Orzo Pesto Salad

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This summer orzo salad is a light and fresh alternative to the mayo heavy pasta salads of days past. Full of crisp veggies, bright pistachio mint pesto, freshly grated parmesan cheese and a tangy white balsamic dressing. Orzo is naturally gluten free, so this can also easily be made vegan and dairy free by substituting nutritional yeast for the parmesan! It is a crowd favorite at any occasion, from BBQs to brunches!

What is in this Orzo Pesto Salad?

• Orzo Pasta- This rice shaped, vegan and dairy free pasta is made with just flour, water and salt! It is a light pasta that adds texture and soaks up the flavors of the dish without being heavy or overbearing.
• Veggies- This recipe calls for fresh corn cut from the cob, sweet peas, red peppers and bright mint leaves.
• Pistachio Mint Pesto– This is a perfect use for this Pistachio Mint Pesto recipe! It adds a fresh and nutty flavor and texture profile that is perfect with the pasta, peas, and parmesan in this recipe.
• Parmesan Cheese or Nutritional Yeast for a Vegan and Dairy free Option- Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese adds a salty cheesiness that goes so naturally with pasta and pesto. Or, use nutritional yeast that adds a similar cheesy nuttiness, without the dairy, or animal by products!
• White Balsamic Dressing- This tangy dressing takes 2 minutes to make! But, if you would rather, you can use a store bought version. This dressing adds a light tanginess to this salad. Unlike traditional pasta salads with mayo, this dressing keeps it light and fresh.

How to Make White Balsamic Dressing

White Balsamic Vinegar is very similar to Dark Balsamic Vinegar. The difference is that the grape juice used to make the Balsamic Vinegar is boiled at a lower temperature so that the sugars do not caramelize and darken. The main difference between the two is the color, but also the dark Balsamic Vinegar tends to be sweeter and a bit more syrupy.

In this recipe we use White Balsamic Vinegar mainly to keep the color of the salad light, as well as keep it a little more tangy and a little less sweet.

The dressing consists of White Balsamic Vinegar, canola oil (you may use olive oil instead), dijon mustard, garlic, a little sugar, and salt and pepper. That is it! Just put all of these ingredients in a jar, or bowl and whisk, or shake away! The oil and vinegar and mustard will emulsify slightly and create a light and delicious dressing.

How to Make Orzo Pesto Salad

If you can boil water and you can chop veggies, you can make this salad! It is as easy as cooking your Orzo for 9 minutes in boiling water (or according to the directions on the box), chopping some veggies, grating some cheese and throwing it all together!

If you have some Pistachio Mint Pesto in the fridge, you will just add a spoonful of that to the salad, otherwise, making the pesto is just one more easy step. The Pesto simply calls for grinding up pistachios, mint leaves and olive oil. If you don’t have the time or desire, this salad is delicious even without it. In this case, just add a few extra mint leaves and it will still be amazing!

Substitutions

• As I said earlier, if you would rather not make your own White Balsamic Salad dressing, you can buy it at your local grocery store. Girards makes a nice one!
• You may substitute frozen peas for the Fresh Sweet pea pods. They won’t have quite the same fresh flavor, but they will still be good!
• If you don’t want to make the Pistachio Mint Pesto , you can just chop up a few extra mint leaves to throw in. However, I would highly recommend making the pesto. It is SUPER easy and you can keep it in the fridge and use it for so many different things!
• You can easily make this a Vegan and Dairy free Orzo Salad! Simply use nutritional yeast in place of the parmesan. Use half as much nutritional yeast as you would parmesan. In this recipe use 1/2 cup nutritional yeast instead of the 1 cup parmesan. Voila! Vegan and Dairy free Orzo Pesto Salad!
• The recipe calls for mixing the Pesto into the salad, but you can also place a dollop on top and let your guests mix it in. This keeps the pretty colors of the salad bright!

More Fresh and Delicious Recipes

• Crispy Salmon Cakes with Basil Lime Sauce– My favorite way to eat salmon. Keep the recipe handy because people will be asking!
• Poke Nachos– These are light and flavorful and so insanely good!
• Burrata Caprese Crostini– A rich and creamy spin on caprese. Fresh and delicious!
• Greek Panzanella– This hearty salad is full of all of the best greek flavors!
• Thai Fresh Rolls with Peanut Sauce– These are so beautiful to look at and so delicious to eat!
• Lavender Simple Syrup– Add this to your sparkling water, lemonade, tea or latte for a lightly sweet and floral twist! Or add it to your whipped cream to top a lemon dessert! Yum!

I hope you enjoy this Orzo Pesto Salad! I would love to hear from you in the comments below! Did you serve it as a side, or a main course? Thank you and thank you for visiting Mollie in Montana~*! ♥️-