Vibrant and delicious, this rainbow orzo salad is a picnic-perfect summer salad bursting with colors and flavors. It has a simple refreshing homemade dressing made with ingredients like lemon juice, olive oil, and Dijon mustard. This pasta salad can be consumed by vegans too.
Another great recipe for people who love adding colors to their meals. This rainbow orzo salad is so good that I am sure it will become your go-to pasta salad for every occasion.
It's a highly customizable salad recipe in which you are free to use colorful ingredients of your choice. This rainbow salad is not only delicious but beautiful too.
You can enjoy it as a side dish as well as a meal on a hot summer day.
Jump to:
- What's needed to make rainbow orzo salad?
- Ingredient notes and substitute suggestions
- Colorwise vegetable options for a rainbow salad
- How to make (step-by-step instructions)?
- Serving rainbow pasta salad
- Storing the leftovers
- Recipe tips, tricks, and variation suggestions
- Frequently asked question
- More easy orzo recipes
- More vegan salad recipes
- Recipe
What's needed to make rainbow orzo salad?
For this colorful orzo salad, you will need the ingredients shown below:
Ingredient notes and substitute suggestions
- Pasta: I have used orzo to make this salad but you can use other varieties of pasta too. Pick whichever short or medium-cut pasta you like.
- Vegetables: I used red bell peppers, purple cabbage, carrot, cucumber, sweet corn, green peas, red onion, and cherry tomatoes. Feel free to use colorful ingredients of your choice. I have shared some ingredient options for different colors, further in this post.
- Fresh herbs: My favorite herb is cilantro (fresh coriander leaves) so I have used that. You can use other fresh herbs too like parsley, mint leaves, green onions, or dill. Fresh basil can be added too.
- Lemon: I have used fresh lemon juice in the dressing. You can also add lemon zest along with lemon juice. Instead of lemon juice, balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar can also be used.
- Seasonings: I have seasoned the dressing with red pepper flakes, oregano, ground black pepper, fresh garlic, and salt. Use whatever seasonings you have or like. You can also add some palm sugar or any other sweetener of choice to the dressing if you want to add some sweetness to it.
- Olive oil: Use good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Other ingredient details and nutritional information are shared in the recipe card.
Colorwise vegetable options for a rainbow salad
The best part about rainbow salad is that there are no set rules to make it. You can use ingredients of your choice to add colors to it. I am sharing some colorwise ingredient suggestions below, you can choose your favorite fresh fruit or vegetable from these options:
- Red: Tomatoes, red bell pepper, strawberry, red apples, cherries, red grapes, pomegranate, watermelon, and red reddish.
- Green: Cucumber, zucchini, green bell peppers, green peas, edamame, green beans, broccoli, baby spinach, fresh herbs, avocado, kiwi, and green grapes. If using edamame, green beans, or broccoli, cook them before adding to a salad.
- Yellow: Yellow bell pepper, baby corn, sweet corn kernels, pineapple, mango, and cantaloupe.
- Purple: Red cabbage (purple cabbage), beetroot, black grapes, plums, blueberries, prunes, black raisins, and kalamata olives.
- Orange: Orange bell pepper, oranges, carrots, apricots, and nectarines
How to make (step-by-step instructions)?
To make this orzo pasta salad recipe, just follow the easy step-by-step instructions shown below:
Step 1: Put olive oil, lemon juice, dijon mustard, minced garlic, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, ground black pepper, and salt, in a bowl. Mix.
Step 2: Boil salted water in a large pot. Add orzo and cook al dente following package instructions. Strain and transfer the cooked orzo to a large bowl.
Step 3: Add all the chopped vegetables and herbs. Pour salad dressing on top.
Step 4: Gently toss.
Your delicious rainbow orzo salad is ready to be served.
Serving rainbow pasta salad
You can serve this orzo salad at room temperature or keep it in the fridge for a few hours and serve it chilled.
It can be paired up with dishes like grilled vegetables, oven-baked potato wedges, corn on the cob, sandwiches, burgers, etc.
Storing the leftovers
Transfer the leftover salad to an airtight container and refrigerate. It will be fine for 3-4 days.
To do some preparation ahead of time, you can chop all the vegetables and store them in the fridge. The salad dressing can also be prepared in advance.
Recipe tips, tricks, and variation suggestions
- Feel free to add more colorful ingredients of your choice to create a rainbow of fresh vegetables and fruits.
- If you are adding cucumbers to this salad, use English or Persian cucumbers. If you want to add Indian cucumber, peel it and remove the seeds if they are hard.
- This salad can be made with other varieties of pasta too. You can also make rainbow salad using rice, quinoa, couscous, barley, or green lentils instead of orzo.
- As the size of orzo is small, cut the vegetables into small pieces too. Even pieces of ingredients make the salad more appealing.
- You may also add some maple syrup, agave syrup, honey, or brown sugar to the dressing.
- To add a crunch to the salad you can add pepitas, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, or any other seed or nut of choice.
- Non-vegans may also add some crumbled feta cheese to this easy pasta salad.
Frequently asked question
Use small or medium-cut pasta to make pasta salad like orzo, farfalle (bow tie), penne, fusilli, or rotini.
More easy orzo recipes
If you enjoyed this rainbow orzo salad recipe and want to try more orzo recipes then the following links are worth trying:
- Mushroom orzo with green peas
- Pesto orzo salad
- Greek tomato orzo-Kritharaki
- Vegetable orzo soup
- Orzo salad with feta
- Broccoli au gratin rice-a-roni
More vegan salad recipes
Don't miss to check out more tasty and nutritious salad recipes from all around the world.
- Indian kidney bean salad
- Quinoa beet salad
- Armenian potato salad
- Fava bean and chickpea salad
- Middle Eastern tomato parsley salad
- Lebanese butter bean salad
- Turkish potato salad
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in the recipe card below. You can also follow me on Instagram, Youtube, and Pinterest.
Recipe
Rainbow orzo salad
Equipment
- 1 large salad mixing bowl
- 1 Large cooking pot
- Knife and chopping board
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups uncooked orzo around 250 grams
- 1 cup cooked sweet corn kernels
- 1 cup cooked green peas
- 1 cup finely chopped red cabbage
- 1 cup finely chopped cucumber use Persian or English cucumber
- ½ cup finely chopped carrot
- 1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
- 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
- 1 small red onion finely chopped
Ingredients for salad dressing
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice adjust to taste
- ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro or parsley
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper adjust to taste
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Make salad dressing by mixing olive oil, lemon juice, dijon mustard, minced garlic, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, ground black pepper, and salt, in a bowl.
- Cook orzo al dente following package instructions. Strain and put in a large bowl.
- Add all the chopped vegetables to the bowl.
- Pour salad dressing and gently toss. Check and adjust the seasoning.
Video
Notes
- Feel free to add more colorful ingredients of your choice to create a rainbow of fresh vegetables and fruits.
- If you are adding cucumbers to this salad, use English or Persian cucumbers. If you want to add Indian cucumber, peel it and remove the seeds if they are hard.
- This salad can be made with other varieties of pasta too. You can also make rainbow salad using rice, quinoa, couscous, barley, or green lentils instead of orzo.
- As the size of orzo is small, cut the vegetables into small pieces too. Even pieces of ingredients make the salad more appealing.
- You may also add some maple syrup, agave syrup, honey, or brown sugar to the dressing.
- To add a crunch to the salad you can add pepitas, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, or any other seed or nut of choice.
- Non-vegans may also add some crumbled feta cheese to this easy pasta salad.
- More recipe tips and tricks are shared in the post above, please follow them to make this dish.
Leave a Reply