I love cooking with orzo pasta as it’s so good in stews, casseroles and also salads. It cooks fast and then you just need to toss the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and you have a delicious and filling salad ready in less than 15 minutes.
This Mediterranean orzo pasta salad has just a few simple ingredients in it making it easy and quick to prepare. The orzo, lemon juice and feta cheese are the stars of the salad giving it a refreshing and tangy taste. For the rest of the ingredients, I do offer substitutes later on in case you are not a fan of something or simply do not have it in your pantry and would like to make the salad asap.
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Why you should try my recipe
- Quick and easy, ready in just 15 minutes.
- Great side dish with grilled meat or fish.
- Just a few simple & cheap ingredients to prepare it.
- No special cooking skills are required.
- Can be enjoyed warm when freshly made or cold straight out of the fridge.
Ingredients & How-to
The ingredients you will need for this Mediterranean lemony orzo pasta salad are: orzo pasta, feta cheese, red onion, green onions, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, oregano, fresh parsley, olive oil, lemon and salt. If you are a fan of cilantro, then you could substitute the fresh parsley with it. Also, instead of pine nuts, you could use chopped walnuts.
For full quantities check the recipe card down below.
01. I place a pot with water and some salt on high heat and bring it to a boil. Then I add the orzo pasta and cook it al dente according to the package instructions. While the pasta is cooking, I prepare the rest of the ingredients.
02. To start, I chop the red onion and place it in a bowl with cold water and some ice cubes. I leave it in the water until the pasta is ready and it’s time to assemble the salad. The cold water helps to get some of the onion’s sharp taste off and also to keep it crispy.
03. I continue with cutting the cherry tomatoes in halves and then I set them aside. Then slice the green onions and roughly chop the fresh parsley.
04. When the pasta is ready, I drain it and immediately add the orzo to my salad bowl. I put the olive oil and give it a stir to cover the pasta. This step is crucial to prevent the pasta from over-cooking while it’s still hot and also from sticking to each other resulting in a salad with big blobs of orzo.
05. Now, it’s time to add the rest of the ingredients to the salad bowl. I drain the chopped red onion and put it in. Then, I add the cherry tomatoes, green onion slices and the roughly chopped parsley. I like to add some pine nuts for more texture and nutty flavor. If you don’t have any around, you could substitute them with chopped walnuts.
06. For some extra flavor, I like to add a teaspoon of oregano, lemon juice and a little bit of salt. I crumble the feta cheese and give it a stir to combine everything. Be careful with the salt, as the feta is usually too salty, just a pinch should be enough.
Substitutions
- You could use red or yellow chopped onion.
- Instead of pine nuts, you could use chopped walnuts.
- You could use cherry tomatoes or 1-2 juicy tomatoes.
- Instead of fresh parsley, you could use cilantro.
Tips
- Cook the pasta al dente and add the olive oil immediately after draining it to prevent it from sticking.
- Don’t add too much salt as the feta cheese is usually too salty.
Serving suggestions
This lemon orzo pasta salad could be served as a side dish with your main or light lunch or dinner. The orzo pasta and feta cheese make it really filling on its own.
If you are looking into some protein to go along with it, then I recommend you to check my healthy, baked meatballs (biftekia) or you could have it with some roasted chicken or with some baked salmon.
Storage
The recipe yields about 5 side portions of this Mediterranean orzo salad. If you have any leftovers, you could store them in the fridge and consume them within 3-4 days. It’s wonderful and refreshing both freshly made and cold on the next day.
Recipe
Lemon Orzo Feta Salad
A refreshing Mediterranean salad with orzo pasta and feta cheese. You could have it for light lunch or as a side dish with your main. It just takes 15 minutes to prepare the pasta, chop the vegetables and put everything together. Enjoy!
5 servings
5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup orzo pasta
- 3-4 green onions
- ½ red onion
- 15 cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¾ cup feta cheese crumbled (120gr)
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- bunch of fresh parsley
- salt
Instructions
- Fill in a pot with water and bring to a boil. Add some salt and when it starts boiling add the orzo pasta. Cook al dente according to package instructions.
- Chop the red onion. Fill in a bowl with cold water and place the chopped onion in. Rest for 10-15 minutes until ready to assemble the salad.
- Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves or thirds. Cut the green onions into slices. Coarsely chop the fresh parsley.
- In a bowl, add the cooked orzo pasta and the olive oil. Mix until the pasta is covered to prevent sticking.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl, the tomatoes, green onions, drained red onion, pine nuts and chopped parsley.
- Add the lemon juice and season with salt and oregano.
- Add the crumbled feta cheese and mix everything well.
Notes
- Instead of pine nuts, you could use chopped walnuts.
- You could use just red or yellow onion. I'm using half since they are usually quite big but you could also use a whole if small. We need approximately half a cup when chopped.
Storage
You could store the salad in the fridge and have it within the next 3-4 days.
Nutrition Info (per serving)
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
