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Spring produce shines best with just a few supporting ingredients and nothing exemplifies that more than this spring greens orzo.
This dish is a base of orzo and peas, tossed in a brilliant creamy green sauce that heavily leans on spring greens like arugula, parsley, and basil for flavor, with just a few supporting ingredients like olive oil and lemon to help the herbs shine through even more.
So if you want to sneak in some extra greens, this spring orzo is the perfect dish! Feel free to throw in some beans for extra protein or serve this alongside salmon or chicken to make this a balanced meal. Although I usually eat it on its own like a spoonable slop (I love those sorts of meals)!
Ingredients for this Spring Greens Orzo
Everything you’ll need for this spring greens orzo – the list is minimal!
- Orzo: Duh!
- English peas: Try to use fresh ones – they taste best and will have some bite to them.
- Arugula
- Fresh basil
- Fresh parsley
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Milk: I used cashew-almond milk, but any creamy milk will work well here.
- Lemons: You’ll need both lemon juice and lemon zest – if you can get your hands on them, I highly recommend using Meyer lemons – they’re a sweeter variety that pair so well with this sauce.
- Garlic: Because no pasta is complete without garlic!!
- Kosher salt
- Butter: I love tossing the orzo in some melted butter so it doesn’t stick, but feel free to use olive oil.
- Toasted pine nuts and parmesan for serving.
Substitutions & Tips
This spring greens orzo recipe is foolproof, but including a few swaps and a couple tips so this turns out perfect!
- If you’re not an arugula fan, spinach would be a great swap.
- Cook the orzo until just al dente – it’ll cook again when the sauce comes together and becomes perfectly soft (with just a bit of bite)
And that’s all for this spring orzo – it’s super easy and one of my new go-to spring dishes!! Don’t forget to leave a rating and review below.
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Spring Greens Orzo
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4–5 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian, American
Description
This dish is a base of orzo and peas, tossed in a brilliant creamy green sauce that heavily leans on spring greens like arugula, parsley, and basil for flavor, with just a few supporting ingredients like olive oil and lemon to help the herbs shine through even more.
Ingredients
Pasta & Peas
- 1 cup (150 g) english peas
- 2 cups (12 oz or 340 g) orzo
- 2–3 tbsp butter/olive oil
- Parmesan for garnish
- Toasted pine nuts for topping
Herby Arugula Sauce
- 3 cups ( 2 oz or 57 g) arugula
- 2 cups(4 oz or 54 g) basil
- 1 cup (1 oz or 28 g) parsley
- 1/3 cup (56 g) olive oil
- 1/3 cup (72 g) milk
- 1/3 cup (60 g) pasta water, plus more as needed
- 1 tbsp (10 g) lemon juice
- 1 lemons worth of zest
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Blanch the peas. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then dump in the peas and blanch for 1 minute. Remove from the boiling water with a spider/small sieve and dump into a bowl.
- Cook the orzo. Add the orzo into the pot, season with kosher salt (about 1 tbsp), and cook according to package instructions or until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain the orzo and return back to the pot. Stir in the butter or olive oil and set aside.
- Make the sauce. To a blender, add all of the sauce ingredients and blend on low, slowly ramping the speed up to high. Blend for 3-4 minutes until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
- Finish and serve. Dump the sauce into the orzo and stir together. Adjust salt as needed (this pasta eats up salt, so if it feels like it’s missing something, add more salt). Serve the orzo with a sprinkle of parmesan and toasted pine nuts.
Muy rico!
So happy you liked it!!! Thank you!
Hearty, Delicious and easy to make
So happy you liked it!!