Lemon Pasta Salad Recipe with Roasted Tomatoes, Chickpeas and Feta
Quite simply, this salad is a combination of some of my very favorite things in life. Pasta, fresh lemon, olives, roasted sweet tomatoes, basil, chickpeas, feta cheese, crushed red pepper flakes… stop! I can’t handle it! So much good stuff in one simple dish. It’s got layers and layers of flavor– salty, spicy, sweet, nutty. And with that lemon juice and freshly cut basil topping the whole thing off, it smells like a Mediterranean summer.
The roasted cherry tomatoes really take this dish to another level. Roasting the tomatoes brings out their natural sweetness and makes them super juicy. Those of you with gardens probably have more tomatoes on hand than you know what to do with right about now. Pan roasting these little guys is a great way to extend their shelf life; you can keep them covered in a sealed plastic container for up to five days after roasting.
No step-by-step pictures here, because this salad is simple as can be. It would make a perfect addition to a summer buffet or cookout. These are a few of my favorite things… Enjoy!
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Food Photography and Styling by Kelly Jaggers
Lemon Pasta Salad with Roasted Tomatoes, Chickpeas & Feta
Ingredients
Pasta Salad Ingredients
- 4 cups dry bowtie pasta
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes or heirloom cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Pinch black pepper
- 1 cup chickpeas, cooked or canned and drained
- 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/3 cup sliced ripe green olives
- 1/4 cup basil chopped or chiffonade cut
Dressing Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes if spice sensitive, use 1/4 tsp
- 1/4 teaspoon salt heaping
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to directions on the box to desired tenderness. Drain, rinse with cool water till pasta is room temperature. Reserve.
- Heat a medium saute pan over medium heat and toast the pinenuts, stirring frequently, until golden brown and fragrant. Reserve pinenuts in a small dish; keep the pan on medium heat.
- In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt and pinch of black pepper. Toss to combine, then add the tomatoes to the hot pan you toasted the pinenuts in. Give them a shake occasionally and cook over medium heat until blistered, about 10 minutes.
- Whisk together dressing ingredients till well combined.
- In a large salad bowl, combine all ingredients except tomatoes with the dressing, tossing to make sure all ingredients are well coated. Add the roasted tomatoes last-- gently stir them in, they will be very soft and delicate. Add more salt to taste, if desired-- careful, the olives and feta are pretty salty on their own!
- Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Nutrition
Just made this recipe today. It is the best ever!!! I had made Love and Lemons roasted sun dried tomato recipe the other day and was able to put them in this fabulous recipe. It’s a keeper.
5 STARS
So delicious!! I loved it!
I haven’t made any of your recipes yet – but there were so many I’ve printed off from the Labour Day Weekend list. They look delicious. I am very pro Middle Eastern food, and am also a vegetarian, so there were several that took my fancy…….not to mention the Peach Sangria!!! Thank you.
Hi Tori,
I just made this tonight and the flavor tasted funny together. The honey was so strong that I couldn’t taste the lemon anymore. I was hoping it would have more of a lemon flavor vs a sweet honey taste. It was super easy to make and I’m wondering if I made the dressing wrong.
Hi Bonny– that’s odd, as there are only 2 teaspoons of honey, it shouldn’t be very sweet at all. Lemon should be the dominating flavor. Are you sure you didn’t add tablespoons instead of teaspoons?
I brought this salad for a kiddush after our family services and it was a hit with the kids and adults. I left out the pine nuts as we are asked to make sure we have nut free food.
Thank you for your great recipes and resources as I always look to your site when it is my turn to enhance our kiddush. I know that I can trust that your recipes are dairy or paerve.
Kathryn
will definitely make again
This recipe is sooo easy and sooo yummy.
I did add some fresh parsley and red onion.
I did not include pine nuts or olives as I didn’t have any.
It was delicious.
it would be so nice if printing a recipe from your website didn’t require
a PHD. I cant make any of your recipes because this is not user friendly and cant figure out how to print.
Susan, I tried to make it as user-friendly as possible. There is a red “print recipe” button near the ingredients, did you try clicking it? It will create a print-friendly version. Then you just click “print” on whichever browser you’re using, usually under “File” in the browser menu.
Hi there,
I’d just thought I’d leave a line saying thanks. I found you by chance while looking for a felafel recipe. And found an amazing sight with sooo many recipes I can’t wait to try!
Spela
Welcome Spela! 🙂