Greek Orzo Salad With Feta And Kalamata Olives

We've had such beautiful weather lately! After this past cold, snowy winter, I'm savoring these amazing sunshine-y, 70-degree days.

The warmer weather has had me itching to dust off the grill, and we finally had a chance to break it out last week. We made this grilled honey lime chicken, which is always a hit, but instead of making the cilantro lime rice that I normally pair with it, I decided to tweak this lemon orzo pasta salad and turn it into a bright, fresh Greek orzo salad.

As I've shared before, my secret for a truly delicious orzo pasta salad is in tossing the cooked orzo with the dressing while the pasta is still hot. This allows it to really soak up all of the flavors from the dressing.

For this yummy orzo Greek salad, I used the same lovely citrusy lemon vinaigrette as the original, as well as the roasted red peppers and grape tomatoes. Then I added in chopped cucumber and shallots, feta cheese, and a just a bit of fresh mint.

Oh, and I also tossed in a heaping handful of halved Kalamata olives! I mean, can you really call it a Greek orzo pasta salad if you skip the feta and olives?

Now, I personally happen to adore olives of all kinds, but I know that they're not for everyone -- including several members of my family. By cutting the olives in half, you leave the pieces large enough to be easily picked out by the olive adverse.

These new Pearls Olives to Go! single serving, liquid-free cups of olives are a fabulous alternative to the larger jarred olives for households divided on this ingredient. I pick them up at Walmart and keep them in the pantry to sprinkle over my salads, pizza, etc., which keeps my non-olive eating family members happy.

Also, I love them for a quick snack. Since Pearls Olives to Go! have no liquid, there's no mess! My fave are the pimiento-stuffed green olives, but the Kalamata olives are a very close second.

This orzo salad recipe makes a BIG potluck-style batch, which is perfect for the upcoming cookout and potluck season, but if you have a smaller family, you may want to consider halving the recipe...

But then again, maybe not -- because it's totally delicious and leftovers are perfect for a light lunch!

Greek Orzo Salad With Feta Cheese

4.41 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 9 minutes mins

Additional Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 24 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine Greek

Servings 12 servings

Calories 230 kcal

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Ingredients

  

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• ▢ 1- pound orzo pasta
• ▢ ¼ cup salt
• ▢ zest of 2 large lemons
• ▢ juice of 2 large lemons, about ½ cup
• ▢ ½ cup olive oil
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dill
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ▢ 1 container, 4-oz. crumbled feta cheese
• ▢ ½ cup roasted red peppers, chopped
• ▢ 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• ▢ 1 cup Kalamata olives, halved
• ▢ 1 seedless cucumber, peeled and diced
• ▢ 2 shallots, finely chopped
• ▢ ½ cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• ▢ 1 teaspoon fresh mint, chopped

Instructions

1. Bring 5 quarts of water to a rolling boil and add ¼ cup salt. Add the orzo pasta to the water and stir. Bring the water back up to a boil. Stirring occasionally, cook for 9 minutes.
2. While the orzo is cooking, zest and juice the lemons into a large mixing bowl, and whisk in the olive oil, dill, oregano, and pepper.
3. When the orzo is done cooking, drain it (do not rinse), and toss it with the dressing while still hot.
4. Allow the dressed pasta mixture to cool while you chop the rest of the ingredients.
5. Fold in the feta cheese, red peppers, grape tomatoes, olives, cucumber, shallots, parsley and mint.
6. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Serve cold.

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Serving: 1g | Calories: 230kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 2469mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

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© Tara Kuczykowski