This spinach orzo pasta salad recipe is a quick one to maintain in your again pocket for cookouts, potlucks, and meal prep lunches. It’s orzo, child spinach, feta, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber, all tossed in a lemony basil French dressing you mix collectively in about 5 minutes. The entire recipe takes about 20 minutes begin to end, and it tastes simply nearly as good the following day, which makes it considered one of my go-to choices as soon as the climate warms up.
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Why You’ll Love This Orzo Pasta Salad
This chilly orzo pasta salad comes collectively in about 20 minutes, and the one factor really cooking is the orzo. Everything else is chopping and mixing, which makes it a simple recipe to throw collectively on a weeknight or scale up for a crowd. It’s additionally forgiving. Swap the greens, alter the crimson pepper flakes, or use a distinct dressing completely, and it nonetheless works.
It’s constructed for make-ahead too. The orzo really holds up higher after a number of hours within the fridge, so that is a kind of salads that will get simpler the longer you propose forward. If you’re constructing out a complete unfold, my lineup of simple summer season pasta salads has extra choices like this one.
Jordan
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Orzo: This rice-shaped pasta cooks quick and holds its form effectively as soon as it’s chilly, which is strictly what you need in a pasta salad that should survive a cooler.
- Baby spinach: Goes in whereas the orzo remains to be sizzling so it wilts simply barely. You nonetheless get that recent, inexperienced chunk, simply softened across the edges.
- Cherry tomatoes: Halved so that they launch just a little juice into the salad as an alternative of simply sitting on prime.
- Red onion: Sliced skinny so it provides chunk with out taking up each forkful.
- Cucumber: Diced small for crunch and to maintain the salad from feeling heavy.
- Fresh basil: Goes into each the dressing and the salad itself, so the basil taste comes by in each chunk, not simply the sauce.
- Feta cheese: Salty and just a little tangy, which balances out the sweetness from the tomatoes.
- Basil French dressing: Garlic, lemon zest and juice, basil, olive oil, and a pinch of crimson pepper flakes, blended till easy.
Recipe Variations
- Tomatoes: Grape tomatoes work the identical means. You may cube up a daily tomato if that’s what you will have.
- Pasta: Rotini, penne, or farfalle all maintain dressing effectively if you wish to swap up the form, or attempt pearl couscous for a distinct texture completely.
- Cooking liquid: Cook the orzo in hen or vegetable broth as an alternative of water for further taste. Just salt it rather less since broth is already seasoned.
- Dressing: If you need to swap issues up, my honey balsamic dressing is an efficient stand-in and takes this in a barely sweeter course.
- Add-ins: Roasted crimson peppers are an effective way so as to add some sweetness and coloration if you wish to bulk up the vegetable aspect of issues.
How to Make Orzo Pasta Salad
- Step 1: Cook the orzo in salted boiling water till al dente, in line with the bundle instructions. Don’t stroll away from it. Orzo goes from agency to mushy quick, and also you need it to carry its form as soon as it’s combined with every thing else.
- Step 2: While the orzo cooks, add the garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, basil, olive oil, crimson pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to a meals processor or blender. Blend till easy. Taste it earlier than you progress on. It must be brilliant and just a little garlicky, not flat.
- Step 3: Drain the recent orzo and switch it straight to a big bowl with the spinach. Pour the French dressing over each and toss immediately. The warmth from the orzo will wilt the spinach simply sufficient to melt it with out turning it into mush.
- Step 4: Add the cherry tomatoes, crimson onion, cucumber, basil, and feta. Toss till every thing is coated within the dressing. Chill for at the least half-hour earlier than serving, or longer should you’re making it forward.
Expert Tips
- Don’t rinse the orzo. Rinsing washes away the starch that helps the dressing cling to the pasta. Just drain it and toss it with the French dressing whereas it’s nonetheless sizzling.
- Dress it whereas the orzo is heat. Cold orzo tends to clump, and heat pasta absorbs dressing a lot better than chilly pasta does. This can be what wilts the spinach correctly.
- Watch the salt. Feta is salty by itself, so style the salad earlier than including further, particularly should you’re making the French dressing just a little heavier on salt than the recipe requires.
- If it appears dry after chilling, the orzo will hold absorbing dressing because it sits. A small drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of recent lemon juice proper earlier than serving brings it again to life.
Storage & Make-Ahead Tips
- This salad retains effectively in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days. The orzo will proceed to take in the dressing because it sits, so if it appears just a little dry after day one, toss it with a splash of olive oil and recent lemon juice earlier than serving.
- This spinach orzo salad is supposed to be served chilly or at room temperature, so it’s a very good one to prep the evening earlier than a cookout or pack straight right into a lunch container.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, and it’s really higher after a number of hours within the fridge. The flavors have extra time to settle into the pasta. Just give it a fast toss earlier than serving because the dressing can settle on the backside of the bowl.
Not should you toss it with the recent orzo proper after draining. That slight wilt is what you need. If you’re making this greater than a day forward, the spinach will soften additional the longer it sits, so for the perfect texture, eat it inside two days.
Definitely. Grilled hen, shrimp, or chickpeas all work effectively right here. My garlic butter shrimp is an efficient possibility in order for you one thing with extra taste inbuilt.
Yes. Small shapes like rotini, farfalle, or penne all maintain the dressing effectively. Just prepare dinner in line with the bundle instructions and deal with it the identical means because the orzo.
More Easy Pasta Salad Recipes
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Spinach Orzo Pasta Salad
This spinach orzo pasta salad is a lightweight, make-ahead aspect constructed on tender orzo, child spinach, and a lemony basil French dressing. Toss in feta, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber for a pasta salad that holds up at cookouts, potlucks, and meal prep lunches all week.
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Cook the orzo in line with the bundle directions.
1.5 cups orzo pasta
While the orzo is cooking, put together the basil French dressing. In a blender or meals processor, mix the garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, basil, olive oil, crimson pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Blend till easy. Taste and alter the lemon juice, salt, or pepper to style.
2 garlic cloves, 1 lemon, 1 cup basil, 3/4 cup further virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, 1 tsp crimson pepper flakes
When the orzo is completed cooking, drain and switch the recent orzo right into a mixing bowl with the spinach. Add the basil French dressing and toss till the spinach begins to wilt and every thing is evenly coated with the French dressing.
2 cups child spinach
Gently combine within the halved cherry tomatoes, sliced crimson onion, diced cucumber, chopped basil and crumbled feta cheese.
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup crimson onion, 1 cucumber, 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese, 1/4 cup recent chopped basil
Taste and season with salt and pepper if wanted. Serve heat or room temperature.
Salt and pepper
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- Make it forward: This salad tastes even higher after a number of hours within the fridge—simply give it a fast toss earlier than serving.
- Serving tip: Great served chilly or at room temp, making it good for picnics, BBQs, or meal prep.
- Don’t overcook the orzo: Keep it al dente so it holds up effectively within the salad.
Calories: 535kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 25g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 512mg | Potassium: 347mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1773IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 160mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition data is approximate and was calculated utilizing a recipe vitamin label generator.
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