I stole this recipe for Orzo Salad from dinneratthezoo.com. This tasty pasta salad is perfect to pair with any grilled recipe. Cooked orzo pasta is combined with cucumbers, tomatoes, chickpeas, red onion, parsley and feta cheese. Then a dressing is made with olive oil, lemon juice, red vinegar, Dijon mustard and spices. Next the dressing is poured over the pasta mixture. After tossing everything together the salad is served room temperature or cold. Another tasty salad recipe that everyone will love, perfect for Memorial Day or any summer day.
Start the salad by cutting the vegetables. Dice 1 ½ cup cucumber, 1 cup tomatoes and ¼ cup red onion. Also add 1 cup chickpeas. (The original recipe called for cherry tomatoes, but you can use any tomato you prefer. I like to use roma tomatoes.)
Then add in 8 oz dried orzo pasta that has been cooked in salted water, then drained and cooled. Make sure the pasta is cooled, so the vegetable don’t get soggy from hot pasta.
Gently toss to combine the ingredients.
Next make the dressing by adding 6 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp dried oregano, salt and pepper to a small bowl.
Whisk to combine the dressing ingredients.
Then add ½ cup crumbled feta cheese to the salad and pour in the dressing. (If you don’t like feta cheese you can substitute queso fresco because it crumbles just like feta cheese.)
Next, toss to coat the ingredients with the dressing and serve. The salad easily doubled and travels well. I do recommend if waiting awhile to serve, don’t add the dressing until just before serving.
If you liked the recipe for Orzo Salad you can try other salad recipes like Corn Edamame Succotash Salad, Spinach Tortellini Salad or Super Italian Chopped Salad.
Orzo Salad
Ingredients
- 8 oz dried orzo pasta cooked in salted water then drained and cooled
- 1 ½ cup cucumber diced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup chickpeas
- ¼ cup minced red onion
- ½ cup feta cheese crumbled
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp dried oregano
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
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Place the orzo pasta, cucumber, tomatoes, chickpeas, red onion, parsley and feta cheese in a large bowl.
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In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper.
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Pour the dressing over the pasta mixture. Toss to coat, then serve.