Orzo Pesto Salad Recipe
This Orzo Pesto Salad is an easy-to-make, fresh summer pesto pasta salad with orzo. It’s packed with ripe cherry tomatoes, tiny perlini mozzarella, and toasted pine nuts.
Read on for all the tips and tricks for making my homemade pistachio basil pesto and this orzo salad recipe. Or grab a store-bought jar of pesto, hit that Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make an orzo pasta salad to take for lunch, potlucks, and summer picnics!
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Ingredients
There are not many components to this pesto orzo salad recipe, so the key is to use the freshest ingredients you can find. Your basil pesto and your tomatoes should sing of summer.
What is orzo?
Orzo literally means “barley” in Italian. It’s a small wheat pasta shaped like barley or rice. Orzo is often added to soup recipes like my garbanzo bean soup but can be cooked the same way as Arborio in risotto or to make this orzo pesto salad recipe.
About fresh mozzarella
Perlini mozzarella are the smallest size of mozzarella balls, about a centimeter in diameter. They are supposedly the size of pearls, though I can’t imagine a necklace made out of pearls that size!
If you’re unable to find perlini, use the smallest mozzarella you can find. Chop it if you have to. But please use fresh mozzarella in this pesto orzo pasta salad recipe and save the dried, shredded mozzarella for pizza recipes.
Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations and substitutions
- If you can’t find orzo, any small pasta shape will work in this pasta salad recipe.
- Add spinach or other greens or finely chopped basil leaves to the pesto orzo salad.
- Chop some artichoke hearts or steamed green vegetables like broccoli or asparagus into the salad.
- Add white beans for protein or add chopped roasted chicken breast to make this a chicken pesto salad.
Recipe tips and tricks
Making the pesto orzo salad
Step 1: To make this orzo salad recipe, bring a large pot of water to a boil and then add your salt. Adding salt after the water is boiling helps prevent the salt from pitting your pots.
Step 2: When the water returns to a boil, cook the orzo to al dente, save a cup or so of pasta water, and drain the orzo. Return the orzo immediately to the warm pot and mix the orzo with pesto and some pasta water until it gets to your desired consistency.
Tip from the wisequacker: as a rule of thumb, combine your pasta and sauce in the pot and cook them a minute or two. With pesto, the pasta needs just to be warm. When your pasta takes up flavor from the sauce, it tastes better! Stay away from pasta recipes that stir pesto into cold pasta or show pasta sauce sitting pristinely on a pile of spaghetti.
Step 3: Let the pesto-coated orzo cool to room temperature.
Step 4: Toast the pine nuts by putting them in small pan in a hot oven for five to ten minutes. You can also heat them in a dry frying pan over low heat. Either way, be careful not to burn them. They should be lightly colored and smell toasty.
Step 5: Combine all the ingredients for the pesto orzo salad. Serve immediately.
What to serve with this pesto orzo salad
This pesto orzo salad can be a light lunch or as a side for a more substantial meal. Some ideas for what you can serve with this orzo pesto salad recipe include:
- A simple pan-roasted chicken breast or other roast meat or fish.
- Roasted summer vegetables like eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers.
- A crusty bread like this semolina loaf or Japanese milk bread rolls.
Recipe FAQs
Toasting the pine nuts to garnish this pesto orzo salad enhances their flavor and makes them crunchier. I always recommend toasting your nuts, whether it’s for baking like in this coffee and walnut loaf cake, for garnishes like in this pumpkin couscous salad, or in my favorite braised Italian meatballs.
The simplest way to make this ahead is to make the pesto in advance. Pesto can be frozen for months. Fully made, the pesto orzo salad is best served within the first day, but it can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.
Pesto is of course fabulous on pasta like this tuna pesto pasta, but you can also use leftover pesto as an alternative to pizza sauce, swirled into a potato soup, or as the base for a creamy pesto dressing.
Related salad recipes
Love this orzo pesto salad recipe? Check out other salad recipes from the side dish archives like:
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-heart 💜💜💜💜💜 rating in the recipe card below. Let me know how much you loved it, or any problems you had, in the comments section further down.
Recipe
Orzo Pesto Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (about 1⅓ cups) orzo
- ¼ cup pesto plus more as desired
- ½ cup perlini mozzarella or other fresh mozzarella, chopped
- 10 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
- 10 pitted Kalamata olives, sliced
- ¼ teaspoon salt plus more for salting the pasta water
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water, add salt, and cook the orzo according to the package directions until it is just al dente. Before draining, reserve about a cup of pasta water.8 ounces (about 1⅓ cups) orzo
- Drain the orzo and return it immediately to the warm pasta pot. Add about ¼ cup of pesto the orzo and stir it until the pasta is evenly coated. If your pesto is thick, add some of the pasta water about a tablespoon at at time to thin it slightly.¼ cup pesto
- Transfer the orzo to a glass bowl and let cool to room temperature.
- When cool, add the perlini mozzarella, chopped tomatoes, chopped olives, salt, and pepper, and toss gently to mix.½ cup perlini mozzarella, 10 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered if large, 10 pitted Kalamata olives, sliced, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- Garnish with toasted pine nuts and serve at room temperature.2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
Notes
Nutrition
Bored with the recipes you’ve been cooking and baking lately? Get inspiration here:
This was a big hit with the whole family in lunches for school & work. I added some arugula for the the grown up and skipped the olives for the kids.
Yay! So glad you and the family loved your variations on this orzo salad. Thanks for letting me know!