Orzo Salad with Feta and Dried Cranberries

Orzo Salad with Feta and Dried Cranberries – Orzo pasta is cooked in low sodium chicken broth, coated with olive oil then tossed with feta cheese, dried cranberries, green onions and a little salt and pepper. What is great about our cranberry orzo salad recipe is that it can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold.

Are you familiar with orzo shaped pasta? It is sort of rice shaped. We haven’t been cooking with it for that long and boy were we missing out. I am not sure why we never tried it when the kids still lived at home. We just never really knew it existed I suppose. I gotta tell you – I am so glad someone thought to make the internet.

What you need to make it

Orzo – the uncooked orzo pasta we buy comes in a small box.

Chicken Broth – we use the low sodium variety.

Olive Oil – extra-virgin olive oil, regular olive oil or even light olive oil.

Dried Cranberries

Feta Cheese – we buy it crumbled because that is what we can get at our regular grocery store.

Green Onions – these give just the right amount onion flavor to the salad.

Salt & Black Pepper

How to make it

1. Bring one 14.5 ounce can of chicken broth and one can of water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat, stir in one and one half cups orzo and return to a boil. Lower heat to medium to medium-high and cook according to package directions stirring occasionally, usually about 9 minutes. Drain orzo.
2. Meanwhile, combine one-quarter cup olive oil, one-quarter teaspoon salt and one-quarter teaspoon pepper in a small bowl with a whisk.
3. Combine orzo with olive oil mixture in a large bowl, toss to coat pasta. Add one-half cup dried cranberries, one cup feta cheese crumbles and 4 green onions to the orzo mixture and toss to combine.

What we love about our feta orzo pasta salad

It’s an easy recipe and the total time it takes to make it is less than 15 minutes.

It is the perfect side dish for just about any meat; chicken, beef, pork or fish.

We can make it ahead for those nights when we are grilling. Then no one gets stuck inside preparing the side dish while everyone else is outside having a good time.

I just love sweet cranberries and look for dishes that utilize them. The combination of ingredients in the dish go really well together.

Substitutions & Additions

Use a little red onion instead of green onion.

Try creamy goat cheese crumbles instead of feta crumbles.

The possibilities (or should I say pastabilities?) of additions are vast!

• Greens you could add are fresh basil leaves, baby spinach, fresh arugula, or baby spring mix.
• Nuts you could add are pine nuts, sliced almonds, or walnuts.
• You could add pomegranate arils, red or green bell peppers, orange chunks, or fresh lemon zest or lemon juice.

Storage

Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. We took our leftovers to work for lunch. After a couple of days the color from the cranberries bled onto the pasta and it also wasn’t as moist.

We hope you like our Orzo Salad with Feta and Dried Cranberries as much as we do. Next time I make this I am going to add some grilled chicken breast and eat this as the main course.

More pasta salad recipes

Garden-Fresh Spaghetti Salad

Macaroni & Cheese Salad

Garden Pasta Salad

Waldorf Pasta Salad with Pineapples

Follow us on social media!!

Recipe minimally adapted from Taste of Home.