You can never go wrong with a Greek orzo salad. With some fresh produce and simple ingredients you likely already have on hand, you can make a vibrant, colorful side dish for dinner any night of the week. Since the salad holds up well in the fridge, you can even keep it on hand for a quick lunch throughout the week. Yup, we consider this to be one of the best potluck salads to help feed a crowd!
To make this Greek orzo salad, you only need to cook one thing: orzo. Other than that, it’s just chopping a few vegetables and mixing with the dressing. This recipe is simple and quick to prepare, and the result is a flavorful and delicious meal for the household.
Ingredients for Greek Orzo Salad
- Orzo: This small pasta is one of my favorites for soups and salads. It can be used as the base of a pasta salad, mixed into soup, and even made into butternut orzo risotto. Orzo stands up well to strong flavors like the olives and feta cheese in this salad. A little goes a long way, too! Keep these orzo recipes on hand for any extra you cook up.
- Fresh vegetables: This salad is chock-full of cucumber, tomatoes and red onion. Lots of beautiful colors here! You can easily customize the amounts to your own taste.
- Dried oregano: This humble herb is a favorite for pasta salads. It goes perfectly with red wine vinegar to make an herbaceous, well-balanced dressing. You can substitute fresh oregano if you have it. Just chop it up well. Here’s a handy fresh to dried herb conversion chart for adjusting amounts.
- Greek olives: Briny Greek olives are essential for this salad. They balance the crisp freshness of the tomatoes and cucumber and lend richness to the orzo. Just make sure to use pitted olives—you don’t want anyone chipping a tooth on an olive pit! Not sure which olives to buy? Our Test Kitchen picked the best olives for any recipe.
- Feta cheese: This is another flavorful ingredient you don’t want to skip out on. Feta is creamy and salty, and it rounds out this salad perfectly.
Directions
Step 1: Cook the orzo
Cook the orzo according to package directions.
Drain the orzo, and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with 2 teaspoons oil.
Editor’s Tip: Make sure to use a big pinch of salt in your pasta water! This will help infuse the orzo with some flavor from the start.
Step 2: Dress the pasta
In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the onion, parsley, vinegar, oregano, salt, sugar, pepper and remaining 4 teaspoons oil.
Pour the onion mixture over the orzo, and toss to evenly coat.
Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
Just before serving, gently stir in the tomatoes, cucumber, olives and cheese.
Greek Orzo Salad Variations
- Add meat: By simply adding a protein like marinated Greek-style chicken skewers or gyro meatloaf to this orzo salad, you can transform Greek orzo salad into a main dish for the whole family!
- Add other toppings: Other ingredients like canned artichoke hearts and pepperoncini work great in this salad. Capers would be another welcome briny addition.
- Try it with greens: Add some chopped fresh spinach to sneak some tasty greens in. You can also add a heavy hand of fresh herbs like parsley, basil, mint and cilantro.
Greek Orzo Salad Tips
Can you use leftover orzo for this recipe?
This is a great way to use up leftover orzo. Though the orzo can soak up the dressing best while it’s still warm, you can always dress the leftover orzo, and let it sit a bit longer to take in the flavors.
What can I serve with Greek orzo salad?
This salad goes great with other Greek recipes from chicken souvlaki pitas to Greek pork chops.
Should I rinse my orzo?
Generally, you should only rinse orzo if it will be baked into a dish or served cold in a salad. Rinsing can remove the starch that helps sauces and seasonings cling to the pasta. For this recipe, we recommend a light rinse to stop the cooking process before immediately tossing with olive oil; otherwise, you might end up with a gummy pasta salad.
