Creamy, veggie-packed orzo salad will quickly become a family favorite with its flavorful yogurt dill dressing.
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Enjoy this pasta salad as a side dish or a satisfying lunch (it’s easy to pack!). The homemade dressing is made with good-for-you Greek yogurt and fresh herbs.
How long it takes: 25 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: large pot, mixing bowl
Servings: 8 (makes 12 cups of salad)
You can’t beat a good pasta salad for an easy lunch and this, my friends, is a good pasta salad!
I believe that orzo is the perfect pasta for salads. Because it’s similar in size to the veggies, you’re destined to get a perfect forkful of pasta, vegetables, and dressing. I love this spring orzo salad with asparagus and arugula, and my southwestern orzo salad. Everyone loves my bruschetta orzo salad, too (I always get requests for the recipe!).
You’re going to love this orzo salad, too! It’s packed with so many vegetables: tomatoes, red onions, peas, carrots, and cucumber. The light tangy dressing has lots of herbal flavor with fresh parsley and dill. So good!
Reasons to Love This Orzo Salad
- Best combination of textures: Traditional pasta salad doesn’t have much going on in the texture department, but this orzo pasta salad combines crisp, crunchy veggies with tender pasta and creamy dressing.
- No mayo! If you’re looking for a no-mayo pasta salad that still brings the creamy factor, this orzo salad is it! Greek yogurt, olive oil, and lemon juice make for a creamy, tangy dressing that’s not overly heavy.
- Healthy eating: As far as pasta salads go, it’s fairly healthy eating: lots of fresh veggies and a light dressing made of nonfat Greek yogurt. A generous 1 ½ cup serving is only 305 calories.
- An all-occasion pasta salad: Serve it for a party, bring it to a potluck, or just make a batch for meal prep lunches. It would be welcome at any backyard BBQ or get-together. It travels well and doesn’t require any last minute prep. This orzo salad is good for any occasion, any day of the week!
More Pasta Salad Recipes
If this orzo salad doesn’t appeal to you, here are a few more suggestions: chicken macaroni salad, summer pasta salad, ranch pasta salad, grilled ratatouille pasta salad, or Mexican street corn pasta salad. Take a look at all of my salad recipes.
What you’ll Need
For the Salad
- Orzo: Choose either regular orzo or whole wheat orzo which adds fiber and nutrition. Avoid using fresh pasta for pasta salads, as it’s more likely to break apart.
- Frozen Peas: About the easiest vegetable you can find, frozen peas add a pop of color and a little bit of sweetness to the mix.
- Roma Tomatoes: Removing the seeds keep the tomatoes from releasing liquid into the salad which would make it too watery.
- English Cucumber: An English cucumber is ideal because it has fewer seeds which, again, means less liquid introduced into the orzo salad. The best part? You don’t have to peel it because the skin is tender.
- Carrots: Regular carrots are just fine. Sometimes, I use rainbow carrots which add fun color to your salad.
- Red Onion: Finely dicing the onion will help it soften and mellow in the dressing.
For the Dressing
- Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt: If you happen to have 2% or whole milk yogurt in the fridge instead of nonfat, that’s just fine, as long as it’s plain yogurt, and not flavored.
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: A little EVOO gives the dressing a smoother consistence and also adds heart-healthy fats. When you’re making pasta salad, a good quality extra-virgin olive oil will take it to the next level. This is a great opportunity to use an aromatic, fruity oil that you wouldn’t use for cooking.
- Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed lemon juice is a better choice than packaged lemon juice.
- Fresh Parsley and Dill: You can substitute dried dill if you’d like, but don’t use dried parsley because it really doesn’t add much flavor!
- Granulated Sugar or Honey: Traditional mayo-based pasta salad recipes often have lots of added sugar, but here, we just add a touch for balance.
- Kosher Salt and Ground Black Pepper: I recommend fresh coarsely ground pepper for the best flavor.
- Garlic Powder: This adds a note of savory flavor to our dressing.
Cooking Tip
If you’re onion-averse, you can soak the diced onion in ice water to cut some of its sharpness, or just omit it. Sliced green onions are a milder substitute.
How to make This Orzo Salad
Cook the orzo in a large pot of salted water according to the package directions.
In the last 2 minutes of cooking time, add the peas to the pot with the orzo.
Drain the peas and pasta in large colander, then rinse well with cold water.
Why rinse pasta?
Rinsing the pasta halts the cooking process so the pasta doesn’t get mushy. It also rinses away the excess starch which may cause the pasta to get sticky and clump together.In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the dressing ingredients.
In a large serving bowl, toss the orzo, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and dressing until everything is coated. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and additional sugar, if desired.
How to make this Orzo Salad your own
- Mix and match the vegetables: The great thing about an orzo salad recipe like this is that you can add whatever vegetables you have on hand or whatever you like. If you like bell peppers, add those. Don’t like tomatoes? Leave them out. Have some fresh corn or leftover celery? Those would be lovely!
- Add protein: Add a can of chickpeas (rinsed and drained), chopped hard boiled eggs, cooked shredded chicken, cooked shrimp or salmon, canned tuna, diced cheese, etc. Garnishing with feta is delicious, too!
Serving Suggestions
Lunch/light dinner: Make a bed of spinach (or arugula, or romaine, or whatever green you like) on your plate, give it quick squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and top it with a scoop of this orzo salad. If you like, add protein with one of the suggestions listed above.
As a side: Serve this orzo salad for dinner alongside turkey burgers or air fryer hamburgers. It goes well with almost anything. Try it with salmon bites or air fryer pork chops or chicken. Orzo salad is always popular at picnics and potlucks, too.
Store the dressing separately from the salad and stir them together just before serving so the salad doesn’t become too dry. The pasta tends to absorb the dressing as it sits.
Serve immediately or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Free Meal Plan
Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at Meal Plan #55. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. We add a new meal plan weekly.
More Salad Recipes
Orzo Salad Recipe with Yogurt Dill Dressing
Ingredients
Salad:
- 16 oz. box orzo, uncooked (substitute whole wheat orzo, if you like)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 3 roma tomatoes, seeds removed, diced (about 2 cups)
- 1 English cucumber, diced (about 2 cups)
- ¾ cup finely diced carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
- ½ cup finely diced red onion (about ¼ onion)
Dressing:
- 1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (2% or whole milk yogurt is fine)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ cup finely minced fresh parsley
- ¼ cup finely minced fresh dill (or 2 tablespoons dried dill)
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar or honey
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook orzo according to package directions. In the last 2 minutes of cooking time, add the peas to the pot with the orzo. Drain peas and pasta in large colander, and run cold water over them to cool.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine dressing ingredients and whisk to combine.
- In a large serving bowl, mix together orzo, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and dressing until everything is coated with dressing. Taste and season with more salt, pepper, and/or sugar as desired.
- Serve immediately or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Tip: Store dressing separately from salad and stir in immediately before serving. Pasta will soak up some of the dressing as it sits. If necessary, increase dressing to achieve desired consistency.
- Substitute (or add) vegetables of your preference such as bell peppers, celery, edamame, radishes, corn, etc.
- Add protein with hard boiled eggs, cooked chicken, salmon, tuna, garbanzo beans, diced cheese, feta cheese, etc.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
Such a wonderful recipe filled with great flavors!
Thank you!
I’m looking forward to making this today but I don’t see where the carrots fit in in the instructions.
Sorry about that – they go in with the pasta and other vegetables. Fixing the recipe now! Thanks for pointing it out. I hope you love the salad!
This looks great!! However, what can be used instead of the yogurt? Yogurt is not my friend. Thanks.
I haven’t tried this without yogurt, but you could try using sour cream instead.
just made this. it’s good. However, it made a HUGE amount. Unfortunately, 3/4 of it is probably going to get thrown away bc I live in a household that does not like to eat fresh veggies. :( They are all full-grown adults, so there is nothing I can do about that. I wish I would have thought to cut the recipe in half. I can’t eat all of this before it goes bad….Oh well….thanks for sharing!