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A greek Inspired Pasta Salad!
I make all kinds of pasta salads throughout the year but this Greek Orzo Salad may be the one I make most. That’s because I love the presentation of it with the small rice-like pasta and I make it with Mediterranean vegetables and ingredients that are always in my kitchen.
It’s the kind of salad you can eat with a spoon and everyone loves it when I make it! If you’re looking to turn this into a main dish, you could add some grilled chicken or shrimp.
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Greek Orzo Salad Ingredients
- Orzo: It’s a type of pasta that looks like rice but you can substitute it with any other short-cut pasta like elbow macaroni or fusilli or rotini. Some other good options are couscous, quinoa, or even basmati rice.
- Tomatoes: Use small grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes cut in half or fourths or you can use a regular Roma tomato.
- Cucumbers: Persian cucumbers are small and sweet and you don’t have to peel their skin. You can also use English cucumbers.
- Red onions: I use it mostly for the pop of color but if you’re not in the mood for raw onions in your pasta salad, just skip it.
- Kalamata olives: This is a must in any Greek-style salad! Buy pitted ones to make it easier.
- Feta cheese: Feta cheese is another must in any Greek-style salad and it goes so well with this orzo salad. You can swap leave it out if you want to salad to be vegan.
- Fresh herbs: I love using fresh dill, but if you don’t have, just whisk in ½ teaspoon dried dill with the dressing.
- For the Dressing: I use olive oil, lemon juice, finely chopped shallots (which you can skip!) along with oregano, salt and pepper. You can also use store bought greek salad dressing.
How to Make Greek Orzo Salad
Greek Orzo Salad
Video
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dry orzo
- 1 cup grape tomatoes quartered
- 2 persian cucumbers quartered
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ½ cup kalamata olives sliced
- ¼ cup red onions diced
- ¼ cup fresh dill chopped
Dressing
- 1 small shallot minced
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook orzo until al dente. Drain and run cool water over it until it’s cooled.
- Make the dressing. In the bottom of a large bowl, mix shallot, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and oregano. Slowly stream in olive oil, whisking constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Add the cooled orzo, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, olives, red onions, and dill to the large bowl with the shallot dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss to coat and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
If you try this Greek Orzo Salad recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, please rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe.
Recipe Tips
- Chop everything small. Because the orzo pasta cut is so small, I love chopping the vegetables finely so that each bite has a great mix of all the flavors and textures.
- Make it ahead of time. This salad is actually even better when made ahead of time! The flavors have a chance to meld together, and the salad gets even more flavorful. Serve cold or at room temperature.
- Re-season before serving. I always taste the salad before serving and add additional salt, pepper, or lemon juice as needed.
- Don’t overcook the orzo. The orzo should be cooked al dente, which means it should be chewy and not mushy. Overcooked orzo is going to give you a mushy salad.
Serving Ideas
Recipe Help & FAQs
Store leftover salad in a covered glass container in the refrigerator. For the best taste, eat it within the first two days, but it will be good for up to four days. Before eating, stir and add extra lemon juice, salt, and pepper as needed. After four days, the vegetables may become mushy, and the flavors will fade.
No, I don’t recommend it. There are some pasta salads that might be ok after freezing but because this one has fresh vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions, it’s going to get really soggy after thawing.
I’m just going to say that this is absolutely perfect! I first made it Sunday and my family and I loved it so much that I had to make it Tuesday night too. The flavor combinations truly excite the tastebuds. Everything is there: crunchy, tangy, richness, herbaceous flavor, creaminess from the cheese, etc. It’s the perfect accompaniment to grilled chicken or fish. It’s light feeling too but oh so satisfying. I will be making this for years to come. Hopefully I can actually get ahold of shallots this weekend, my small town doesn’t carry them. I had to sub a little more red onion and a crushed garlic clove but even with those changes it was spectacular. Also, I used sun-dried tomatoes in it because that’s what I had on hand. My only issue is I’m going to have to double it because my teen daughter wants to take it for lunch and so does the husband! I call that a win. Planning to use whole wheat orzo next time just because I’m experimenting with getting more whole grains in my diet but I really don’t want to change it. It’s just so delicious! The recipe deserves an award!
Wow!! Thank you SO much, Heather! So happy this salad is such a hit with your family and I love the swaps you’ve made!
It was pretty good! We wanted to try a different recipe for dinner and this was awesome! We ran out of lemon juice so added a tiny bit of lime, still turned out great. Will definitely make lots more.
Yay, so glad you liked it!! Love that you added lime when you ran out of lemon juice; sounds so good! Thanks, Kanai!