressing. It keeps the pasta from getting stiff and dry and it makes it easier for the noodles absorb the dressing.
However, when I'm using an oily dressing (like olive oil vinaigrette) I don't rinse the pasta. Warm pasta absorbs oil and flavor better than cold pasta and the oil keeps the pasta from sticking together.
Yes. After a day, however, the consistency won't be as creamy. You can freshen up leftover macaroni salad by stirring in a few tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt, sour cream or mayo which will help bring back the creamy texture. Leftover pasta salad will often need an additional sprinkle of salt and pepper as well.
More Salad Recipes
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Greek Yogurt Pasta Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing
This Greek Yogurt Pasta Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing is both creamy and light with a zippy yogurt dressing flavored with feta, basil, green onion and garlic.
Add your choice of additional ingredients, such as chicken breast, tomatoes, snap peas, cucumbers or roasted zucchini.
This recipe was originally published in 2021, then improved and updated in 2024.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Boil
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (about 2 cups) elbow macaroni
- ½ cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 3 cups gently packed basil leaves
- ¼ cup chopped green onions (dark green parts only) - plus more to garnish the salad
- ¼ cup crumbled feta - plus more to garnish the salad
- 1 small garlic clove
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Optional additions to the pasta salad: chicken breast, snap peas, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, roasted zucchini, etc…
Instructions
- Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. As the water begins to bubble, add 1 teaspoon of table salt.
- When the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until just done, or al dente. Don’t overcook the pasta.
- Drain the pasta and rise briefly in cool water. Coat the pasta very lightly with oil (either olive oil or vegetable oil), mix gently and set aside to cool.
- While the pasta is cooling, make the yogurt dressing.
- In a food processor, combine the yogurt, basil, green onion, garlic and salt. Blend until smooth and bright green with only small flecks of basil remaining. This could take two minutes or more.
- Stir the creamy basil dressing into the pasta. Add more chopped green onion and crumbled feta to taste.
- Add any additional ingredients to the pasta salad that you want, such as cherry tomatoes (raw or roasted), chicken breast, olives, roasted zucchini, etc..
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
This macaroni salad tastes best if eaten within 3 days of making it. You can freshen up leftover pasta salad by stirring in a little bit of Greek yogurt, sour cream or mayonnaise, which brings back the creamy texture.
Instead of elbow macaroni, you can substitute other short pasta shapes such as tortellini, small shells or rotini.
Full-fat Greek yogurt makes the creamiest dressing. You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt. If you like the flavor and consistency of mayonnaise in cold pasta salad, then try using half yogurt and half mayonnaise.
If you don't have a food processor, the dressing can be made in a small blender. However, the consistency will be looser and won't coat the pasta quite as well. If using a blender, I recommend only putting ¼ cup of yogurt into the blender with the other ingredients. After the dressing is very smooth, pour it into a bowl and mix in the remaining ¼ cup yogurt by hand.
Lauren Michael Harris
I loved the idea of adding chicken to a macaroni salad. This recipe is definitely going to be on regular rotation this summer.
Carrie Robinson
I am just loving this lightened up version of macaroni salad! So perfect for a summer BBQ. 🙂
Beth
Such a delicious variation to plain old boring macaroni salad. Certainly making it again. Thanks!
Sarah Baumeister
Everything about this is right up my alley-- right down to the Greek yogurt. I like that you added chicken for protein too. Great recipe.
Anjali
I love the dressing you paired with this macaroni salad!! It was a delicious twist on the traditional recipe!
S.
The dressing was so good! Can't wait to try it on other salads too.