| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 27 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 12 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound spinach, washed, dried, stems removed
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 lemons, zested
- 1 1/2 cups orzo, cooked to al dente
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the bowl
- 24 basil leaves, torn or thinly sliced
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pile spinach leaves in stacks 1 on top of the other. Thinly slice stacks of leaves to make spinach confetti. Pile shredded spinach into the bottom of a medium sized mixing bowl. Halve grape or cherry tomatoes with a paring knife and add them to the mixing bowl. Add the zest of 2 lemons to the bowl and save the lemons in the refrigerator to juice for another recipe. Add hot cooked and drained orzo pasta to the mixing bowl. The heat of the pasta will wilt the spinach and warm the tomatoes at the bottom of the bowl and get the juices flowing from veggies. The heat of the pasta will also release the flavor and oils in the lemon zest. Drizzle 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil over the pasta and toss to combine the veggies and orzo. Add basil and salt and pepper and toss to combine. Taste your orzo to adjust seasonings and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 229 |
| Total Fat | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Carbohydrates | 40 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 643 mg |
Reviews
Simple and delicious! I will definitely make this again.
This was so great and easy to make. My family loved it.
Served this with Steelhead Trout and it was amazing. Didn’t change a thing and my husband who doesn’t care for tomatoes thought it was wonderful. And while it doesn’t give the calories, it does note easy on the waistband. Works for me 🙂
This was easy to make and tasted great, I did add about 1 TBSP of pesto sauce and a little cheese, gave it that extra umph
Very easy, quick, healthy and flavorful! I used lime zest (didn’t have a lemon) and didn’t have tomatoes but didn’t miss them. Entire family loved it!
This was just okay for me. I thought it was lacking in flavour. I would make it again, but would experiment with seasonings. I did add feta cheese which helped. It makes such a huge portion. I might even suggest using only 1 cup of orzo.
We love this side dish and we do it often!
One of our favorites. Easy, healthy, and very tasty. Really did not like it with feta or goat cheese added – best just as written. May want to lesson the lemon zest if the lemons are large ones, but other than that it’s great!
I used about 9 ounces of baby spinach and I added 1/4 cup feta cheese and about a Tbsp of balsamic vinegar. It was soooooo tasty. I bet it would be awesome with some grilled shrimp.
This is wonderful. I served it at a church function and didn’t even get a taste. Glad I had a taste before leaving the house. Can’t wait to serve it to my family.