Feta Pasta Primavera

his easy feta pasta primavera combines tender pasta, fresh summer vegetables, creamy feta cheese and a bright lemon dressing for a light 20-minute dinner that’s perfect served warm or cold.

Opening paragraph

Jump to:

• 🔎 A quick look at this recipe
• ⭐️ Why this recipe works
• 🤔 What is pasta primavera?
• 🍅 Ingredients you need
• 📝 Ingredient notes
• 💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
• Feta Pasta Primavera

🔎 A quick look at this recipe

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⭐️ Why this recipe works

• 🍋 Bright lemon and creamy feta create a fresh, tangy sauce that coats every bite without feeling heavy.
• 🥕 Colorful fresh vegetables add crunch, sweetness and plenty of garden-fresh flavor.
• ⏱️ Ready in about 20 minutes, making it perfect for busy weeknights or last-minute lunches.
• 🌡️ Delicious warm, at room temperature or chilled, so it’s just as welcome at a picnic as it is on the dinner table.
• 🧀 Simple ingredients, big flavor. The salty feta, fresh dill and lemon juice do all the heavy lifting, so you don’t need a complicated sauce.

Is it hot where you are?  It’s hot where I am…WAY too early in the summer if you ask me…and it’s nice and humid, too.  

This makes me cranky, partly because my hair decides to sulk about the heat in its own creative way, and partly because I can’t bring myself to turn on the oven, and I love and adore my oven.  

That’s when this cool, soothing version of pasta primavera comes to the rescue.  As long as I can bring myself to turn on the stove to boil the water, I’m home free…it’s all nice cold pasta salad sailing from there!

🤔 What is pasta primavera?

Think of pasta primavera as pasta’s way of celebrating the farmers market. It’s all about tender noodles, colorful fresh vegetables and a light, flavorful sauce that lets those veggies shine.

Traditional versions are usually served warm, but this feta-packed version is equally delicious warm, at room temperature or straight from the fridge, making it perfect for easy summer meals.

🍅 Ingredients you need

📝 Ingredient notes

• 🍋 Lemon: You’ll use both the zest and the juice for the brightest, freshest flavor. Be sure to zest the lemon before juicing it.
• 🥒 English cucumber: English cucumbers have thin skin and very few seeds, so there’s no need to peel them. Regular cucumbers will work too if that’s what you have.
• 🫛 Frozen peas: No need to thaw them first—they’ll warm up quickly when tossed with the hot pasta.
• 🌿 Fresh dill: Fresh dill gives this pasta its signature summery flavor. If you need to substitute dried dill, use about 2 teaspoons.
• 🧀 Feta cheese: Buy a block of feta packed in brine if you can. It has a creamier texture and richer flavor than the pre-crumbled variety.

💡 Ingredient substitution ideas

Missing something or want to swap in something different? Check out the links below to find more ingredient substitution ideas. 👇🏻

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.

You can use any old short pasta you have in your cabinet – ziti, elbows, rotini will all work just fine – but I recently discovered a new pasta shape called campanelle.  

It looks like a cross between a little baby tuba and a conch shell, and it’s just perfect for drinking up whatever delicious sauce or dressing you have going on.  So that’s what I used for this supper, and it helped even more with my hazy hot and humid crankiness.  It’s the little things!

Once you have the pasta cooked, cool it down under some cold running water, and then toss it with a quick dressing of lemon zest and juice mixed with a teeny bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.  

Now all you have to do is stir in some veggies…anything you have on hand would be fine, but I used peas, cherry tomatoes and some cucumber that I cut into nice little strips.  Some fresh chopped dill, a generous handful of feta cheese, and I was back to feeling like my cool self. 😎

And with that, let me hand over the only pasta primavera recipe you’ll ever need for sultry summer evenings.