This orzo pasta salad with feta cheese, juicy pomegranates, dried cranberries, and a sweet-tangy French dressing is the perfect mixture! It makes a simple, festive facet dish any time of the 12 months.
I like tender orzo in heat recipes, from orzo pilaf to hen orzo. And it’s simply as scrumptious in chilly dishes, like my salad with orzo and feta and this contemporary and zesty orzo pasta salad!
Are you prepared for my newest winter salad obsession? It’s a contemporary, zesty orzo pasta salad with feta cheese, bejeweled with ruby purple pomegranate seeds and dried cranberries. Mainly, it has all of the festive colours and flavors I like in a single bowl, tossed with a zesty French dressing dressing. I say it is a winter salad, however actually, it’s simply as scrumptious year-round and you may simply adapt it with seasonal components.
Causes to Love This Orzo Pasta Salad
- Candy, salty, tangy distinction. This orzo salad recipe has all of it. There’s tender orzo pasta and crumbly, salty feta cheese contrasted with candy cranberry and pomegranate. It’s completely mouthwatering, and the components are straightforward to seek out.
- Fast. The longest step is ready for the orzo to prepare dinner! I often get the pasta boiling whereas I seed the pomegranate (don’t fear, I’ll stroll you thru how to do this, too).
- Versatile. The pliability of this salad recipe makes it excellent for a potluck, vacation, or flavorful weekday lunch.
What You’ll Want
I gown this salad with a zesty, tangy cranberry and pomegranate French dressing. In fact, you’ll be able to simply swap in your favourite dressing, or strive any of my straightforward do-it-yourself salad dressings in the event you’d like one thing totally different. For now, I’ll cowl the components within the salad and dressing under.
Scroll all the way down to the printable recipe card for the complete quantities and particulars, plus step-by-step directions with photographs.
- Orzo – You’ll want cooked orzo pasta (sure, orzo is pasta, not rice!). You’ll discover it in most grocery retailer aisles alongside different short-cut pasta shapes.
- Feta Cheese – In my Macedonian household, we measure white cheese, aka feta, with our hearts. You should utilize roughly relying on what yours tells you. For those who don’t have feta, goat cheese, shaved parmesan, or gorgonzola, like in my orzo salad, it additionally works effectively on this recipe.
- Pomegranate – You should purchase the seeds often called arils already eliminated or purchase an entire pomegranate and seed it your self, see under.
- Dried Cranberries – Rather than cranberries, you possibly can use dried cherries and even chopped nuts like walnuts, pecans, or almonds for additional texture.
- Parsley – Contemporary is greatest for garnish. Be happy to substitute one other herb, like basil, mint, or thyme.
For the Dressing
- Olive Oil – You’ll need to use high-quality additional virgin olive oil. Avocado oil is an efficient substitute if wanted.
- Cranberry and Pomegranate Juice – Select your favourite manufacturers from the shop.
- Vinegar – I take advantage of purple wine vinegar, however it’s also possible to use white wine vinegar, balsamic, or lemon juice.
The best way to Seed a Pomegranate (Simply)
A fast on-line search will present you dozens of the way to open up and seed a pomegranate. I’ve used the identical methodology for years and it hasn’t failed me but! Right here’s how I get the seeds out of pomegranate in 5 steps, with minimal clean-up:
- Trim off the highest and backside utilizing a pointy paring knife.
- Rating the pomegranate alongside its ridges.
- Gently pry the pomegranate aside alongside the rating marks utilizing each palms.
- Submerge the segments in a bowl of water and use your palms to launch the seeds (the seeds ought to sink to the underside).
- Scoop out any pithy membrane bits from the bowl, then pressure the seeds.
Orzo Salad Variations
- Completely different pasta. As a substitute of orzo, you should use any short-cut pasta you’d like. Good decisions for pasta salad are small shells, elbow macaroni, penne, fusilli, and bowtie pasta.
- Veggies. Add blanched or steamed broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, celery, or spring onions.
- Protein. Add cubed or sliced cooked hen, whether or not it’s leftover baked hen or an air fryer rotisserie hen. It’s also possible to prime this salad with steak bites, salmon, or any protein you’d like.
- Extra add-ons. Different tasty add-ins that will go well with this salad embrace chopped apples, diced avocado, cooked crumbled bacon, crushed nuts, pepitas, and sunflower seeds.
Serving Ideas
This sweet-savory orzo pasta salad is scrumptious as a facet dish or appetizer salad. I like making this every time I’m internet hosting a vacation or special day, like our Macedonian Identify Days (a fair larger deal than a birthday!). In that case, the entire household comes over to feast on sheet pan salmon, spinach pie, and cabbage rolls, a.okay.a. sarma.
On every other event, I’ll serve this salad as a facet to a festive pork roast or an off-the-cuff yard barbecue of child again ribs and grilled corn on the cob in the summertime. It’s tremendous versatile.
The best way to Retailer
Retailer this pasta salad in an hermetic container within the fridge and revel in leftovers for as much as 2 days. I discover it tastes even higher as soon as the flavors have had an opportunity to mingle!
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Cook dinner the orzo. Boil the orzo pasta in response to the instructions on the field. Take away from warmth; drain and rinse with chilly water. Put aside to chill.
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Assemble the salad. In a big serving bowl or salad bowl, mix the cooled orzo, feta cheese, pomegranates, and cranberries. Put aside.
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Make the dressing. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk collectively the olive oil, cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper; whisk till completely integrated. Style and modify accordingly.
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Mix. Add as a lot dressing as you need to the ready orzo salad. Refrigerate any remaining salad dressing. Toss the pasta salad, cowl, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
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Serve. Garnish with contemporary parsley and revel in!
Serving: 1cup | Energy: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 7g | Fats: 13g | Saturated Fats: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g | Monounsaturated Fats: 7g | Ldl cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 147mg | Potassium: 132mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 57IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 1mg
Dietary information is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values could range in response to the components and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed information.
The best way to Make Orzo Pasta Salad
This pasta salad with orzo comes collectively in about 25 minutes in the event you embrace the time it takes to boil the orzo. Right here’s easy methods to make it:
- Cook dinner the orzo. First, boil the orzo following the instructions on the field, then instantly drain and rinse the pasta below chilly water. This stops it from overcooking.
- Assemble the salad. Subsequent, mix the orzo, feta, and the remainder of the salad components in a bowl.
- Add the dressing. Whisk the dressing collectively individually, and pour it over the salad to style. Afterward, toss every little thing to coat.
- Chill. Lastly, refrigerate the orzo pasta salad for no less than 20 minutes earlier than garnishing with parsley and serving.
