Pesto orzo salad
Packed with fresh flavors, this pesto orzo salad is a delicious pasta salad perfect for picnics and potlucks. Easy to put together, it can be prepared in just 15 minutes. This orzo salad can be enjoyed as a side dish as well as a light meal.
Servings 4
Calories 449kcal
Equipment
- 1 Large cooking pot
- Knife and chopping board
- 1 Salad mixing spoon
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked orzo around 175 grams
- ¾ cup vegan pesto use regular pesto if you are not vegetarian
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 1 cup baby spinach roughly chopped
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
- ⅓ cup chopped sundried tomatoes
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper adjust to taste
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil water in a large pot. Add orzo and cook following the package instructions. It generally takes around 7-8 minutes on medium heat to cook orzo.
- Around 1 minute before straining orzo, add frozen green peas and cook them for a minute with orzo. Strain green peas and orzo. Reserve the pasta water.
- Put strained orzo and peas into a large bowl.
- Add all the remaining ingredients and gently toss. If your pesto is too thick to coat the salad ingredients properly, add a few tablespoons of reserved pasta water.
Video
Notes
- Cook orzo al dente. Over cooked orzo will spoil the salad.
- I have used homemade vegan pesto because I am a vegetarian. Store-bought pesto has parmesan cheese in it which is unsuitable for vegans and vegetarians as it has calf rennet in it. If you are also a vegan or vegetarian either buy a vegan pesto from the market or make it at home. I have a very easy and tasty vegan pesto recipe on my blog, if you want you can check that too.
- While seasoning the salad please keep in mind that the pesto also has lemon, salt, and olive oil in it. So, add these ingredients to the salad carefully.
- I have added both fresh cherry tomatoes and sundried tomatoes to this salad. You can add either of them too.
- I have used frozen green peas as they get cooked very fast. If you don't have frozen peas, use fresh green peas but cook them for a longer period as they take more time to get cooked.
- You can also use other greens like arugula, green onions, or parsley in this pesto orzo
- To add a crunch to this pesto pasta salad, add some nuts or seeds of choice like pine nuts, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.
- Other ingredients like cooked chickpeas, fresh cucumbers, bell peppers, kalamata olives, and fresh basil leaves, can also be added to this orzo salad.
- If you are not a vegan then you can also add crumbled feta cheese or goat cheese to this dish. Non-vegetarians may add mozzarella pearls to it.
- Instead of using plain extra virgin olive oil, you can also use the oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes. It will make the salad more flavorful.
- Use the reserved pasta water to adjust the consistency of the pesto dressing if you feel it's too thick to coat the salad dressing well.
- More recipe tips and tricks are shared in the post above, please follow them to make this recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 449kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 477mg | Potassium: 452mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 2203IU | Vitamin C: 35mg | Calcium: 114mg | Iron: 2mg