Orzo Pasta Salad

This orzo pasta salad with broccoli, bell pepper, red onion, and chickpeas is a great summer side dish. It’s tossed in a lemony mustard vinaigrette making it a fresh and light summer side dish for grilled steak, chicken, or seafood. Make it ahead to let all the flavors marry together and serve it cold or at room temperature.

I first shared this orzo pasta salad back in May of 2016 and since then it’s been one of my favorite summer side dishes and a favorite among readers, too. But, as is the case with some of the older recipes on this site, it was due for a little upgrade.

The recipe is the same except for a few tweaks that have evolved since the first time I shared it so last week I made a batch and snapped some new photos. Memorial Day and the official start of summer is just around the corner so the timing couldn’t have been better.

Ingredients

The original inspiration for this salad came from a recipe in the book, Lose Weight by Eating (which is my kind of diet, by the way). It was a Greek-style pasta salad with cucumber, tomatoes, olives and feta cheese and once I made it I couldn’t stop thinking about pasta salads, so soon after I made the one I’m sharing here. This orzo pasta salad is totally different from the inspiration but serves a similar purpose: it’s loaded with broccoli, bell pepper, and red onion and dressed in a simple mustard-lemon dressing that’s great for summer potlucks, BBQs, and other warm-weather get-togethers.

Vegetables

For the broccoli, I like to blanch the florets first before adding them to the salad. Blanching is just a fancy way of saying “boiling” for a few minutes, in this case, two minutes, and then “shocking” it in ice water to stop the cooking process. Blanching the broccoli partially cooks it so it’s a bit more tender. It also intensifies it’s color so when you add the broccoli to the salad it’s speckled with bright green bits of broccoli. I like to blanch the broccoli first and then use the same water to boil the orzo.

The salad also has sweet red bell pepper and red onion. Because the orzo pasta is small, I like to cut the veggies into small pieces so everything is of similar size. Once the broccoli is blanched and cooled, I like to finely chop it before adding it to the salad.

Orzo

Orzo is a type of pasta that looks like rice. It’s small in shape and I like using it in salads like this one and also in soups like my Pesto Orzo Chicken Soup.

After you’ve blanched the broccoli, you can use the same water to boil the pasta. Orzo typically takes about 10 minutes so while it boils you can prepare the dressing.

Dressing

The only thing I’ve adjusted since the first time I made this is the dressing. I’ve heard from some readers that they love the dressing as it was, but after a few readers commented that they increased the amount of mustard I found that I preferred with a bit more mustard, too. So for the dressing, you will need:

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 of cup olive oil

The dressing is a simple whisking operation. If you taste it on it’s own it’s pretty tangy, but once its combined with all of the salad ingredients it mellows a bit. If you’ve made this salad before and prefer the less-mustardy version I’ve included the original amounts in the recipe card notes.

Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)

The last ingredient are canned chickpeas which I drain and rinse before tossing in the salad. They make the salad a bit more substantial and are delicious with the dressing and veggies.

I recommend making this salad a day in advance to give the flavors a chance to fully develop and marry together. It’s a salad that’s great for a buffet table because it’s delicious cold or at room temperature and goes with all of your favorite summer main dishes like steak, burgers, and grilled chicken.

Happy almost-summer,

More Summer Salad Recipes

Steak Taco Salad | This fast and fresh steak taco salad for two has tender pan-seared sirloin, creamy diced avocado, black beans, pepper jack cheese and a super simple 3-ingredient salsa verde dressing.

BLT Pasta Salad |
This BLT pasta salad is always a favorite at summer get-togethers or game-day parties. The pasta tossed in a cool and creamy dressing with plenty of crispy bacon, fresh tomatoes, and chopped spinach.

Tortellini Pasta Salad| This tortellini pasta salad with roasted bacon, broccoli, fresh cherry tomatoes, and a lemon dressing is a delicious main dish or side dish for summer.

Fruit Salad with Citrus-Mint Dressing | This easy fruit salad is made with fresh berries and a zingy citrus-mint dressing. It’s a fresh no-cook side dish that goes with all the summer dishes whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner.

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