This quick and easy parmesan spinach orzo has a light, creamy sauce and plenty of fresh spinach. Perfect with veggies, salad, chicken, fish, or sausage!
If we pitted our favorite side dishes against each other March Madness-style, I'd put serious money on this creamy parmesan orzo.
It's quick! Simple! Versatile! Easy to customize!
(Also, there's cheese. You know how we do.)
This spinach orzo pasta recipe is almost like an orzo alfredo: there's plenty of garlic and parmesan in a light, creamy sauce.
For having so few ingredients, this alfredo orzo also packs an impressive amount of flavor - just make sure you're using quality parmesan cheese for best results!
How to riff on this spinach orzo:
This creamy orzo is an amazing blank-canvas recipe - it's easy to tweak, so use whatever you have! Some of our favorite additions and substitutions:
- Cheese: Add feta, goat cheese, white cheddar, fontina, havarti, or brie in place of (or in addition to!) the parmesan.
- Greens: We love making this orzo with spinach, but you can swap the greens here! Use kale or arugula in place of spinach if you like. Fresh or frozen spinach is fine!
- Veggies: Make this orzo pasta even heartier by adding peas, corn, steamed or roasted broccoli, roasted brussels sprouts or parsnips, or bell peppers.
- Protein: Stir in cooked chopped or shredded chicken, Italian sausage, or top with sautéed shrimp for extra protein. This is also good with butter beans or cannellini beans mixed in!
- If you don't have orzo on hand, use any kind of pasta you like! For larger pastas (like rigatoni or cavatappi) you may want to use extra milk or cream to stretch the sauce a bit farther.
What to serve with this creamy orzo:
This easy, creamy orzo recipe goes with just about everything! Some of our favorite recipes to serve with it:
- Easy Lemon Garlic Butter Salmon or Steelhead
- Quick Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Lemon Parmesan Roasted Broccoli
- Easy Crusty Artisan Bread
VIDEO: HOW TO MAKE PARMESAN SPINACH ORZO
Need some recipe inspo? Check out our full orzo recipes collection →
Print📖 Recipe
Parmesan Spinach Orzo
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
An easy, creamy parmesan spinach orzo recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked orzo pasta
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 green onions, chopped (about ¼ cup)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1 ¾ cup milk
- 2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook orzo in very salty water until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat.
- Add green onion and garlic to oil. Sauté, stirring once or twice, for about a minute until onions have softened and garlic is fragrant.
- Add salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Add flour to pot and stir to combine. Let cook for 30 seconds or so to cook out any raw flour taste.
- Add milk to the pot a little at a time, whisking constantly to work out any lumps. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened and reached a low simmer, about 5-8 minutes.
- Add chopped spinach to sauce and stir to combine.
- Add parmesan cheese. Stir until cheese has melted and you have a smooth sauce.
- Return cooked orzo to sauce and toss to coat. Turn off the heat and serve immediately.
Notes
Additions and Substitutions. Use feta, goat cheese, white cheddar, fontina, brie, or havarti in place of (or in addition to!) the parmesan here. Swap kale or arugula for the spinach if you prefer, or use frozen spinach. Add chicken, shrimp, sausage, sautéed mushrooms, broccoli, or any other veggies you have on hand to this orzo to make it a little heartier. (For more swaps and substitutions, be sure to read the post above!)
If the sauce is too thin, let it cook for a few extra minutes. Too thick? Add a splash of milk to thin it out.
Use shallots, yellow onions, or white onions in place of the green onions if you like.
No orzo? Use any pasta you like! If you're using a larger pasta like rigatoni or cavatappi, you may want to use extra milk or add a dash of cream to stretch the sauce a bit more.
Strict vegetarians should look for parmesan cheese made without rennet.
This recipe was updated in April 2020.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Makes 4 servings
- Calories: 368
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 980.8 mg
- Fat: 13.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 43.9 g
- Protein: 18 g
- Cholesterol: 16.5 mg
Love this recipe? Try our parmesan spinach mac n cheese →
Rachel
I don't have green onions, will it make a huge difference if I leave it out? Can I use 1/2 of a white onion??
Jessie
No green onions = not a problem. If you use regular white onion, I'd use a bit less so that you don't end up with a lot more "onion" flavor - I like the green onions because they are so mild and really let the parmesan shine through. But all onions are good onions in my book!
Rebecca
This sounds great! I'm wondering if frozen chopped spinach wound be ok with this?
Jessie
Definitely! The spinach will cook down in the sauce, so you won't lose any texture by using frozen.
Steph
I made this for dinner a few nights ago. I doubled the recipe to ensure plenty of leftovers, and made a few tweaks with the seasonings and cheese (to accommodate for personal preferences) and then tossed in some seasoned grilled shrimp to the completed dish. It was absolutely wonderful. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Jessie
I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
Kira
Don't tell your mom, but technically orzo is a grain. "Orzo" in Italian means barley. I live in Italy and this type of pasta is called "risoni", meaning big rice! Call it whatever you want, it's still delicious!
Jessie
Agreed! You're right about the Italian nomenclature, although its "barley"-derived name is solely because of its shape - it isn't a grain that grows and is picked from a plant. It's actually pasta dough that is cut to look like a grain of rice - hence the resemblance to barley and the name "orzo!" The term "risoni" is new to me, though - thanks for sharing!
tara bawden
We made this tonight for our dinner. The kids are enjoying it. I probably overloaded it with cheese and a little extra garlic because I tend to do that with all italian recipes. We topped with pine nuts, it gave a little texture. We will definitely be making this recipe again. Thank you for sharing this quick and easy weeknight recipe!
Jessie
Overloading something with cheese and garlic is ALWAYS an excellent choice in my book. I love the idea of the pine nuts! Thanks for letting me know how the orzo turned out for you 🙂
Nicky
Can you add chicken to this meal?
Jessie
Of course! Dice some cooked chicken up to mix in with the orzo, or serve some grilled chicken on the side!
Nicky
Great!! I'm so excited to make it tonight!! Thank you!!
Amy
Made this last night and it was amazing! So quick and easy, one of my new favs!!! Thanks for sharing!
Jessie
I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out 🙂
Dinner-Pal.com
Thanks for sharing! Orzo goes with so many veggies and it's quick which makes it great ingredient for weekday nights.
Dawn
That looks really delicious and cheesy! Thanks for the recipe, will be trying it out soon!
Dawnbydawn.com
Kaitlin Jenkins
Looks amazing! I absolutely adore orzo, always have ever since I was 'introduced' in about 7th grade. I recently thought I was going to have to stop eating gluten and this would have been the hardest thing for me to have to give up over breads and sweets, I was sad about my orzo!
Anne-Marie
Is the 2.5 cups of orzo cooked or uncooked?
Jessie
Uncooked 🙂
Jennifer Berkowitz
Are you sure that you meant uncooked? I just made this, and it seems pretty dry. It seems like it would have been just the right creamy consistency w/ 2 1/2 cups COOKED orzo, instead of uncooked.
Jessie
Yup, I'm sure! I only measure pasta/rice/etc in its uncooked state, because it expands as it cooks and would make measuring too complicated to list is as a pre-cooked ingredient. These are the proportions I use when I make this. There are a ton of different things that could happen to make a dish like this seem dry - the most common problems I run into are 1. letting the sauce thicken too much (easy fix: add a bit more milk!) 2. adding too much cheese (which will have the same effect - sauce will be thicker and clumpier, but again, add more milk) and 3. using a too-big cut of pasta (probably not the case here, if you stuck with orzo). If you'd like to try the recipe again, and would like more sauce, I'd suggest adding an extra 1/2 cup of milk to the recipe. Alternatively, you could use half as much of the roux to avoid thickening the sauce too much, or cut back on the amount of cheese you melt into the sauce (and throw it on top of the orzo instead!) I'm not big on a lot of sauce, so I like to make just enough to coat the pasta without having a pool at the bottom of my plate/bowl. But if you like more sauce, definitely give it a try with extra milk!
Ember
Is the 2.5 c. of orzo cooked or uncooked?
Jessie
Uncooked - you'll cook it in the first step of the recipe directions.
Crystal
I love orzo but have only used it in pasta (er...rice) salad. Can't wait 2 try this. Thx
Loriann Cargill
I have some spinach in the fridge & now I know what to with it! thanks 🙂
Azrealtorjp
This sounds real good going to try it tomorrow night. Thank you.
Melanie
This looks so good, Jessie! Thanks for sharing! Do you have a facebook post for these as well?
Tera Bogdos
Another wonderful Orzo reciepe_ Cook according to directions, drain-----------in small sauce pan melt 1 stick butter( no substitute) brown to a color of toast, watch carefully so not to it burn black!!! place 1/2 drained orzo in shallow bowl drizzle withe 1/2 butter and parmason cheese then orzo, butter and cheese. The amount of cheese and butter you use depends on amount of orzo you need. yummy, I also cook orzo in chicken broth. but water is ok
sotera bogdos
Another fab reciepe with Orzo. Bake whole chicken rubbed with olive oil and with lemon , season with greek seasoning garlic salt, oregano. roast 2 hours @ 350--- remove chicken from pan and in the drippings add par cooked orzo and a little chicken broth if needed, finish cooking orzo wonderful!!!