Basil and sun-dried tomato add flavor and zing to this simple yet delicious pasta salad recipe. It's perfect for picnics, and great served warm or cold.
This fabulous side dish is another example of "less is more" and "the simpler the better." No reason to change a thing here and, frankly, to do so would ruin the dish. Subtley flavored and pretty. Wonderful flavor, and I think to omit the Parmesan cheese would leave this sorely lacking. I can't comment on how this tastes the next day as I made this scaled to 2 servings and hubby and I ate every grain. In fact, I served this with "Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Rollups" tonight, also from this site, and I'll have to make this orzo again tomorrow night as hubby requested we have this same meal again tomorrow night! Thank you, kgwen, for your delicious recipe. We were in culinary heaven tonight!
Read MoreThis recipe tasted nice. I made a few changes, including boiling the orzo in vegetable stock to give it extra flavor and adding feta instead of parmesan cheese to give it a more Greek taste. I also added pine nuts to give it a bit of a crunch!
Read More This fabulous side dish is another example of "less is more" and "the simpler the better." No reason to change a thing here and, frankly, to do so would ruin the dish. Subtley flavored and pretty. Wonderful flavor, and I think to omit the Parmesan cheese would leave this sorely lacking. I can't comment on how this tastes the next day as I made this scaled to 2 servings and hubby and I ate every grain. In fact, I served this with "Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Rollups" tonight, also from this site, and I'll have to make this orzo again tomorrow night as hubby requested we have this same meal again tomorrow night! Thank you, kgwen, for your delicious recipe. We were in culinary heaven tonight!
As written this recipe may be a bit bland, but the base of the recipe is quite good. Read a few reviews and adjusted to personal taste: (1)Doubled the tomato/basil mixture, (2) added the zest and juice of one lemon (3) added a splash of red wine vinegar (4) added kalamata olives, (5) added a bunch of fresh parsley, (6) added about a teaspoon of dried organoe,(7) and finally topped it off with some feta cheese once it throughly cooled. Great!
This could be a 5 star recipe. I did not add any olive oil. The oil packes sund dried tomoatoes in enough. I even dumped some of this oil out. I added about a 1/3 cup red wine vinegar and 1/2 tsp garlic powder. It always tasted better the next day. Net time I will add black olives.
Wow! This is nice. If you haven't cooked with sun dried tomatoes before, you are in for a treat! They are very different from canned and fresh tomatoes. They have a little chew to them and are a bit sweeter compared to fresh. Next time I might add a little sauteed garlic or Italian sausage (sounds yummy just thinking about it!). If you are still unsure about using sun dried tomatoes or if you aren't a tomato lover, then try them in this dish or on a homemade pizza. Trust me!
Make the pesto sauce ahead of time and add the salt, and pepper right to the food processor or blender with the sun dried tomatoes and basil. Set this aside until you cook the pasta. Once the pasta is drained but still hot, try adding feta cheese and oilive oil(this will give it a creamy consistency but omit the parm cheese). Finally add then the pesto sauce. The result will be creamy with mingling flavors: good served hot or cold.
This recipe is a family favorite. We have made it twice since last week when I first came across it. The first time I halved the orzo but kept the rest the same and it had perfect flavor. The second time I made it for dinner and for a heavier meal I made it with bow-ties upping the amount of sun-dried tomatoes. We love this!!! This is a family favorite! Thank you so much!!
This recipe tasted nice. I made a few changes, including boiling the orzo in vegetable stock to give it extra flavor and adding feta instead of parmesan cheese to give it a more Greek taste. I also added pine nuts to give it a bit of a crunch!
I have made this with parmesan and with feta, both are very good, but I think the feta wins overall in our house. When using feta, I sprinkle it on right before serving, then with leftover I add it to the orzo after it cools. I drain my sundried tomatoes (doubling the amount called for) and cut them into 1/2 inch strips, chiffonade the basil and add kalamata olives. We personally like the texture and distinct tastes better. This is a great dish as you can serve warm with dinner as a side dish, and have a great cold salad for lunch the next day.
We make this all the time as a main dish. For two of us we use 1 cup orzo, 1/3 cup pesto (which we usually have on hand and we have made it both ways and don't taste a big difference), 1/3 cup julienned sun dried tomatoes, and 3/4 cup Parmesan. We just cook the pasta and dump the rest of the ingredients in & stir! Much easier than using a food processor! You can add salt & pepper to taste. We add shrimp to make it a main dish. Very quick, easy, & TASTY!!
This is an easy tasty pasta dish. I honestly had to make more!!! It went fast! It was a little bland to our liking so i threw in more sundried tomato and salt and some red pepper flakes to give it a kick.
Super yummy. We ate every last bite of it and plan on making it again very soon. My sun-dried tomatoes were not packed in oil, and 1 tbsp of oil was just enough.
Thanks for sharing this delicious flavor combo! I make my orzo a little differently and I halved the recipe as it is just the 2 of us. I melt 2 tbsps butter in a saucepan and then add a cup of orzo and saute until lightly toasted. Add 14.5 ozs of water and 2 teaspoons of chicken base and bring to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. I then added the tomatoes, basil and Parmesan cheese. Salted and peppered to taste and left out the olive oil as it had great flavor, and I didn't feel it was needed. Loved it!
I thought this was rather decent, I can see me changing one slight thing in this recipe. decrease the amount of basil I chop and stuff into a 1/3 cup. Thats where, I feel it was over powering for me. My family liked it, my son was a 3 star because of the tomatoes but still ate it. What I did when chopping the basil was chop and stuff, chop and stuff into the measuring cup...not next time. I'll chop and toss into the cup, when it reaches the top...I stop. Plan and simple. As much as I love basil in some things..I don't like the overwhelming flavor of it to the point I can't taste anything else. And in this case...it's exactly what I did. But the ease of the ingredients and the quickness to throw it together, is a 5 star. Live and learn. ;-)
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe!!!! we make it all the time and miss it when its not there. and grind fresh parmesan...really makes it the best. thanks Kgwen!!
This was delicious and very easy to make. The only change I made was to use the oil from the sun dried tomatoes instead of straight olive oil. A lovely accompaniment to Italian Rib Eye from this site. Thanks!
This is a great "idea" recipe! Like so many others I tweaked it just a bit to fit my tastes. Instead of orzo I used pipettes. I used regular sun dried tomatoes instead of oil packed and added a little starchy pasta water to help everything blend and keep the oil down. Then I tossed in 4 or 5 pitted kalamata olives, 1/2 a small shallot, a garlic glove, 1 tbs of vegan parmesan (instead of 3/4 cup) and 1 tbs giardiniera on top of the other ingredients (minus the salt - the olives are pretty salty). Then I mixed it all with the warm pasta and topped with a bit more vegan parm. Even my ridiculously picky husband liked it. I will be making again! So simple!
I'm only giving 4 stars because I had to tweak this a bit. I've made this several times and don't even measure anything anymore. I definately use a lot more sundried tomatoes. I buy them in bulk (dried, not in oil) and use about half a pound. Once chopped, they equal about 3/4 of a cup. I use a little more basil too. The only addition I make is when I'm ready to serve, which is usually cold, I top with extra parm and toasted pine nuts. The pine nuts really make this dish.
Very quick and easy, but bland. I used feta along with red pepper flakes then decided to toast pecans for an added interest. Saved the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes and used it in place of the olive oil. RLM
We found this recipe fairly bland and doctored it up with artichoke hearts, black olives and balsamic vinegar which helped but didn't make it "wow".
made this last night and came out great,cooked the orzo in broth and left out the extra oil very good!
Whenever I used to come home from work travels my husband would have a pint of Safeway's orzo/spinach salad waiting for me in the airport. Sweet, right? But expensive. I'm a big orzo fan, and in an effort to cut down on our monthly food costs I decided to give this recipe a whirl. This is an A in my book, and was easily transformed into an A+ with some freshly chopped spinach and feta cheese (combined with or in lieu of Parmesan; your choice). Plus, it was only $5.00 to make enough orzo salad for my husband and I for the entire week! Score!
Loved it!! Served it warm with Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Steamed Asparagus and it was an awesome dinner! My 15 year old daughter loved it too!! Very yummy!!!!!!!!
I cheated. Rather than prepare Orzo, I mixed the other ingredients with brown rice. I'd do it again.
I made this over the weekend and it was a big hit with my family and our guests. Next time I will add a bit more sun-dried tomatoes, but that is just because we love them. It was simple and delish - both warm and cold, and I look forward to making it again. Thanks so much for a wonderful recipe!
Yum, a keeper! I used two 7.5 oz jars of sun-dried tomatoes (undrained), 4 oz of fresh basil, 2 or 3 oz of Parmesan (a better grade), a bit of salt and some goodly shakes of pepper to a whole box of orzo. I added olive oil after I blended the pesto in the food processor, and only enough to make the consistency blendable with the orzo. I want to try this with feta, and adding sliced olives would be great for either cheese - if my family didn't have a tendency to pick them out!
Yummy! I ended up using mini shells instead of orzo because my grocery store didn't have any, but this was super tasty! My husband preferred it warm, right after it was made, but I liked it both cold and warm. I was making it for a family get together, so I doubled the amount of pasta but tripled the other ingredients. I made it in a blender because I don't have a food processor and it worked great!
I made the recipe exactly as written except for the addition of feta cheese on top. I thought it was pretty good with a little more salt, unfortunantly my family did not like it.
Yummm, tomato and basil. What's not to like?! This dish was so delicious! We happened to already have some sun dried tomatoes in the fridge and then ran across this recipe and thought it'd be perfect. We only made one change and that was adding some more of the sun dried tomatoes. Didn't need any salt or pepper. The cheese gave it plenty of flavor. We had this by itself for dinner and was plenty filling. Thanks for sharing! :)
Seriously IN LOVE with this recipe - it's so versatile and has become a weekly staple in our menu. Love it as is and works well as a "meal" with some homemade bread.
This was excellet and so easy. I used tri color ozo looked really pretty. Thanks for the recipe
I am surprised that so many people loved this recipe. (It's hard to tell if people are rating the original, or their doctored up versions). This was extremely bland. I can imagine a lot of ways to improve it, but I can't recommend as it is written.
Very tasty! I read the reviews and noticed some said it was a little bland, so I cut the orzo in half but left everything else the same. Turned out great - very flavorful. Tasty when warm too! I saved myself from having to wash the food processor and just chopped everything up by hand.
FANTASTIC! I followed the recipe exactly. Great when finished, better the next day!
Ok, when my guys smelled it, they turned their nose up, but after tasting it they loved it. Of course, I made changes to suit their tastes and after reading other reviews. So, I added a clove of minced garlic, a very thin slice of minced red onion, and some chopped kalamatas. I combined everything beforehand to allow time for the flavors to meld. Then I cooked the orzo in veg broth, drained and mixed everything before cooking the steaks to allow some time for the flavors to coat the pasta. I will be making this one again.
Now one of my favorite side dishes! The only changes I made were to double the basil and sundried tomatoes. I also added some bullion to the water I cooked the orzo in to give it a little more flavor. Used some of the oil from the sundried tomato jar instead of olive oil. This is a very simple recipe but really delicious!
This has become my go-to recipes for potlucks - good stuff. Sometimes I add a few chopped Kalamata olives for extra tastiness.
great dish! the only difference I did was used sun dried tomato pesto (super easy). Will make again!
WOW!! Great recipe! Just made for a BBQ later in the day, since I read that it is good cold, too. I boiled the orzo in veg broth and doubled the basil-tomato mixture. I also added some toasted pine nuts for some crunch. Even my 1 YO loved it!!! Thanks so much!!
Awesome recipe! My husband loved it and I enjoyed the cold leftovers the next day.
A great, simple recipe. I followed the ingredient amounts exactly but I kept the tomatoes and basil separate because I wanted to taste those flavors individually. My only slight complaint is that there is no garlic in the recipe, but I put garlic in just about everything so I am a bit bias. This is a delicious recipe and I'll be making it often. Thanks :)
I love orzo, and I loved this recipe! Had lots of flavor and they all went well together!
I made this recipe this morning and OMG, it's fantastic! I made it as stated except for adding a bit extra basil and sun-dried tomato for personal preference. I can't wait to bring it to my next potluck. Fresh and delicious!
Made this with home grown sundried tomatoes and added some pine nuts. Very very good.
I tried it with canned Italian tomatoes and fresh basil from my garden-I'll definitely do the sundried tomatoes next time! It was really good!
I needed something quick for dinner searched orzo and found this recipe. It was very easy and fast!! The best was it was very good! Didn't change a thing.
I loved this. I have recipe very similar to this that I really like better as I added some feta cheese, some canned artichokes and sliced olives then stuffed large scooped out tomatoes using the scooped portion with the orzo. If you want to get a little fancier try this sometime.
I just made this for our dinner. I added shrimp, feta cheese instead of Parmesan and Greek Olives. I have enough left over for my lunch tomorrow. I cut the recipe in half since there are just two of us. I would recommend this to anyone who asks :) Thank you for posting it!
This was good, but a little bland. I really loved the flavours that were there, I just wish there was more of them. I will make again, but cut the amount of orzo in half next time.
The only thing I did different was to use sundried tomatoes that were not in oil. A nice side dish.
Fabulous side dish! Went well with both the grilled chicken and sausage. Will be making this a lot over the summer!
I also loved this dish. I didn't change a thing and it was delicious. Will definitely be making this again.
I made sure to review after letting this sit for a day, but I have to agree with others who've stated that this recipe is somewhat bland. My food processor may not have chopped up the sun-dried tomatoes enough(?), but either way I think using a little less pasta would help, too. I will definitely be making this again, however, using the above changes.
This was really good as a warm side dish, but as a cold salad it was very dry and bland.
Can use any small pasta......Make this into a meal by adding sliced, grilled Italian sausage. Loved it!
This recipe was amazing and easy to make. I will make over and over again. I made this recipes exactly as written. Love it!
The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because I agree with some other reviewers that it was much better with a clove of garlic. But it was just DELICIOUS!! It was great warm and cold, but I think I like it better cold. Thanks kgwen!!
Cut the recipe in half and followed the adjusted ingredients amounts. It has a delicate flavor when made as written. Next time I'll follow some of the other reviewers advice and add more of the basil/tomato mixture and maybe add some feta cheese and/or red wine vinegar and kalamata olives.
Definitely not bland! But too salty with that much parmesan plus the salt! It's still pretty salty with 1/2 cup parm and no salt. Tasty though.
This was good but I made a few changes. I used a lot more sundried tomatoes and I added the oil from the tomatoes. I used goat cheese instead of Parmesan. Finally I added a few splashes of red wine vinegar for some punch. I brought it to an event and it was a big hit. I'll definitely make it again.
This dish is fabulous!! I used the suggestions to add olives and feta cheese. Other than the two additions, I followed the recipe. It was amazingly tasty. It would be a nice touch to sprinkle some fresh herbs on top while the cheese is still warm and serve immediately. This is going to be a keeper in my recipe box!
Great salad. Made it a day in advance, left out the feta cheese though. It was delicious. It all went! Thanks
I tried this recipe tonight and it was wonderful. I love sun dried tomatos...so there you go. You can take this receipe as is or add your own touches to fit your taste. But some times less is more. Will make again. Thanks for the receipe!!!
Excellent recipe. I halved the recipe for less servings and once I tasted it, I immediately regretted making less. I'll be using this recipe lots this summer. I think this will be perfect to bring to pot luck--something a little different at the table.....
Made this for another salad for a family reunion. Was excellent, everyone loved it. But tasted better the longer it sat.
Wonderful pasta side dish! I love sun dried tomatoes and with parmesan cheese and fresh chopped basil mixed in with the orzo pasta it is simply 5 stars in my book. I scaled down this recipe for two people thou I wished now that I hadn't because we gobbled this up and it was just tasty. I added a T of olive oil instead of 2T because I used some of the oil from the sun dried tomato jar to add some flavor to the pasta. I seasoned this with salt and black pepper and served this warm alongside, "Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Roll Ups," and "Smothered Green Beans, " all from this site. They complemented each other very well. Amazing flavors and wishing I could have some more!
This was sooo good - I did follow the recipe pretty closely with the exception of using dried basil and not using the food processor for the dried tomatoes. Orzo is such a neat rice/pasta side dish. I served it warm.
I had never eaten orzo before, so chose this recipe to try it. We had this hot as a side dish, then cold the next day with sandwiches. It is very good both ways!! Would definately make again!! Thanks kgwen!!
Wonderful dish, loved it! I cut this in half since it was just hubby and I and used sun dried tomatoes not in oil since I don't usually buy them that way. Otherwise, prepared this as called for and enjoyed every bite! Will definitely make this one again. Served with grilled salmon on the BBQ and green salad!
Very easy, and tasty (esp. the next day). I served room temp. & thought it was good. Kids did not like, which is fine because it leaves more left-overs for me the next day. :)
We LOVED this. I used half the orzo, half the oil. Used 1/2 cup of feta added when orzo was hot. Used a Tuscan herb infused olive oil for the oil and garnished with pine nuts. took the advice of another reviewer and added the salt and pepper to the food processer when making the pesto. We're looking forward to having it tomorrow as a cold salad.
Awesome...I added chicken that I sauteed in Olive Oil with Basil. Made it the day before and it was great to pull it out of the fridge, add a little more shredded cheese and we were ready to eat!
This is a very easy and fantastic recipe to prepare. We didn't want to take out the big food processor so we just chopped the basil and sun-dried tomatoes together with a big sharp knife....being careful to chop it very fine. We added roasted pine nuts.
It's delicious! This is one of the sides that one of my favorite restaurants serves! I'm so glad I found this recipe! Thanks!
I really liked this but hubby wasn't that impressed. I think this would have been a little more flavorful if I had added a couple cloves of garlic to the tomato/basil mixture as other reviewers have done. Overall, this is a really light and tasty side dish that I'm sure I'll make again.
I found this recipe to be really easy but the orzo to be just ok. I had to spice it up a lot. I served it hot and after following the original recipe, I added sautéed garlic, onions and spinach into the orzo. I used grated parmesan cheese to taste (which ended up being a lot) as well as salt, and very little pepper. I also used lemon juice and a pinch of brown sugar. After those altercations the dish was great. Ill defiantly make it again!
Pretty good if you follow the recipe as stated. But it wasn't as flavorful as I thought it would be. I'm gonna add in some of the additions other reviewers made next time I make it.
Nice recipe. I did not have fresh basil, so I used marinated artichokes which obviously didn't give the same zingy flavor so I had to add some additional dried herbs to give it a kick. Served it cold with the Caribbean Holiday marinated shrimp recipe from this website. Beautiful meal sitting on the back of a yacht in the Bahamas.
I made this because I had all the ingredients. I didn't think it would be anything great. I was so wrong! Yummy! I am making it again with ditalini pasta tonight for dinner. I like it cold and I'm gonna leave out the olive oil and drizzle a little of the sundried tomato oil on instead. I love it with crushed red peppers and sea salt. Gotta go I'm drooling all over the computer keys.
Milly and John both loved it.
This is an excellent side dish. We thought it needed more salt, but otherwise a great balance for flavor.
I make something almost identical to this. In my version I add some frozen peas that have been defrosted and a bit of crushed red pepper flakes to give it a subtle heat.
I followed this to a "T", except that I added one clove of raw garlic to the pesto mixture and used Romano cheese, I was AWESOME with baked stuffed chicken breasts and salad.
This was good but needs more oil. I did double ingredients of sundried toms and basil. Flavor was excellent just needs more moisture.
A splendid, summer dish. I served it as a pasta salad. I followed the advice of the comments below and added the black olives, dried oregano, fresh parsley and a splash of lemon juice. I added small mozzarella balls and a few rocket salad leaves for decoration. Thank you for the recipe!
Great recipe I followed this exactly, I did add 1/2 cup of mini heirloom tomatoes. This was a wonderful orzo salad, certainly something I would make again. Perfect summer side.
This is a great side dish. We loved it. I followed the recipe as written, I would not change a thing. I loved all the flavors together. I served it warm, than I had some cold leftovers. Great either way!
