This dish was given to me by a vegetarian friend, and everyone loves it! Suitable as a light dinner or side dish.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 35 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup uncooked orzo pasta
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 ¼ cups vegetable broth
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 12 leaves fresh basil, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, or to taste
Instructions
- Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the orzo pasta; cook and stir until the orzo has lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the onion, and cook until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Add 1 clove of garlic; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in the vegetable broth, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cover; simmer until the orzo is tender yet still a little firm to the bite, 12 to 14 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, combine cherry tomatoes, 1/2 of the fresh basil, garlic, and remaining olive oil.
- Spoon the cooked orzo into a serving bowl. Top with tomato mixture, and sprinkle with Gorgonzola and remaining basil.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 460 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 45 g |
| Cholesterol | 45 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 575 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 23 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Excellent flavors
This was very tasty. I didn’t have gorgonzola, so used feta cheese instead. I also added a splash of balsamic. My basil plant did not have enough leaves for all the basil called for, so I just added what I had to taste, threw in a bit of fresh parsley & it was fine. Toasting the orzo does give it a little bit of a different taste/texture, which made the dish interesting. Served cold with grilled chicken. My family enjoyed it.
I hate to be one of those people but I did make some changes…I used chopped vine tomatoes because that’s what was at the farmer’s market, omitted the red onion, and swapped the gorgonzola for feta. I used Better Than Bouillon vegetable base for the broth, not sure that counts as a change but I like it so much better than any other broth. And I used a whole pound of orzo so all the amounts were approximated. The result was delicious! I LOVE the nutty flavor the toasting gives the orzo — that combined with the farm fresh tomato, basil and garlic flavors and the veggie base were tasty enough I didn’t even feel like the cheese was that necessary. And I put cheese in everything so that’s saying a lot!
This was really good! Toasting the orzo first gave it a nutty flavor. I used crumbled goat cheese instead since my husband doesn’t like gorgonzola. He even ate the leftovers for his lunch the next day. This is a keeper.
I added a bag of frozen veggies (cooked & cooled), & instead of the cheese it called for, I used shredded parm/romano/asiago. It was amazing!
Excellent recipe. Made this for Retreat, and had to make it a second time for “leftover Saturday”. I like to let the tomatoes marinate while making the orzo. Yummy! You won’t be disappointed.
Very good. I did add a bit more garlic along with the tomatoes and cheese. Browning the orzo first I found it was better to sauté the onions almost soft then added garlic and sauté a short time then added my orzo. This way the orzo did brown so much.
Excellent recipe as written
My husband and I enjoyed this dish. I did modify it by adding saute chicken with garlic salt. I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. The gorgonzola worked well. I could definitely taste the basal. I will definitely recommend this recipe and will make this again!
I salivate by just thinking of this dish! I am an avid gorgonzola fan, but I would say that if you or your family isn’t then parmesan or mozzerella cheese are delicious too. I really loved the texure and flavor of the toasted orzo, and then putting fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil on it took it to a sensual level! 😉
I liked it – followed nixter’s review and added a splash of balsamic vinegar to the tomatoes/onion. I soaked the chopped red onion in a small bowl of water while the orzo was cooking so it would take out some of the “bite”. Subbed feta for the gargonzola.
I thought it was fantastic and so did my dinner guests! I can see that this is an incredibly versatile recipe– next time I’ll change it up a bit but I liked it just as is… and it used up a few ingredients I’ve had in my pantry for awhile.
I made this with Garlic Chicken from this site and a simple arugula and balsamic salad. It tasted like it took me hours, but it was the fastest, easiest dinner!
Jake said there were too many onions so do less next time or on onions.
I make this all the time – it is fantastic. I use grape tomatoes instead of cherry, and feta instead of gorgonzola. Sometimes I use fat free feta to lower the fat/calories, it still tastes great.
I made this recipe with the following changes: no onion, chicken broth instead of veg, feta instead of Gorgonzola and added cooked sliced chicken breast to orzo as it cooked. It got mixed reviews from the family. I mixed mine together and loved it, but I knew what to expect because I cooked it. The cheese started to melt and was gooey delicious. My oldest (17) ate it mixed together but I didnt get a comment, My 13yo son ate only the orzo chicken mixture as he doesn’t like tomatoes and liked it (which is a relief or I would’ve been making a whole nother dinner) My 11yo daughter tried it but didn’t care for the mixture so dumped it and ate the plain orzo/ckn like my son and ate the whole bowl. So, it worked out for the multiple different palettes in my household and I will probably make it again.
My husband and I really love this recipe! It goes really well with steak. We use goat cheese instead of gorgonzola.
Made this tonight. Reduced oil to 1.5 tbsp, reduced onion to 1/2 onion. I used chicken broth instead of vegetable. I used 4 Roma tomatoes instead of the cherry tomatoes. I added 1 lb grilled chicken breasts, diced and 1 oz grated Parmesan cheese. Once the orzo was cooked, I added the diced chicken and the tomato mixture and topped with the Parmesan. I eliminated the gorgonzola. It was a big hit with my family!
This dish was really good! I used feta cheese instead of gorgonzola and I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth.
Used feta since that was what I had. I browned the orzo for about 2 min. then added onion for another 2. Hubby LOVED it. We ate the whole batch. Great way to use a pile of fresh garden tomatoes.
I made this tonight for dinner and it is SO good. I wanted something light and fresh to go with our grilled chicken and this was perfect. I followed the recipe except added feta instead of gorgonzola for personal tastes. It would be outstanding with any of the two cheeses or blue cheese depending on what you like. I added a pinch of fresh pepper and sea salt when I toasted the orzo.