½ cup chopped fresh herbs: dill, tarragon, parsley, chives, basil
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
For the vinaigrette:
⅓ cup walnut or avocado oil
juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2 Ontario green onions, thinly sliced
kosher salt
black pepper
Takes ,
serves 4.
Instructions
Prepare the vinaigrette: Place oil, lemon juice, mustard and honey into a small bowl and whisk until honey is dissolved and ingredients combined. Stir in green onion then season with kosher salt and black pepper to taste.
Cook orzo: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook as directed to al dente, about 8 minutes. Strain then transfer cooked orzo to medium-sized salad bowl.
Cook carrots: Place sliced carrots into a medium pot and cover will cold water. Bring to a boil on stovetop and cook carrots until just fork tender, about 4 - 5 minutes. Strain carrots and transfer to the bowl containing orzo.
Assemble salad: Add red onion, red pepper, fresh herbs and feta to the same bowl and toss.
Add half the quantity of dressing to the bowl, toss, then season with kosher salt and black pepper. Add more dressing and seasoning if desired.
Serve immediately or cool and refrigerate, enjoying within 6 days.
Orzo Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the salad:
4 Ontario carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup orzo
½ small Ontario red onion, diced
½ Ontario greenhouse red pepper, seeded and diced
½ cup chopped fresh herbs: dill, tarragon, parsley, chives, basil
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
For the vinaigrette:
⅓ cup walnut or avocado oil
juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2 Ontario green onions, thinly sliced
kosher salt
black pepper
Directions
Prepare the vinaigrette: Place oil, lemon juice, mustard and honey into a small bowl and whisk until honey is dissolved and ingredients combined. Stir in green onion then season with kosher salt and black pepper to taste.
Cook orzo: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook as directed to al dente, about 8 minutes. Strain then transfer cooked orzo to medium-sized salad bowl.
Cook carrots: Place sliced carrots into a medium pot and cover will cold water. Bring to a boil on stovetop and cook carrots until just fork tender, about 4 - 5 minutes. Strain carrots and transfer to the bowl containing orzo.
Assemble salad: Add red onion, red pepper, fresh herbs and feta to the same bowl and toss.
Add half the quantity of dressing to the bowl, toss, then season with kosher salt and black pepper. Add more dressing and seasoning if desired.
Serve immediately or cool and refrigerate, enjoying within 6 days.
Orzo Pasta Salad
5 / 5. 4
Tender-cooked carrots tossed with orzo, red onion, red pepper, fresh herbs and feta cheese in a lemon-honey vinaigrette…
Here’s a delicious ORZO PASTA SALAD you just gotta try!
This easy-to-prepare pasta salad is very tasty. Flecked with slices of carrot, diced red onion, red pepper, feta cheese and chopped fresh herbs, the salad then gets finished with a honey-Dijon vinaigrette flavoured with green onion. Trust us, friends, this ORZO PASTA SALAD is the one to make.
If the idea of a well-made pasta salad is what brought you here, you came to the right place. After enjoying this feature recipe, try our MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD, this wonderful LEMONY ORZO WITH ASPARAGUS or this WILD RICE ORZO SALAD. All of these salads can be enjoyed on their own as a light meal or, pair them as a sensational side dish with a favourite main course.
Let’s get back to this ORZO PASTA SALAD. Here are a few tips that will come in handy when you make it:
INGREDIENTS
Nothing here but fresh and tasty veggies and herbs – use locally grown for best results. Partner those with a good, salty feta cheese, a favourite small-noodle pasta like orzo, and our fresh vinaigrette and this salad sings. The good thing about this salad recipe is its uncomplicated process. Similar to a Greek salad made with just the basics – cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives and red wine vinegar – this recipe keeps it simple. Only goes to show you, tasty can be easy too.
ONTARIO CARROTS
I just suggested using locally-grown vegetables, right? Let me take that a step further, try this ORZO PASTA SALAD recipe using ONTARIO CARROTS. We love local Ontario produce and invite you to head HERE to learn about this beloved veggie. Carrots are full of vitamins and minerals and they may help promote healthy vision, balance blood sugar, help with weight management, lower your risk of cancer and boost brain health. Carrots also get top marks for providing nutritional benefits like vitamin K1, vitamin A, vitamin B6, biotin and potassium. Ask for ONTARIO CARROTS by name.
ONTARIO ONIONS
Another great way of upping the flavour of this salad is to also use ONTARIO ONIONS, specifically red onions, as well as green onions. We love how these two varieties add a pleasing sweetness to the finished dish. Green onions are rich in vitamin C which not only boosts immunity, but offers protection from cardiovascular disease, eye disease, and skin ageing. Studies suggest eating onions may help reduce your risk of heart disease by lowering blood pressure and reducing inflammation. Red onions have twice as much quercetin – a flavonoid thought to have anti-inflammatory qualities – as white onions and a staggering 14 times the amount of that in garlic. Needless to say, onions provide excellent nutrition.
VINAIGRETTE DRESSING
Make sure to watch the VIDEO attached to this post where we explain the process of making the vinaigrette. Nothing too complicated, but do take a moment to stir or whisk the oil together with the fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard and honey until the honey dissolves; this will ensure a properly balanced dressing. Add the Ontario green onions once the vinaigrette comes together. Pro tip: make the dressing in a Mason jar or an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to a week.
OIL
Although you can make salad dressings using vegetable oil, canola oil or a mild-flavoured extra virgin olive oil, we found avocado oil and walnut oil provide way more flavour. Look for these two premium oils in the bottled goods section of your grocery store. One taste and we know you’ll appreciate the way they add memorable flavours to this ORZO PASTA SALAD.
ORZO
Although we crafted this recipe using orzo, feel free to use your favourite small-noodle pasta. Our only suggestion is to cook it al dente in boiling salted water, then strain it right away to drain the water. This pasta will be ready in just 5 minutes.
FRESH HERBS
Frequent visitors to WATC know how much we love adding fresh herbs to our recipes. If you’re looking to up the flavour profile of a recipe, adding fresh herbs is the way to go. We chopped up fresh basil, dill, tarragon and fresh mint for this salad but feel free to also try it using chopped fresh chives, fresh parsley, sage or marjoram.
ONE BOWL
This recipe is a one-bowl wonder where everything gets added to one large mixing bowl; we stir it up, dress the salad and serve. That said, there are also some mechanics worth pointing out. Adding the cooked carrots and orzo to the bowl while they’re still steaming hot sets the foundation for homemade pasta salad magic.
STIR
The next step is to add the remaining ingredients into the large bowl, then toss everything together. Mixing everything with the two hot ingredients softens the flavours of the red onions, bell pepper, herbs and cheese. Adding the vinaigrette and then tossing the salad again finishes this tasty treat to perfection. You can add more dressing plus kosher salt and black pepper to taste.
SERVE
We kept the presentation of our salad simple too; no directions here for a fancy pasta salad topper of sliced eggs, chopped pickles or parsley florets. Instead, enjoy it as is or simply add a sprinkle of diced green onion if you’re so inclined. As mentioned from the beginning, our ORZO PASTA SALAD can be enjoyed as a light meal or served as a side dish with your favourite main courses. It’s super wonderful with our EASY GRILLED CHICKEN, PORK TENDERLOIN or this GRILLED SHRIMP RECIPE.
This pasta salad recipe is so tasty, we suggest you PIN the recipe to a favourite side dish or pasta board on PINTEREST, or BOOKMARK this tab for easy access. SHARE it with friends so they can make them too. We’d also appreciate seeing pics of all the delicious dishes and new recipes you’re making these days.
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Ingredients
For the salad:
4 Ontario carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup orzo
½ small Ontario red onion, diced
½ Ontario greenhouse red pepper, seeded and diced
½ cup chopped fresh herbs: dill, tarragon, parsley, chives, basil
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
For the vinaigrette:
⅓ cup walnut or avocado oil
juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2 Ontario green onions, thinly sliced
kosher salt
black pepper
Directions
Prepare the vinaigrette: Place oil, lemon juice, mustard and honey into a small bowl and whisk until honey is dissolved and ingredients combined. Stir in green onion then season with kosher salt and black pepper to taste.
Cook orzo: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook as directed to al dente, about 8 minutes. Strain then transfer cooked orzo to medium-sized salad bowl.
Cook carrots: Place sliced carrots into a medium pot and cover will cold water. Bring to a boil on stovetop and cook carrots until just fork tender, about 4 - 5 minutes. Strain carrots and transfer to the bowl containing orzo.
Assemble salad: Add red onion, red pepper, fresh herbs and feta to the same bowl and toss.
Add half the quantity of dressing to the bowl, toss, then season with kosher salt and black pepper. Add more dressing and seasoning if desired.
Serve immediately or cool and refrigerate, enjoying within 6 days.
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