orzo salad Archives · Jess in the Kitchen

There are a few ingredients that have made their way into our fridge that we ALWAYS have to have on hand, crumbled feta and Kalamata olives being two of them. To quote my nephews, “Everything’s betta with feta!” and “Every day is a good day for a Kalamata olive!” The Mr and I have become a bit obsessed with any kind of Greek inspired salad, topping our lettuce with olives, tomatoes, feta, and a Greek dressing. But it’s BBQ season and everyone needs a good pasta salad to pass: I knew I needed to combine these loves to create a Greek Inspired Orzo Salad.

Maybe you’ve been around awhile and you know my love of orzo. Maybe not. But it is definitely one of my top shapes when it comes to pasta. I don’t know if it’s the similarity to the shape of rice or something from my childhood, but I love it.

After the orzo, you’ll need a few ingredients: olives, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, some fresh herbs. You can totally adjust the amounts of each of the ingredients to suit your own tastes. These, with the pasta, make a fresh salad that has a bit of a bite to it that is sure to make your taste buds sing!

If you dig a really juicy salad, feel free to double the dressing. I would start with the original amount and then add more as needed after the salad has had time to sit and marinate.

Now that’s been enough talk. Are we ready to start prepping this great summertime (I mean, who am I kidding…ANY TIME!) salad? Let’s go!

Your Ingredients

1 ¾ cups dry orzo
1 cup cucumber, diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/3 cup black olives, halved
1/3 cup kalamata olives, halved
fresh basil and oregano, minced about 2 tablespoons of each

Dressing

¼ cup olive oil
⅓ cup red wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Your Steps to Greek Inspired Orzo Salad

Begin by cooking the orzo to al dente according to package, being sure to salt the water. When finished, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

While the orzo is cooking, prep the vegetables. Again, it’s totally okay to have a little more or a little less of anything. You can adjust to your flavors. Love Kalamata olives, but not black, switch it up and do all Kalamata. Or maybe you’re the other way around. I won’t judge! As for the fresh herbs, my favorite way to cut them up is to place them in a coffee mug and use scissors to cut into the mug!

Once the orzo has been rinsed and cooled, combine with the onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh herbs, olives, and feta in a large bowl with a cover. Stir to combine well.

In a liquid measuring cup or mason jar with lid, combine the dressing ingredients (olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder, oregano, onion powder, mustard, salt, and pepper). Whisk or cover and shake vigorously. Immediately pour over the pasta salad, stirring to cover all the ingredients. If you like your salad a little more on the juicy side, double the dressing and add about ⅔ of it to start. You can always add more after it chills. Speaking of chilling…

This salad is best if you let it chill for a few hours before serving, but I always have a hard time 1. Planning ahead and 2. Waiting that long because I want to dig in. Best of luck to you on both regards. When you do serve it, I like to sprinkle a little more feta and perhaps a few more olives. They add a little zing I love!

Greek Inspired Orzo Salad

This Greek Inspired Orzo Salad will be the perfect hit at your next BBQ with the familiar comfort of pasta salad topped with loads of veggies, and the zing from the feta and olives!

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Chill Time 1

Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine American, Greek

Servings servings

Equipment

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups dry orzo
1 cup cucumber diced
1 cup grape tomatoes quartered
1/2 cup onion diced
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/3 cup black olives halved
1/3 cup Kalamata olives halved
fresh basil and oregano minced about 2 tablespoons of each
Dressing
¼ cup olive oil
⅓ cup red wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Instructions

Begin by cooking the orzo to al dente according to package, being sure to salt the water. When finished, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
While the orzo is cooking, prep the vegetables and herbs
Once the orzo has been rinsed and cooled, combine with the onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh herbs, olives, and feta in a large bowl with a cover. Stir to combine well.
In a liquid measuring cup or mason jar with lid, combine the dressing ingredients (olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder, oregano, onion powder, mustard, salt, and pepper). Whisk or cover and shake vigorously. Immediately pour over the pasta salad, stirring to cover all the ingredients.
Cover and allow to chill for for an hour before serving.

Notes

Listen, I am terrible at chilling a salad. I want to dig in. It won’t be terrible if you do that (and I won’t judge), but know the flavor profile won’t be so deep if you dive in right away.

Also, If you like your salad a little more on the juicy side, double the dressing and add about ⅔ of it to start. You can always add more after it chills.

Finally, the ingredients are flexible. If you hate feta, skip it. Love Kalamata olives? Add all of those. I like to add more feta and olives when I serve it because I love them.

Keyword cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, feta salad, Greek, Greek salad, olives, onions, pasta salad, side dish, summer salad, summer side dish

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Looking for other sides?

These are some of my absolute favorites! You can also head to my cooking page to see what else I have in store!

Do most people have a favorite pasta shape? Or is that a strange trait reserved for Italians and all the foodies of the world? I go back and forth between a few: I love that orecchiette means “little ears” and ziti makes me happy. But I truly love the rice-like feel of an orzo. It’s perfect in soups but makes a lovely side dish, whether you want it cold in the summer or comforting in the winter. This little Broccoli and Cotija Orzo falls somewhere in between by being warm but not heavy.

So many great recipes are born from the “I am not shopping but what do we have in the fridge” life. Our family has a ton of favorite recipes that call for broccoli that we typically keep fresh on hand (check this Korean BBQ Inspired Beef and Broccoli out!). I had also been cooking some Mexican recipes and had cotija cheese.

If you haven’t used cotija cheese before, it’s reminiscent of feta in its crumbly nature and with a saltier flavor similar to Parmesan. I am a lover of feta, but my kids, not so much. When I served this up, I had zero complaints on the flavor of the cheese, so I call it a win.

I love the simplicity of this Broccoli and Cotija Orzo. It’s easily something you can just keep the ingredients on hand for. And I know it seems odd to combine pasta with a Mexican cheese, but let me tell you, it works!

Ready to start cooking? Let’s go!

Your Ingredients

2 cups of chopped broccoli, keeping it small
1 ¼ cup dry orzo
¾ cup crumbled cotija cheese, divided
1 clove of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper, to taste
¼-½ cup reserved pasta water (I always forget when I need to do this, so maybe putting it in the ingredients will help!)

Your Steps to Broccoli and Cotija Orzo

In a large kettle, bring salted water to a boil. Add orzo and minced garlic, cooking until al dente, about 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the broccoli and crumble the cotija cheese. If you have the ability, steam the broccoli (I love to use Ziploc Zip’N Steam Cooking Bags). If you can’t steam it, toss it in with the pasta for the last 2 minutes of the pasta cook time, but remove some pasta water prior.

Drain pasta and return it to the kettle. Add ½ cup of cotija cheese and broccoli if you have not already. Stir to combine, adding pepper and reserved pasta water as needed to make it creamy. (Salt should be minimally needed between the salted water and the salty cotija cheese so taste prior to adding).

Top with reserved cotija cheese and additional black pepper before serving.

Broccoli and Cotija Orzo

This Broccoli and Cotija Orzo is the perfect simple side dish you've been searching for. It only has six ingredients, but it's packed with flavor!

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings servings

Ingredients

2 cups of chopped broccoli keeping it small
1 ¼ cup dry orzo
¾ cup crumbled cotija cheese divided
1 clove of garlic minced
Salt and pepper to taste
¼-½ cup reserved pasta water

Instructions

In a large kettle, bring salted water to a boil. Add orzo and minced garlic, cooking until al dente, about 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop the broccoli and crumble the cotija cheese. If you have the ability, steam the broccoli. If you can’t steam it, toss it in with the pasta for the last 2 minutes of the pasta cook time, but remove some pasta water prior.
Drain pasta and return it to the kettle. Add ½ cup of cotija cheese and broccoli if you have not already. Stir to combine, adding pepper. (Salt should be minimally needed between the salted water and the salty cotija cheese so taste prior to adding).
Top with reserved cotija cheese and additional black pepper before serving.

Keyword broccoli, broccoli pasta, cotija, cotija pasta, orzo, orzo salad, pasta dish, pasta side, side dishes

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