Fresh, chopped vegetables tossed with orzo, feta, and a flavorful dressing. This Orzo Vegetable Salad comes together in minutes to accompany almost any meal!
Back …. Again
On each of my last few posts I have apologized for having posted so little recently. I keep saying it’s going to pick up, but life just hasn’t slowed down. Except for this week. I’m currently at a conference in Boston, done with classes for the day, and sitting in my room writing posts.
Given the busyness of life recently, I can’t begin to explain to you all how much I’m enjoying this. It’s so rejuvenating to just write about food, edit photos, and plan out my upcoming recipe plans. I do promise to figure out a way to get posting back into my routine.
Recipes on Repeat
As I mentioned in a previous post, the one benefit of not posting as much means that I have had ample opportunity to perfect multiple recipes. In other words, I keep making things over and over again because my family eats them before I photograph them.
That’s okay though, because with each remake, I change things up here and there so that I have my version of perfection. This Orzo Vegetable Salad is one of the recipes that has been on repeat in my house.
Orzo Vegetable Salad
Pasta
Orzo works well for this salad as it soaks up the dressing and mixes well with the vegetables. However, if you don’t have orzo, you can substitute another small pasta such as ditalini or acini de pepe. Rotini would also work well.
Vegetables & Fresh Herbs
For this salad, I use the following vegetables:
- 1 cucumber, chopped
- 1 cup of quartered baby tomatoes
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1/3 cup chopped parsley
I encourage you to make this recipe your own version of perfection. For my perfect version of any recipe, you will find an absence of black olives. And an absence of pickles, but that doesn’t really relate to this recipe.
In any case, I believe that many of you olive-loving folk might enjoy tossing some chopped black olives in with the vegetables. Do what you must.
Cheese
Feta is fabulous in this salad. The tang adds a wonderful flavor. If you are anti-feta, you may consider ricotta, goat cheese, or queso fresco. Although each of those cheeses has a different flavor, they crumble well and would still pair with the dressing.
Dressing
To make the dressing for this salad, you simply pour the following ingredients into a jar and shake them up:
- Olive oil
- Fresh minced garlic
- White wine vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Honey
- Dried basil
- Dried oregano
- Onion powder
- Salt
- Black pepper
Truth be told, you might want to double the dressing and use it on other salads as well!
This salad comes together quickly to be a tasty accompaniment to almost any dinner!
Orzo Vegetable Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves fresh minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Salad
- 8 ounces dry orzo cooked according to package instructions
- 1 cucumber chopped
- 1 cup baby tomatoes quartered
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1/2 red onion diced
- 1/3 cup chopped parsley
- 4 ounces fresh crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- In a jar with lid, add all dressing ingredients. Shake vigorously until well mixed.
- Pour dressing over cooked orzo and stir until well combined.
- Toss in cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper, onion, parsley, and feta cheese.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed this Orzo Vegetable Salad, you may also enjoy these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Chicken and Pearl Couscous Salad
Brown Butter Chicken and Vegetable Orzo
Hummus Vegetable Salad
Farro Arugula Salad
Fresh Herb and Vegetable Couscous Salad
