Parmesan and Spinach Orzo
This creamy orzo dish is a wonderful side or light main dish, and it’s sure to be a hit with the entire family!
Orzo is one of my favorite kind of pastas. It may be due to the fact that I grew up on Korean rice my entire childhood, so it’s really no surprise that I would love this pasta in rice-shaped form. And when you couple that with the amazing flavors of the salty Parmesan and fresh spinach in a light cream sauce, what’s not to love?
Now the great thing about this dish is how versatile it is, serving it as either a light main dish or a side dish. We served it alongside the pan roasted lemon chicken, although I may have had this orzo as a main dish instead. After all, when Parmesan and pasta is involved, I have no self control. I just kept telling myself that with the fresh spinach, this was really a salad.
Parmesan and Spinach Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 cup orzo pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 ½ cups spinach, roughly chopped
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in Parmesan until melted, about 1 minute. Add orzo and gently toss to combine; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Thank you so much for this excellent recipe !
I just saw this and had some spare orzo, so I decided to whip it together! It was delicious! I didn’t have spinach, so I sautéed some jalapeños with the onions and garlic. It made for a really nice flavor and a touch of green! This will be a perfect side dish in the future. Thank for the fast and tasty recipe!
I love orzo! Such a great combo – I’ve made a recipe similar to this before using kale and it was equally as delicious!
Just made this and it was great! Used skim milk and whole wheat flour. I also used about 2 1/2 cups of spinach (what I had on hand) and 1 1/2 cups of broccoli florets instead of onion (just emptying out the fridge and using what i had on hand). It was really really good, thanks for the recipe!
This was great. I made it as a side dish for lemon garlic tilapia and it was a great great meal. Thanks for these amazing recipes!!
Could you replace regular milk with Almond milk?
You can certainly use almond milk but please remember that by using a substitution, I cannot speak for how much this will change in the overall taste or texture of the dish. I recommend using the specified ingredients listed in the recipe whenever possible for optimal results.
I don’t eat orzo often enough, but this is making me crave it bad! Creamy parmesan and spinach with pasta is always a winning combination.
Pingback: Menu Mondays
Love orzo!
This looks fabulous, were about to go on holiday, so I’m gathering some special recipes to try while via-vaca, this will surly be on the list…thanks so much!
We are orzo eaters for sure! My boys love that fun little pasta that looks like a form of rice, but is actually a teensy noodle 😉 The creamy parm and spinach is absolutely perfect for this. This post is making me hungry right now!
This is classic!! a perfect dish for my son! Creamy Pasta is always best!!
Oh wow this looks and sounds amazing. Never thought to make a creamy orzo dish 🙂
I’m all about cheesy orzo!
I want a big bowl of that “salad” right now!
I love orzo, this is comfort in a bowl!
mmmmmm now THIS is an orzo recipe I can get into! Looooove!
Love that due to the fresh spinach, you tell yourself this is a salad 😉 I like the way you think and I love this cheese-y bowl of soon to be happening orzo!
This looks AMAZING!!! I make something very similar but I add in cherry tomatoes and basil… Which reminds me…I need to blog that! Thanks for the reminder! Love love your site and pics 🙂
Oh yum I have some orzo that’s been looking for a purpose.