Orzo salad with asparagus and spinach – a quick and healthy pasta salad full of vegetables and flavor. In less than 20 minutes dinner is on the table.
This orzo salad with asparagus and spinach is one of my favorite ways to serve orzo pasta.
I make this orzo salad all the time – it’s quick to make, healthy and full of flavor – all my favorite things in a recipe.
This recipe is super easy to make. The orzo and asparagus are cooked together at the same time in one pot. When the orzo and asparagus are ready, they are added to the fresh spinach mixture and tossed until the spinach wilts.
How to make orzo salad with asparagus and spinach:
1. While the orzo and asparagus are cooking, add chopped spinach, kalamata olives, red onion and walnuts to a large bowl. Add half the dressing, stir to combine and let sit until the orzo and asparagus are done.
2. When the orzo and asparagus are ready, drain and add directly to the spinach mixture in the bowl. Add remaining dressing and stir the hot orzo, asparagus and spinach together for a minute or two until the spinach wilts.
3. Add feta cheese, gently stir to combine and you’re ready to serve.
Additional ingredients you can add to this recipe:
- Want to add more veggies to this dish? Then try adding minced sun-dried tomatoes, sliced cherry tomatoes or marinated artichoke hearts.
- If you want to boost the protein in this dish, black beans or chickpeas would be a great addition.
Tips for making this recipe:
- This recipe comes together quickly, so prep all your ingredients first. Having everything ready will make assembling this dish a breeze.
- You’ll be using only one pot for this recipe – the orzo and the asparagus cook together in the same pot.
- You can make this orzo salad a day ahead if you want – it holds up well in the fridge.
- I love orzo salads since they are so versatile – it works as a main dish or a side dish. It’s good warm or cold. Leftovers are perfect to pack up for lunch the next day.
- I used the Dececco brand of pasta – their orzo is a bit smaller than regular orzo. But regular orzo will work just fine in this recipe.
- Orzo expands as it cooks, so it may not look like a lot when you first measure it out but it doubles in size when cooked.
- Orzo may look like rice, but it is a small oval shaped pasta that you can find in the pasta aisle at the local market.
Are you looking for more spring recipes? Then try one of these reader favorites.
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If you make this recipe and enjoy it, please come back and leave a comment and rating. I’d love to hear from you!
PrintOrzo Salad with Asparagus and Spinach
Orzo salad with asparagus and spinach – a quick and healthy pasta salad full of vegetables and flavor. In less than 20 minutes dinner is on the table.
- Prep Time: 8 minutes
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Total Time: 19 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: pasta
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
1 cup uncooked orzo
1 veggie bouillon cube
12 oz bunch of asparagus
3 cups fresh baby spinach – roughly chopped
1/4 cup walnut pieces
12 kalamata olives – chopped
1/4 cup red onion – finely minced
2 oz feta cheese – diced
Dressing
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1 minced garlic clove
8 twists of black pepper from a pepper mill
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
As you bring a large pot of water to a boil, prep all your ingredients. Snap off tough ends of the asparagus and cut into bites sized pieces. Roughly chop spinach, chop up the olives, mince the red onion and dice the feta cheese.
Once the water comes to a boil, add orzo and bouillon cube. Cook orzo for the amount of time on the package.
You are going to be cooking the orzo and asparagus together in the same pot. Add the asparagus to the orzo when there are 4 minutes of cooking time left before the orzo is done.
Add chopped spinach, walnuts, kalamata olives and minced red onion to a large bowl.
Whisk together dressing ingredients and toss half the dressing over the spinach mixture and stir to combine. Set the remaining dressing aside.
When the orzo and asparagus are ready, drain and add directly to the spinach mixture in the bowl.
Add the remaining dressing to the orzo, asparagus and spinach mixture.
Stir everything together for a minute or two until the spinach wilts.
Add feta and gently stir to combine.
Serves 2 as a main meal and 4 as a side dish.
Notes
You are cooking the orzo and asparagus together in the same pot. Follow the cooking time on the box of orzo. You’ll be adding the asparagus to the orzo 4 minutes before the orzo is done cooking. So if your orzo takes 11 minutes to cook then you will want to add the asparagus after the orzo has cooked for 7 minutes.
If your asparagus is on the thin side, add it to the orzo 3 minutes before the orzo is done.
Nutrition info is based on 4 side servings.
If you make this recipe and enjoy it, please come back and leave a comment and rating. I’d love to hear from you!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 of 4
- Calories: 383
- Sugar: 5 grams
- Fat: 20.9g
- Carbohydrates: 39.6g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 12.5g
Keywords: Orzo Salad, Orzo with spinach
Alison
I do not have bouillon. Could I sub veg broth? If so, what quantity would you recommend? Straight up or part broth and part water? Plain water with added seasoning after cooking? Any suggestions greatly appreciated! I am very excited to try this.
Geraldine
Hi Alison – if you don’t have bouillon, veggie broth is a great substitution. Or you can use plain water if you add some salt. You want the bouillon/broth/salted water to flavor the pasta while it cooks. Hope that helps. Let me know how it turned out!
Cathy P.
This was very good! I improvised a bit because I had some balsamic dressing I had made that I needed to use up and I had some red onion and cucumbers I had marinated so I threw those in. It was delicious and great for Spring weather.
★★★★★
Geraldine
Thanks so much, Cathy – really glad you enjoyed it and love the additions you added! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and rating – I appreciate hearing your thoughts on the recipe!
Trixie
This was awesome! It was a huge hit. Thanks!
★★★★★
Geraldine
Thanks so much, Trixie! So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for leaving a comment and a rating also!
Jojo
So good !!! Cold or lukewarm…the best !!!!
★★★★★
Geraldine
Thanks so much, Jojo – so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for leaving a message and star rating!
Sandy
I made this tonight. I had to make one substitution – I didn’t have spinach but did have Italian parsley, so I chopped that up and wilted it like the spinach. I added seedless cucumbers because I love those In pasta salads, but everything else was just like the recipe. It was terrific, and I found the dressing to be light, tasty and a great enhancement to all the ingredients. I’ll definitely make this again.
★★★★★
Geraldine
That’s great, Sandy! The parsley substitution is a great idea – thanks so much for leaving a comment and rating – I appreciate hearing from you!
Helen
just finished making this salad for tonight, used mini bowties, smaller quantity extra olives, some roasted red peppers for color. Did not wilt spinach, tastes great, will add nuts and cheese when serving
★★★★★
Geraldine
Thanks for letting me know, Helen – mini bowties are a great idea – I’ll need to try that next time. Thanks for leaving a star rating too – I appreciate it!