This orzo pesto salad is one of my favorite summer pasta salad recipes. With a few simple ingredients, they could even be from your backyard garden, and about 10-15 minutes of your time, you have this pasta salad that's the perfect side dish for any summer bbq.
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You’ll love this orzo pesto salad
It's easy. With just 5 ingredients, this orzo pesto pasta salad is so easy to whip together. Plus, it's foolproof! You can't mess it up!
It's versatile. I've made this before as an easy lunch to have for the week, or you can make this as an easy weeknight meal or as an easy side dish.
It's full of flavor. To make this an easy orzo salad, I just used store-bought pesto. However, if I had more time (and fresh basil) I would make homemade pesto to add even more flavor to this salad.
Is orzo a rice or pasta?
Orzo is pasta! Although it looks like rice, orzo is technically pasta. You can find orzo in the pasta aisle of most grocery stores. It's one of the small pasta shapes that you can easily find in the majority of grocery stores, sometimes if you're looking for pastina (or the stars) you may have to go to an Italian market.
Ingredients
Orzo. You'll want to cook or orzo al dente, which only takes about 9 minutes! Which is the perfect amount of time to cut up your tomatoes, onions, and fresh mozzarella. I bought Barilla, but you can use any kind of orzo you have or that's available to you in your local grocery store.
Cherry Tomatoes. I prefer juicy cherry tomatoes in this recipe, but you could easily use grape tomatoes, too. The fresh tomatoes add such a nice texture and I love the hint of sweetness.
Mozzarella Pearls. You can use any type of fresh mozzarella, if you want to reduce your time slicing, then I suggest using pearls.
Red Onion. I'm including this in the ingredient list, but this is totally optional! I like the bite-sized pieces of onion in this pesto orzo salad recipe.
Pesto. You can easily make homemade pesto, it's so easy! All you need is fresh basil, pine nuts (or pistachios as I use in this recipe), parmesan cheese, fresh garlic, salt, and pepper. Alternative to fresh pesto, you can use store-bought, too! That's what I did here. I really like ALDI's pesto or Trader Joe's vegan pesto.
How to make pesto orzo salad
- Boil a large pot of salted water and cook your orzo for 9-10 minutes, or according to the package instructions.
- While your orzo cooks, slice the tomatoes, onions, and mozzarella cheese.
- Drain your orzo and rinse it with cold water. If you want to cool it down even more, you can store it in the fridge for a few minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together your ingredients and stir in the basil pesto.
- For best results, store in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes for best results. For even better results, store it in the fridge and eat it the next day.
How to make homemade pesto
- In a food processor, mix together 2 cups fresh basil leaves, ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, ½ cup parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons nuts (pine nuts or walnuts), 2-3 fresh garlic, salt, black pepper, ½ lemon (juiced), and lemon zest.
- Taste test and add extra salt, pepper, and garlic as needed.
- Mix your pesto dressing into your capreso orzo salad and enjoy!
Substitutions and variations
Lemon Juice. If you want to add a bit of freshness to your pesto, I love adding fresh lemon juice!
Fresh Vegetables. You don't have to limit yourself with the fresh veggies, you can add baby spinach, a bell pepper, broccoli, fresh cucumbers, green onions, get creative! It technically won't be a caprese orzo salad, but it'll still be a delicious pesto orzo pasta salad.
Mediterranean Orzo Salad. You can add in fresh cucumbers, salty kalamata olives, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes and turn this into a Greek orzo pasta salad.
Cheese. You can swap out the mozzarella for goat cheese or feta cheese.
Make it vegan. You can swap out the cheese for vegan feta and Trader Joe's has a delicious vegan pesto if you're looking for an easy store-bought option!
How to store orzo pesto salad
Store any leftover orzo pasta salad in an airtight container.
FAQ
What’s the difference between risotto and orzo?
Orzo is a form of pasta. You can absolutely make risotto with orzo, but you traditionally make risotto with arborio rice.
Is it better to make pasta salad the day before?
I think so! All the flavors can marinate together and it's delicious.
What does pesto have in it?
Pesto has basil, olive oil, garlic, parmesan, salt, and pepper.
Amazon home kitchen finds
You'll want a food processor when you are making your own pesto sauce.
You'll also want to make sure that you have a set of mixing bowls to make his orzo pesto salad.
Pin it for later!
Want more summer side salad recipes?
- Easy Pesto Tortellini Salad
- Best Broccoli Crunch Salad
- Watermelon Basil Salad
- Copycat Sweetgreen Elote Salad
Caprese Orzo Pesto Salad
Ingredients
- 16 oz. orzo cooked
- 1 pint grape tomatoes quartered
- ½ c. red onion
- 1 mozzarella log sliced
- 1 jar pesto
Instructions
- Boil a large pot of salted water and cook your orzo for 9-10 minutes, or according to the package instructions.
- While your orzo cooks, slice the tomatoes, onions, and mozzarella cheese.
- Drain your orzo and rinse it with cold water. If you want to cool it down even more, you can store it in the fridge for a few minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together your ingredients and stir in the basil pesto.
- For best results, store in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes for best results. For even better results, store it in the fridge and eat it the next day.
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