This quick and easy parmesan spinach orzo pairs well with chicken, fish, or as a standalone dish!
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When I was little, I always gave my mom a hard time about making orzo.
I picked a fight every time we ate it because “it’s not pasta, it’s rice!” and would have to sit there and (un)patiently listen to her tell me that it is, in fact, pasta.
It was a whole big thing. But I’m over it (sorry, Mom).
Even though it still LOOKS a lot like rice. Just saying.
Anywho, my mom sent me some rice orzo in a care package awhile back, and I recently discovered the last half of the package sitting in my pantry. “Eureka!” I thought. “I’ll make some orzo!”
And make orzo I did.
This parmesan spinach orzo rice pasta is great because it is quick to make but still flavorful. Annnnd it has parmesan cheese. Which means I am instantly a fan.
Plus, it’s a great, light side dish for pretty much anything. Pair this orzo with chicken, fish, meat, or a side of grilled veggies.
Versatility! I like it.
This spinach orzo has quickly become one of my favorite go-to dinner dishes.
It’s a great, quick side dish, but it also tastes great when you double the sauce recipe and toss it with some grilled fish or chicken.
Want to make it even heartier? Add steamed broccoli, peas, or any other veggies you have on hand to the mix.
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An easy parmesan spinach orzo recipe for busy weeknights.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups uncooked orzo (I used whole wheat)
- 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp. flour
- 1 cup milk (I used skim)
- 2/3 cup spinach, chopped
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded, plus extra for garnish
Instructions
- Cook orzo according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, salt and pepper and saute for 1 minute or until onions are translucent.
- Add flour to pot, stir to form a roux, and cook for an additional minute.
- Add milk to the pot a little at a time and whisk constantly to work out any lumps from the roux. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce has thickened, about 8 minutes.
- Add chopped spinach to sauce and cook an additional 2 minutes or until spinach has cooked down. Remove sauce from heat.
- Stir parmesan cheese into sauce. When cheese has melted, add cooked orzo to sauce and toss to coat. Garnish with extra parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
Notes
Add chicken, shrimp, sausage, sautéed mushrooms, broccoli, or any other veggies you have on hand to this orzo to make it a little heartier.
This recipe makes just enough sauce to cover the orzo. If you’d like a little more sauce, reduce the amount of dry orzo by 1/2 cup or add a bit of extra milk to the sauce during cooking.
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 or yellow or white onions in place of the green onions if you like.
This recipe is amazing…..l added some leftover roast chicken & my family loved it.
Glad to hear it! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
I liked this a lot! I added a few grates of fresh nutmeg. You don’t really know it’s there, but it brings out the flavor of the bechamel sauce.
I just made this, but didn’t have cows milk on hand so I used almond milk. Still turned out pretty good! Probably not as good, but worked in a pinch!
i just made this for dinner and it came out great. This is joining our dinner meal rotation.
made this for dinner,we loved it,it was super simple
This was very good, my family loved it! I will only use 2 cups of orzo next time, not enough sauce for the amount of cooked orzo. Thanks for the recipe Jessie!
This looks amazing and so comforting. I’m a huge fan of orzo!
Made this for my family tonight!
They went back for seconds.
And then thirds!
Definitely adding it to my recipe collection! thank you!
So happy to hear that you liked it! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi Jessie, I made this as a side dish for the family on Sunday. I stirred in about 1/4 cup (or maybe a bit more 😉 chopped fresh dill just before serving. Delicious! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes!
I’m glad you liked it! I LOVE the idea of adding dill. I’ll have to try that next time!
Is it really two teaspoons of flour? Not two tablespoons? I did two teaspoons as it says but my sauce never thickened (until I put the Parmesan cheese in anyway). Otherwise it turned out great, very tasty! Thanks!
I do use two teaspoons (not tablespoons). When my sauces don’t thicken, it’s usually because I don’t give the roux enough time to cook, or because there is too much liquid in the pan (moisture from the vegetables, too much milk, etc). A thin sauce could also be the result of a too-small or too-tall pan: if there is too much sauce and not enough surface area, it will take longer to heat through/thicken. The only other thing I can think of is that some lumps of roux might not have gotten worked out (it’s so important to break up all the clumps to thicken the sauce – that’s why I add liquid a little bit at a time) but it doesn’t sound like that’s what happened here. If the sauce is too thin, I always recommend letting it simmer for awhile longer to get rid of some of that excess liquid. I’m glad it tasted good, though! Hopefully these sauce ideas will help you get a thicker sauce next time around 🙂
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??
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!
This sounds great! I’m wondering if frozen chopped spinach wound be ok with this?
Definitely! The spinach will cook down in the sauce, so you won’t lose any texture by using frozen.