This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.
If you are like me, the holidays are the busiest time of the year. It seems like I am always rushing from one activity to another. Combine that with frequent dinner guests who have special diets and food allergies and I have a recipe for disaster. Sorry, couldn’t resist throwing in the cooking pun. One thing I’ve learned over the years is to keep a few boxes of pasta on hand. Let’s face it, how many kids turn down pasta? It’s such a versatile dish. I can dress it up to impress dinner guests or serve it in a fun kid’s recipe.
This Mediterranean Style Pasta Recipe is a hit in my kitchen because it’s easy enough for a weeknight meal, but fancy enough to serve guests. I serve it with a side of salad and thin slices of French baguettes. It tastes just like a dish from our favorite Italian restaurant and it’s vegetarian. That means I can serve one dish to all my guests and they will all enjoy it. Score! Bonus points to me for making dinner easier for myself.
We found all the ingredients we needed for our dish at Walmart.
Mediterranean Style Pasta Recipe
I like to use green olives in my recipe, but this dish tastes good with black olives too if you prefer those. I prefer a tube-shaped pasta to catch and hold the sauce and veggies so I use Barilla Ziti. Penne is also a good choice. Pasta for this recipe should be al dente so be sure not to overcook the pasta. My solution for this is add pasta to boiling water and then cook for 7-9 minutes. I drain the pasta return it to the pan until ready to use.
Printable Recipe:
- 8 ounces Barilla Ziti, cooked and drained
- ½ cup (4 ounces) green olives, sliced
- 1 ½ cups (12 ounces) grape tomatoes, sliced
- 1 cup onion (8 ounces), diced
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 cup (8 ounces) mushrooms, sliced
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cups (12 ounces) Barilla Traditional Pasta Sauce
- ½ cup (4 ounces) Galbani Mozarella Cheese, shredded
- Cook pasta in large saucepan. Drain and set aside. While pasta is cooking, add olive oil to large skillet. Add garlic, mushrooms, and onion to skillet. Cook on high heat for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, or until ingredients are light brown. Remove from heat. Combine onion mixture, tomatoes, and green olives in large serving bowl. Add pasta and toss lightly to coat. Serve immediately. Top portions with shredded mozzarella cheese.
This recipe can easily be doubled. Want to create this dish for yourself? Now there’s an Ibotta offer that allows you to earn $2 when you purchase Barilla Pasta/Sauce and Galbani Cheese. We used Galbani Mozzarella in our recipe because it doesn’t have additives like cellulose, potato starch or other anti-clumping agents. With 130 years of Italian craftsmanship behind it, no wonder it is the number one Chunk Mozzarella Brand in the USA.
Do you have a favorite go-to pasta dish you serve during the holidays?
I love Medditerran food. I would had some good veggies to this such as cucumber or olives to this.
Ohh, I am researching on new recipes to try and I am excited for this. Might include this for the holidays. Thank you!
That looks like a good wholesome meal. I love pasta and this looks delicious
This is really looks delicious and I can’t wait to try this on weekends, We love to eat pasta dishes.
We absolutely LOVE pasta dishes. They make the perfect weeknight meal. We tend to stay away from Barilla, though, because of their harsh stance on LGBTQ families.
That looks delicious. I like that it looks simple but it probably packed with a lot of flavor.
This looks delicious. I would eat this pasta dish everyday!
My Greek dad loves it when I bring him any Mediterranean meals. He will love this pasta recipe. Pack it full of yummy olives!
This looks really good! I would love to try it asap!
Classic recipe. Always fun to add in a lot of flavors =, makes for a delicious meal
I love the flavors or Mediterranean food! This pasta recipe is simply amazing and I’d love to whip it up one of these days for the husband and I.
I love easy dinners like this one. Definitely something the entire loves too!
Pasta is always a hit with my family and I certainly won’t argue with an easy recipe! Thanks for providing a bit of inspiration to my grocery list.
You can’t go wrong with pasta! This looks amazing, and I know my picky eaters would like this. I will have to give this recipe a try asap.
I love this! We’re huge pasta lovers at home and it would be so nice to prepare this for the family. It’s simple but packed with flavor! Definitely a winner.
Pasta dishes are a favorite at my house. Your recipe sounds tasty and I love how easy it is.
Yum. This looks really good. I’m a big fan of mushrooms in pasta.
I guess my favorite go to pasta dish during the holidays is pasta salad with cut up cheese, cucumber and spam. I can’t wait to try your recipe.
Oh boy does this look delicious! Anything with Mediterranean flavors is a favorite of mine. Add pasta and you have a winner in my book!
Yum! I know I’d enjoy a pasta like this. The olives and grape tomatoes are sounding really good!
This sounds like such a delicious meal. Pasta is always a hit with the kids. THe convenience cannot be beat!
We love Pasta, usually have it once or twice a week. So many great ways to make it.
We love pasta here in our family but I don’t generally serve it for the holidays. I’m a huge fan of Galbani mozz, I eat it cut into pieces as a snack sometimes.
You were not kidding when you said Easy! This is a super easy mediterranean style pasta idea for dinner. We love pasta here!
I always prepare some pasta dishes but never made it Mediterranean style . This looks and sounds delicious, makes me hungry.
My baked ziti and sausage is one of my go to pasta dishes. It’s easy to make and always a hit. I load it up with lots of veggies.
I’d like to make this for other people in my family. I try to stay away from pasta, and this would definitely tempt me! It sounds delicious!
Pasta dishes are one of my favourites, I always add tons of garlic and mushrooms! I really like that Barilla brand too.
Nothing like a great easy pasta dish to throw together to go with a meal or to be the meal. Kids always eat pasta so this would be a winner on the dinner table.
I think this is something I need to make. I am constantly looking for new recipes to make because we get sick of it we have all the time. I will definitely add this to my menu.
We eat pasta at least once a week. I use Barilla pasta and their sauce when I can’t make my own.
This looks very good and it’s such an easy recipe to make. This is something my entire family would enjoy.
Yum! I do enjoy pasta recipes. We all love our pasta here, so I’ll have to make this for dinner soon.
I can’t wait to make this. Recipes like this are what I look for now that I’ve started living a healthier lifestyle. I need to have some flavor in my healthy foods!
That looks amazing. Mediterranean eating is such a healthy way to enjoy food. I love all the flavors here and how good it is for you.
That sounds like an amazingly delicious pasta salad. I am going to have to make this for my family one of these days.