Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad

Consider today’s roasted vegetable orzo salad recipe a public service announcement for roasting your vegetables. Seriously, crank up your ovens!

This orzo salad is all about the roasted and caramelized vegetables: fennel, carrot, and my personal favorite, broccoli. Once you roast broccoli, you will never go back.

I know, I know. This salad doesn’t sound all that exciting, but I promise it is! Connor got extremely protective of the leftovers, which is always a good sign. Whenever people are fighting over the last of anything in the kitchen, you know you have found a winner.

Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad Ingredients

In fact, I hesitated to even call it a pasta salad, because I find that description as boring as can be–if I’m being perfectly honest–and this dish is far from that. There is so much more to it than meets the eye!

Today’s recipe is a riff off of one of my favorite side dishes EVER (no literally, I could eat this stuff every day of my life): roasted broccoli florets and garlic tossed with lemon juice, sliced almonds, and aged pecorino cheese.

This dish incorporates all of the same things (except I substituted sliced almonds with slivered almonds to add even more texture), but adds whole what orzo pasta to the mix. And, as I’ve mentioned far too many times on this blog, pasta can do no wrong in my book.

Roasted Carrot and Fennel

If you’re looking for a good pasta recommendation, I recommend Delallo’s whole wheat orzo. It holds its shape extremely well, and is my favorite go-to whole wheat pasta brand.

To bulk it up, I decided to add two of my favorite winter vegetables, carrots and fennel. You could easily substitute sweet potato and butternut squash, cauliflower, or practically any other vegetable you can think of!

Roasted Broccoli with Garlic

Seriously though, look at those crispy garlic chips!!! Feel free to hoard those all to yourself.

Ok, but back to the salad. The greatest part about this dish is that it is very versatile, and you’re welcome to change up the vegetables depending on what you have on hand!

The only ingredients that are absolutely not negotiable are the lemon juice, almonds, and pecorino cheese. The saltiness of the pecorino paired with the tart and acidic lemon juice, and crunchy toasted almonds is ridiculously good.

Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad

The even better part of this dish is that it is easy to make, delicious served at room temperature, or cold straight from the fridge. This means that it makes great leftovers (in fact, it seems to taste even better with time!) and the perfect packed lunch for work–and maybe even a picnic during the elusive spring season?

Make a big batch of this over the weekend, and you’ll have meals for days!

Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad

Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad

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Yield: 4 - 5 Servings
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total: 45 minutes
This delicious and hearty cold orzo salad is all about the roasted and caramelized vegetables: fennel, carrot, and my personal favorite, broccoli! For added flavor, we're adding sliced or slivered almonds for texture, lemon juice, and aged pecorino cheese.

Ingredients

Roasted Vegetables:

  • 1 large head of broccoli stalk trimmed and cut into medium florets (roughly 1 lb florets)
  • 4 medium cloves of garlic sliced
  • 2 small heads of fennel, fronds reserved core removed and chopped
  • 3 medium carrots peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided
  • kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

For the Orzo and Assembly:

  • 5 ounces whole wheat orzo pasta
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ⅓ cup toasted slivered or sliced almonds
  • 2 ounces finely grated aged pecorino cheese
  • fennel fronds for garnishing

Instructions 

  • Roast the Vegetables: Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) with one rack on the bottom third of the oven and another in the top third of the oven. On a large sheet pan, toss the broccoli florets and sliced garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
  • On another sheet pan, toss the fennel and carrot chunks with the remaining 2tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast the broccoli on one oven rack, tossing halfway, for 15 to 20 minutes or until caramelized; roast the fennel and carrot on the other oven rack, tossing haflway for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly caramelized and fork tender. Allow the vegetables to cool to room temperature on a cooling rack.
  • Prepare the Orzo: Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the orzo pasta until al dente, stirring occasionally, and drain. Rinse the pasta immediately with cold water until cool and then transfer to a large bowl.
  • Assemble: Add the roasted (and cooled) vegetables, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and slivered almonds, and toss well. Add the cheese and gently toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature or chilled, and garnish with fresh fennel fronds. Pasta can be prepared in advance and leftovers can be stored in a container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

Make Ahead Tips: 

  • Pasta can be prepared in advance and leftovers can be stored in a container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 557kcal, Carbohydrates: 49g, Protein: 18g, Fat: 35g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 28g, Cholesterol: 12mg, Sodium: 483mg, Fiber: 12g, Sugar: 5g
Author: Laura / A Beautiful Plate
Course: Pastas, Risottos, and Grains
Cuisine: American