Description
This Italian Orzo Salad with homemade Italian dressing is packed with tomatoes, parmesan cheese, peperoncini, salami, roasted red peppers and castelvetrano olives.
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (see notes)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
For the salad:
- 1 cup dry orzo pasta
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cup castelvetrano olives, pitted and halved
- 1 cup chopped roasted red peppers (see notes)
- 1/2 cup chopped genoa salami
- 1/2 cup chopped peperoncini peppers
- 1/2 cup shaved or grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 medium sized red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (for topping)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients.
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions. (I prefer to cook it al dente so it doesn’t get mushy in the salad). Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again.
- In a large bowl, add the pasta and other salad ingredients (except parsley). Pour half of the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
- Cover and chill in the fridge for a few hours. Stir in remaining dressing and top with chopped fresh parsley before serving.
Notes
- The Italian seasoning I use is a mix of just herbs and does not include any salt, sugar, garlic powder or other spices.
- I used store-bought roasted red peppers (that come in a jar) but you can also roast your own. You can also substitute with some raw chopped red bell pepper.
- Be sure to chop the ingredients into bite-sized pieces so it’s in proportion to the smaller size of the orzo pasta.
- Rinse the orzo with cold water after cooking it. This will not only cool it down but help prevent it from getting clumpy.
