Food Recipes Lemony Pasta Salad With Cucumber 4.0 (40) 2 Reviews This lemony pasta salad—packed with fresh cilantro and mint leaves—isn't your everyday side dish. By Ananda Eidelstein Ananda Eidelstein Ananda Eidelstein is a vegetable-loving food writer, recipe developer, and editor with nearly a decade of culinary and food media experience. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on September 01, 2022 Rate PRINT Share Hands On Time: 15 mins Total Time: 25 mins Servings: 12 Jump to Nutrition Facts Pasta salad, the summertime staple of the 90s, returns to today's dinner table with this fresh take. (Spoiler alert: Leave your mayo in the fridge.) Each perfect bite is made up of a short pasta shape, vibrant fresh herbs, crisp cucumbers (famous for their good skin-to-flesh ratio), salty feta, and a mustardy garlic-lemon dressing. This recipe has been portioned to serve as a side, which is delicious alongside grilled chicken or steak. However, with a larger serving size (and some chickpeas or tofu), this dish also makes a tasty vegetarian dinner for four. Ingredients 1 pound short pasta (such as radiators, orecchiette, gemelli) 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for cooking pasta 6 Tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for serving 2 Tablespoons whole-grain mustard 1 Tablespoon lemon zest plus 6 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (2 lemons), plus 1 lemon half for serving 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated ½ teaspoon black pepper ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper 1 pound Persian cucumbers, sliced 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled 1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems ½ cup packed fresh mint leaves, torn if large Directions Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water according to package directions for al dente. Drain and spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with 2 tablespoons oil and set aside. Whisk mustard, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper in a large bowl. Whisk in remaining 4 tablespoons oil. Add cucumbers and feta, and toss to coat. Add pasta to the cucumber mixture and toss to combine. At this point, you can store this pasta salad in the fridge for up to 2 days. Just before serving, add cilantro and mint, drizzle with oil, and squeeze the lemon half over top. Toss and serve. Greg DuPree Rate It Print Nutrition Facts (per serving) 262 Calories 11g Fat 31g Carbs 8g Protein Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label Nutrition Facts Servings Per Recipe 12 Calories 262 % Daily Value * Total Fat 11g 14% Saturated Fat 4g 20% Cholesterol 17mg 6% Sodium 397mg 17% Total Carbohydrate 31g 11% Total Sugars 3g Protein 8g 16% *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.