Take your summer salads to the next level with a vibrant and flavorful orzo salad with pesto! Bursting with fresh taste, zesty pesto, and tender orzo pasta, this refreshing dish is a true crowd-pleaser.
8servings
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 9 minutesminutes
Additional Time 30 minutesminutes
Total Time 49 minutesminutes
Ingredients
4ouncesbasil pesto
8ouncesorzo pastauncooked
1cupcherry tomatoescut in half
½cupmozzarella pearls
1ounceof baby spinachabout 2 handfuls
juice of one lemon
optional: fresh basil for garnish
Instructions
Fill a 4 quart pot with water. Bring to a boil, then season with salt. Cook orzo to al dente, according to package directions (about 9 minutes). Drain well.
In the meantime, roughly chop the baby spinach and place in a medium sized bowl.
Add drained orzo to the spinach and stir well to combine. The heat from the pasta will make the spinach slightly wilt and soften.
Add the juice of a lemon and the basil pesto. Stir to combine. Allow to cool for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. The orzo will soak in some of the pesto.
When the orzo is cooled to room temperature, add the cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Stir to combine.
Garnish with fresh basil, if desired. Serve at room temperature.
Substitutions
Orzo - instead of using orzo, you can use any small pasta like orecchiette, pearl couscous, or ditalini like in my Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli Soup.
Tomatoes - use halved grape tomatoes, chopped plum tomatoes or any variety you like.
Gluten free - use gluten free pasta to make this recipe part of your meal plan.
Mozzarella - fresh mozzarella is more mellow than the cheese we'd use on pizza. You can use the pearls as mentioned above, or ciliegine, which are slightly larger balls of mozzarella. Both come in a brine like solution. You can also cut a ball of fresh mozzarella into cubes.
Storage: Store leftover orzo pasta salad in the refrigerator, covered in airtight container. This will keep for 2-3 days.This orzo salad will not freeze well.
Notes
Substitutions
Orzo - instead of using orzo, you can use any small pasta like orecchiette, pearl couscous, or ditalini like in my Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli Soup.
Tomatoes - use halved grape tomatoes, chopped plum tomatoes or any variety you like.
Gluten free - use gluten free pasta to make this recipe part of your meal plan.
Mozzarella - fresh mozzarella is more mellow than the cheese we'd use on pizza. You can use the pearls as mentioned above, or ciliegine, which are slightly larger balls of mozzarella. Both come in a brine like solution. You can also cut a ball of fresh mozzarella into cubes.
Storage: Store leftover orzo pasta salad in the refrigerator, covered in airtight container. This will keep for 2-3 days.This orzo salad will not freeze well.