Rainbow Orzo Salad is a bright and colorful salad that's perfect for warmer weather. It's crunchy, light and fresh. This easy pasta salad is the perfect side dish or light lunch.
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Recipe
This favorite recipe is simple to make in less than 30 minutes. Rainbow Orzo Salad features lots of fresh summer produce, however you can enjoy it all year since these ingredients are typically available at most grocery stores year round.
This pasta salad is not just for picnics and BBQ's, it also makes a great weeknight dinner side dish. You can even make this salad to meal prep lunch for the week.
You'll love how customizable it is too! Swap out the pasta, veggies, or dressing for whatever you prefer. It's vegetarian, you can make it vegan or dairy-free, and even add a protein to make it into a meal.
Love warm weather recipes? There are plenty of spring recipes and summer recipes to choose from!
Ingredients
- Orzo: I like to use orzo in this salad, however you can use whatever small pasta shape you prefer. Regular, whole wheat, or gluten-free all work in this recipe.
- Tomatoes: Quartered cherry tomatoes or diced roma tomatoes.
- Peppers: Diced yellow and orange bell pepper. I used half of each for the different pops of color. You can choose whatever color bell pepper you have available.
- Cucumber: Diced cucumber. I used english cucumber, but you can use any cucumber variety. Garden or Persian cucumbers would also be great in this salad. I left the peels on for an added pop of color, but you can peel them if you'd like.
- Red Onion: Diced red onion (optional).
- Feta: Crumbled feta cheese.
- Basil: Fresh basil, sliced.
- Salt and Pepper: Sea salt and black pepper to round out all the flavors.
- Red Wine Vinaigrette: Extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, honey, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
*The full ingredient list with amounts is in the recipe card below.
How to Make Orzo Salad
Follow these simple steps to make Rainbow Orzo Salad.
- Make the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook orzo until al dente, according to package directions.
- While the pasta is cooking, make the dressing by whisking all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl until combined (or shake together in a jar). Set aside.
- Drain and rinse the orzo with cold water, about 1 minute, or until cooled. Place in a large bowl.
- Add in the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, red onion (optional), feta cheese, and basil. Toss to combine. Drizzle with the dressing and toss again to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately or store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Pro Tip: To store, refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Orzo salad may dry out a little after refrigerating. Just drizzle a little bit of olive oil over it and toss to combine.
Variations
I love this salad as it is, however it's so versatile that you can customize it to your liking!
- Swap out the vegetables and herbs. You can swap out the vegetables or add in any others you prefer. Great options are spinach, pitted olives, and artichoke hearts.
- Add a protein. Make it into a meal by adding chopped pepperoni or salami, cooked shrimp, or chickpeas. You can also top it with halved or chopped hard boiled eggs.
- Use different cheese. Don't like feta? No problem! You can use crumbled goat cheese, shredded parmesan, or even chopped mozzarella balls. Make it dairy-free by leaving the cheese out entirely.
- Give it an added depth of flavor. Roast the tomatoes and peppers for even more flavor!
- Make it vegan. Leave out the cheese, and swap out the honey for some maple syrup in the dressing to make it a vegan orzo salad.
- Make a different dressing. Lemon vinaigrette, Italian dressing or greek dressing are all great options.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
Orzo is a small rice-shaped pasta. It is typically made from semolina flour, but can also be made from whole grains.
It typically takes orzo pasta 7-10 minutes to cook, depending on the brand. Cook according to package directions for best results. Orzo pasta is typically boiled in salted water until al dente.
More Recipes
If you like this Rainbow Orzo Salad Recipe, then you'll love these other simple recipes.
- Easy Italian Pasta Salad
- Crunchy Chickpea Mediterranean Salad
- Vegetable Soup with Orzo and White Beans
- Lemon Orzo with Spinach
- Pesto Orzo Salad
Rainbow Orzo Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Boil
- Cuisine: American
Description
Rainbow Orzo Salad is a bright and colorful salad that's perfect for warmer weather. It's crunchy, light and fresh. This easy pasta salad is the perfect side dish or light lunch.
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Salad
- 1 ½ cups uncooked orzo pasta
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
- ½ orange bell pepper, diced
- ½ yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- ¼ cup chopped red onion (optional)
- ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ¼ cup fresh basil, sliced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Make the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook orzo until al dente, according to package directions.
- While the pasta is cooking, make the dressing by whisking all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl until combined (or shake together in a jar). Set aside.
- Drain and rinse the orzo with cold water, about 1 minute, or until cooled. Place in a large bowl.
- Add in the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, red onion (optional), feta cheese, and basil. Toss to combine. Drizzle with the dressing and toss again to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately or store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Notes
In place of the cherry tomatoes, you can use diced roma tomatoes.
To store, refrigerate in an air tight container for up to 3 days.
Orzo salad may dry out a little after refrigerating. Just drizzle a little bit of olive oil over it and toss to combine.
Nutritional values (per serving) are approximates only.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 205
- Sugar: 3.7 g
- Sodium: 160.3 mg
- Fat: 11.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 22.6 g
- Fiber: 1.7 g
- Protein: 4.6 g
- Cholesterol: 5.6 mg
Keywords: orzo salad, bbq side dish, side dish, cookout side dish, meal prep, lunch, dinner side dish
I would love to exchange the cooked Orzo with cooked and cooled Jasmine Rice.
Does the exchange sound like it might be flavorful?
Hi Nancy! Although this sounds like it could be delicious, I have not tried this recipe with rice in place of the orzo. I would recommend substituting the orzo for another type of small pasta.
Can you use any Pasta if you don’t have Orzo Pasta ?
Hi Sarah- Yes, you can use your preferred small pasta shape!
OK, just made this gorgeous salad. A few things to make note of is if you're like me when cooking, I usually eyeball ingredients. The only thing I measured was the pasta and the dressing ingredients. Also, because of not measuring the veggies and cheese (I used fresh mozzarella pearls) I had to make a double batch of dressing which wasn't a problem.
One thing that I probably could have saved time on making was the dressing. After tasting it, I could have used Good Seasons Italian dressing mix and used the red wine vinegar and EVOO and it would have been identical and I would have had enough the first time.
Tastes really good and I can't wait to dig into it tomorrow. It made quite a bit so I may have to give some away. That was just the ×1. It's more than enough to feed a family of 4 with leftovers. Keeping this for future use. Thanks for sharing it!
★★★★★
I found your recipe via @TheCountryCook ~Brandie and I will be making this on St. Patrick's Day for my husband and myself. I love a great pasta salad, they are so refreshing. However, I will have to sub the feta for fresh mozzarella pearls since neither one of us like feta. Trying red wine vinegar for the first time too. With having severe allergies to a few food items (apple cider vinegar being one of them), I usually try a recipe the first time as is unless allergies or preferences are involved, but I keep it as close as possible. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
★★★★★
Thanks Donna! I hope you and your husband love this recipe! Mozzarella pearls would be a fantastic substitution for the feta.
Perfect side for a dinner party. Flavors worked well together and was a huge hit. It went fast!
★★★★★
I just made this, my husband who doesn't like cucumber even loved it. I forgot to add the feta but it was still amazing. I don't think I will add it next time. And there will definitely be a next time.
★★★★★
Thanks Lynette! I'm so glad you loved it.
I made this orzo salad last week with dinner. Both my husband and I loved it. It was very quick and easy and definitely a great option for when you need to bring a side dish to a dinner party. I really loved the addition of the honey in the vinaigrette! It added the perfect amount of subtle sweetness.
★★★★★