For this week’s Tried & True, I am sharing a pasta salad I have been making for over twenty years. This salad is loaded with feta, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and topped with my favorite sweet balsamic dressing- such a great combination of flavors! So simple. So good. Â Â
This pasta salad is great topped with grilled chicken for a meal – a summer favorite! This is also one of my go-to dishes for barbecues, picnics, parties and large gatherings. This pasta gets a lot of shares! I’m glad to finally be adding it to my recipe box on Sweet Little Bluebird!
Pasta Salad with a Twist
- 1 box Gemelli Pasta (1 lb) cooked according to package (or your favorite pasta – penne, twist, bow tie)
- 8 oz Feta, crumbled
- 1 large Cucumber, peeled, cut bite sizeÂ
- 1 pint Cherry or Grape Tomatoes (sliced in halves or quarters)
- 1/2 cup Red Onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil or Canola
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- 3 tablespoons good Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/8Â teaspoon Dry Mustard (or a little squeeze of yellow mustard)
- Few twists of Fresh Cracked Pepper Or use 1/8 tsp of Reg Ground Pepper
Whisk all the ingredients together, until sugar and oil are blended. Â It takes a few minutes for the oil and sugar to blend. Â Keep whisking….it will blend!
- This salad is great with Greek and Italian dressing too.
- Adjust the amount of feta and veggies to your preference.Â
- Great topped with fresh cracked pepper. Â Â
- You can use other types of pasta – penne, rotini, bow-tie… Â
- Make a meal out of it, top the pasta with grilled chicken!

Oh my goodness this looks so great!! I absolutely adore this dressing recipe, it would be great on so many salads, but will definitely have to try this!
I love pasta salad!!! This one looks so good. We are camping soon, I might have to bring this along.
Mary this looks awesome,…but it's the dressing that I want to make!! Oh my gosh, I love basalmic vinegar!
oh yum mary you have me dreaming of Summer!!