I may have a little obsession with Orzo pasta.
I love the shape, I love the the texture. And I love using it in salads!
Orzo Artichoke Salad Recipe.
This is my all-time Summertime favorites —
Orzo Artichoke Salad.
This is a recipe that you can almost always find in my fridge in the summertime. I love orzo pasta, fresh veggies and the tanginess of the artichokes and capers. Yum. My kids even take it to school in a little container for lunch. And it tastes even better the second day. I can make a batch and eat it all week.
It’s actually started with a recipe I got on the back of a box of Giada De Laurentis’s orzo pasta. And since then, I’ve been making changes to it and now it’s quite different from the original.
Here’s the Orzo Artichoke Salad recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of Orzo pasta
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 small red onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1.5 pints of cherry tomatoes, sliced (I like to use a couple varieties)
- 8 oz. artichoke hearts in oil (I buy mine from Costco)
- 3 Tablespoons Capers, drained
- 5 Tablespoons Cilantro (you can use less if you want, or even substitute the cilantro for Thyme if you don’t like Cilantro)
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper or lemon pepper is good too (to taste)
- If you want to add protein — you can add some cooked and sliced chicken breast
Directions:
Cook Orzo according to directions
Drain, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water. Pour the reserved liquid back in with the orzo. This liquid helps create a “sauce” when the other ingredients are added.
- In large skillet, heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add onion and cook until the onion becomes transparent.
- Then add garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
- Add tomatoes, chicken if you are going to use it, artichoke hearts, capers and cook until the tomatoes start to soften. They will start to get a little wrinkly about 5-8 minutes — take off the heat.
- Add pasta and stir in the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and cilantro, chopped. Heat the whole mixture up until it’s all heated through and then take off the heat.
- Season with salt and pepper to your taste.
You can serve this dish warm, room temperature, or I even prefer it the next day straight out of the refrigerator.
You can’t go wrong!! Makes 8-10 servings. You can even add some chopped romaine lettuce to the salad once it’s cooled and it makes a wonderful green/pasta salad.
**I cook low fat as much as possible. I have experimented with different types of artichoke hearts. I found that the artichoke hearts packed in oil are much more flavorful and since this salad doesn’t have a dressing, per se, the oil in the artichoke hearts adds some oil to the salad and really acts as a dressing. Plus, you are only adding a small percentage of artichoke hearts to the salad and the fat overall is minimal.
This is a dish that you can bring to a BBQ or reunion this summer and everyone will want the recipe!!
Do you have a Summer Recipe you would like to share??
I’m including a link below so everyone can share their favorite summer recipes!!
I’m excited to try out YOUR recipe this summer.
Have a Beautiful Day!!
xoxo
Thank you for hosting! I will be back often through the summer to check out all these awesome recipes 🙂
Gorgeous salad! I love that the oil from the artichokes creates the dressing.
bought everything today – this is our dinner tonight
we LOVE orzo
This looks great! How do you think it’d be without the capers? Should I risk it?
Can’t wait to try this! One question- what do you do with the reserved pasta liquid? Thanks!
Just pour the reserved pasta liquid back in with the pasta, it helps create a “sauce” when the other ingredients are added a little later 🙂 I should add that to the directions. Thanks for reminding me!!
xoxo
Your orzo salad looks so good! I’m already obsessed with the picture…can’t wait to mix some of this up this weekend. Happy weekend! 🙂
Krista @ mk inspired
I cook a ton and I’ve never tired orzo… I think I may just have to put it on my shopping list. Thanks!
This looks so yummy, Jen! I am going to make this for sure:0)
I am OBSESSED with orzo!! I make a similar dish to yours but I must try yours out… it sounds divine! Have you tried whole wheat orzo? I have seen it in our grocery store and have never pulled the trigger because it is $10 a container. Yikes! Thanks for the linky party! 🙂
Oh, Jen, that looks amazing! Going to Pin it. 🙂 I linked up my Chocolate Picnic Cake. Thank you for letting us link up. 🙂
Your salad looks so good, Jen! I love orzo too!
.. well I’m a dummy… I just linked up a fun new recipe I learned and put my name instead of the recipe name! (First time linking up!). Sorry about that…. My recipe (No. 64) is for homemade chocolate pudding 🙂 http://asmithofalltrades.com/2012/05/30/homemade-chocolate-puddingmousse-recipe/
I JUST made your corn salad from last summer yesterday. It was delicious! We love orzo so I will be putting this into the summer rotation as well. Thanks so much!
I don’t have a blog, but if I did I would link up Giada’s Tri-Colore Orzo (food network site). You will love it. We add chicken and have it every week in the summer, too. Try it!
That orzo looks delicious!!! Thanks for hosting this link party, I can’t wait to try some of these recipes!
Your orzo salad sounds delish! Thanks for sharing! :0)
wow, your salad looks incredible. I will most likely be trying it out at some point this summer. Thanks for sharing!
Everything looks delicious! Thanks for hosting!
that looks soooo good – i LOVE orzo too!!
I shared 2 recipes from previous summers – thanks for getting me “in the mood” for summer food!!
This sounds great! Once my cherry tomatoes start producing, I’m going to try your version of this salad.
That looks delicious Jen! Thank you for hosting such a yummy party, I can see myself coming back to this post a lot for recipe ideas this Summer.
Oh my goodness! That looks so tasty!! It’s midnight and those photos are still making me hungry! Thanks for sharing your recipe! I can’t wait to see the rest of the summer food linked up!! xo, Reannah @Shaped by Grace
Thanks Reannah!!
I am so excited to see the recipes too. I can’t wait to try them. And your Lemon Soirees look delicious. Thanks for linking up!!
xoxoxo
Thank you!!! xo There are lots of great recipes linked up so far!!! I’m excited to try some! 🙂