Impress your guests with this unique side dish at an party or get together. The classic Greek flavors: olive oil, lemon juice, dill and feta cheese all meld together beautifully in this Greek Orzo Salad. This salad will leave your guests wanting more and asking you for the recipe!
Greek Orzo Salad
- Servings: 8-10
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cooking Time: 12 min
Ingredients
- 3 t salt
- 1 t pepper
- ¾ C olive oil
- ¾ C freshly squeezed lemon juice (~3 lemons)
- 1lb Orzo Pasta
- 1 C Minced Scallions, white & green parts
- 1 C Fresh Dill, chopped (can sub. ¼ C dried dill)
- 1 C Fresh Italian Leaf Parsley, chopped (no stems, about 1 bunch)
- 1 English Cucumber, partially peeled, seeded & diced
- ½ C Diced Red Onion
- 3/4lb Feta Cheese diced or 1 C crumbled feta
- ¾ C chopped peppers
- Cherry Tomatoes, halved to garnish
Preparation
- Fill a pot with water, add 1 t salt, a splash of olive oil & bring to a boil;
- Add the orzo pasta & summer for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally until it's cooked, "al dente."
- While pasta is cooking, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, 2 t salt & 1 t pepper.
- When pasta is cooked, drain & pour into a large bowl.
- Pour the lemon juice & olive marinade over the hot orzo & stir well
- Add the remaining ingredients & toss well. Add additional salt, pepper, dill & feta to taste;
- Garnish with halved cherry tomatoes.
- Set aside at room temperature to allow the flavors to blend.
Recipe Tags
This salad can be made the night before serving and refrigerated overnight. If refrigerated overnight, taste again for seasonings and bring back to room temperature before serving. You can add shrimp to the salad to make it a meal.
This is a recipe I got from my Dad who is 100% Greek. This salad is different than your other traditional Greek salads. My Dad normally makes this salad a lot during the summer months when he is BBQing Greek style pork chops. He also normally brings this salad to the church Easter Sunday potluck.
I have now continued this tradition with making and bringing this salad to mine and my husband's church Easter Sunday potluck. I also plan on making this salad this summer at some point when my husband and I either BBQ Greek chicken souvlaki or my Dad's Greek pork chops. My husband is active duty Army, which is why we are separated from family and have to continue family meal traditions on our own.
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