How long it takes: 30 minutes Equipment you’ll need: pasta pot, large bowl, skillet Servings: 8 Today’s recipe adds sautéed shrimp to the salad, a bright lemony vinaigrette, and my favorite pasta for salads: orzo! The crunchy, salty, fresh, and tangy combination is sure to make you do a happy dance. Serve the salad with chilled glass of prosecco or an Aperol spritz. A bowlful of olive oil roasted almonds rounds things off nicely. Enjoy!
Easy Greek Orzo Salad
This Greek pasta salad is a real crowd pleaser! Each forkful bursts with flavor: tangy cheese, briny shrimp, fruity kalamata olives, juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, peppery parsley, and fresh mint. A simple vinaigrette made with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice brings it all together. A light entrée. This salad is just perfect for warm summer days when you are looking for a healthy and just-filling-enough dinner with 21 grams of protein per serving. (If you like the idea of pasta salad for dinner, try my chicken macaroni salad, too.) Orzo is the perfect pasta. Orzo is a little rice-shaped pasta that is the perfect vehicle to carry the rest of the flavors in the dish. I love using orzo instead of rice because it has a pretty neutral flavor and lightly chewy texture without any of the stickiness. It cooks up quickly which is another definite plus. You’ll find several orzo salads at RachelCooks, and they are very popular recipes. A delightful dressing. Bright lemony oregano vinaigrette serves double-duty both as a dressing and as a marinade for the shrimp. If you don’t care for shrimp, cooked or grilled chicken works great, too, or chickpeas for a vegetarian salad.
Ingredient Notes
The list of ingredients looks long but this is a pretty easy salad to make.
Orzo: You’ll need a 16 ounce box of orzo. Look for orzo by the other dry pastas. Whole wheat orzo is fine, if you can find it. Shrimp: Here in Michigan, frozen shrimp is usually the best choice. You’ll need a pound of shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tail off. If it’s frozen, thaw it out by running cold water over it. Cucumber: Choose a tender skinned variety if you can. They are easier to use (you don’t have to peel them) and the skin has lots of nutrients. Red Onion: Other types of onion work well too, including green onions. If you find that raw onions are too strong, soak the sliced onion in ice water for 10 to 15 minutes before you add it to the salad. Cherry Tomatoes: Look for the best tasting tomatoes you can find whether they are cherry, grape, campari, heirloom, whatever. Tomatoes fresh from the garden or farm market are definitely the best. Kalamata Olives: These dark burgundy colored olives add so much zesty flavor. Feta Cheese: For best flavor, use full fat feta cheese, preferable from a block (crumble it yourself). Fresh Parsley: Look for the flat leaf Italian parsley. It has more flavor than curly parsley. Fresh Mint Leaves: You’ll love the fresh mint in this salad. Don’t substitute dry mint; it would be better to omit the mint if you can’t find fresh. Lemon Juice: You’ll need the juice from two lemons (about 6 tablespoons). Lemon juice is the base of the simple vinaigrette that dresses this salad. Olive Oil: The other leg of the vinaigrette, extra virgin olive oil is a heart healthy oil and has a peppery green flavor. Garlic: Use as much or as little fresh garlic as you prefer. Dried Oregano: You’ll find lots of oregano in Greek cuisine. Dried oregano is fine for the vinaigrette but feel free to substitute fresh oregano if you have it (triple the amount). Salt and Pepper: Season the salad to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
How To Make Greek Orzo Salad
Prep work. Begin by putting a pot of water on the stove to boil. While that’s heating up and the pasta cooks, the vinaigrette, shrimp, and vegetables can be prepped. If your shrimp is still frozen, put it in a colander in the sink and run cool water over it to thaw it out (5 minutes or so). Prepare the vinaigrette. Squeeze the juice out of a couple of lemons, add the olive oil, fresh garlic (minced or pressed), dried oregano, salt and pepper. Whisk the dressing until the ingredients are combined. Cook shrimp. Put the shrimp in a bowl and add a couple tablespoons of the dressing as a quickie marinade, stirring until the shrimp is coated. Heat up a medium-sized skillet and add the shrimp. It will cook very quickly. Flip it once. The shrimp will curl up and turn an opaque light pink color when it’s done. Remove the shrimp from the pan and spread it on a plate to cool. Prep veggies. Slice the cucumber and tomatoes, and finely chop the herbs. By now, the orzo should be cooked al dente. Using a colander, drain it in the sink, rinse it with cool water, and drain it thoroughly. Put the orzo into a very large bowl. Now that they’re cool enough to handle, roughly chop the shrimp (if you want). Combine. Pour in the remaining vinaigrette and mix well. Add the chopped veggies, herbs, olives, and feta to the salad bowl and combine. Gently mix it all together. Serve. Your salad is ready to serve, or if you prefer, it can be refrigerated for a couple of hours. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if desired. Another quick squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil really perks up the flavor, too.
Recipe Variations
Sub in chicken for the shrimp. Try poached chicken or oven roasted chicken breasts. Grilled chicken that has been marinated with Greek marinade is a great add-in. Make it vegetarian. Substitute chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or cannellini beans for the shrimp. You may want to try my vegetarian-friendly barley salad with tomatoes, cucumber, and parsley. Substitute store bought Greek salad dressing for the homemade vinaigrette, or another dressing of your choice. Like orzo pasta salads? Try bruschetta orzo pasta salad, creamy southwestern orzo salad, spring orzo salad, or orzo salad with yogurt dill dressing.
Make-Ahead Ideas
If you like to meal prep, you’ll be happy to know that components of the salad can be prepped up to a day ahead and stored separately in the refrigerator until you’re ready to combine them and serve the salad. The veggies can be chopped, the vinaigrette prepared, and the shrimp and orzo can be cooked.
Storage Tips
Refrigerate: Leftover salad can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days as long as it’s refrigerated promptly. To Serve: Because the orzo continues to absorb the dressing as it sits, you may need to refresh the salad with a bit more dressing. Usually, all it takes is a squeeze of lemon and drizzle of olive oil to perk it up again.
