Creamy Mushroom Spinach Orzo
This creamy, hearty orzo dish makes for the best vegetarian side dish ever! Loaded with mushrooms, spinach and freshly grated Parmesan cheese for the most amazing garlic Parmesan cream sauce. You can also add chicken and turn this into a main dish!
How bad is it that this was my dinner 4 nights in a row?
I don’t think I can eat any more orzo. Or mushrooms. Or spinach.
But I think I can give the Parmesan cream sauce a pass for now.
(Who are we kidding, right?)
But really, this orzo makes for such an amazing easy peasy veggie side dish.
It starts with a simple saute of mushrooms and shallots before your garlic cream sauce comes to magic.
With a little bit of flour, vegetable broth, half and half, and freshly grated Parmesan, this will truly be the cream sauce of your dreams.
Add chicken for a full meal, or keep it completely vegetarian.
Either way, it’ll be for dinner 4 nights in a row.
You’re welcome.
Creamy Mushroom Spinach Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 cup orzo pasta
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups low sodium vegetable broth
- ½ cup half and half
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cups shredded baby spinach
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and shallot, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in vegetable broth, and cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in half and half and Parmesan, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in orzo and spinach until the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
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I added chopped chicken thighs to this and used low A1C three farmers daughters orzo. This was absolutely amazing. It’s on our rotation now. Thanks!
How does this reheat? I was thinking of taking it for my lunches for the week.
What would be a good substitute for the mushrooms?
I love this recipe, delicious!
Delicious! My changes: doubled the mushrooms, used chicken stock instead of vegetable, subbed in some butter for about half of the olive oil, didn’t measure spinach. Served with pan-seared salmon.
I did not think I needed another orzo recipe, but I was wrong. This was so good! I knew I wanted a main dish, so I upped a few of the ingredients, but the essence remained the same. I never have shallots, so I used red onion (which I always have on hand). I doubled the mushrooms, used 1-1/2 cups orzo, 2 cups broth, and the same amount of the other ingredients. A teaspoon of dried thyme worked beautifully. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you for sharing this recipe, it was delicious as a side with oven baked chicken thighs.
My husband and I love this recipe! I double the mushrooms and add Italian seasoned chicken (cubed) for some protein. Creamy mushroom orzo will always have a spot in our dinner rotations!
I wonder how I might use Tofu rather than chicken. If so how should I prepare the tofu?
Great as a side or an entree. The only change I made, was crisping up the mushrooms, but that’s a personal preference 😉
This was a great side for cashew crusted chicken. Very yummy!
Delicious! I didn’t have mushrooms or spinach so I made it with a can of french green beans and onion and it was so good.
Wow! Just made this exactly as recipe states! I was afraid 3 cloves of garlic would over power the dish but it was just perfect. Next time I will probably add more spinach just to add the nutrients! So darn good! Thank you for a fabulous recipe!!!
This was delicious! I was concerned it was too much sauce but the orzo soaked it all in. So creamy, flavorful, and packed with healthy spinach. Thank you!
This dish was SOO GOOD I had to leave a review. Normally I follow the recipe to a T the first time and then make adjustments the next time around. This dish was so perfect, there’s absolutely nothing I would change. My boyfriend went back for a huge second bowl. This is definitely one of my favorite orzo dishes!
Can’t wait to try this looks and sounds delicious!
Do you think this can be make ahead and frozen for later?
Can you double the recipe and freeze it?
I made this last night. I used chicken, arugula, 2% milk, Penzeys seasoned salt and Penzeys ground black pepper. With so much liquid, I had to add an additional 1/2 cup orzo. Like most 0ne-pot dishes with orzo, the orzo gets lost…thus, the 4 stars. I would definitely make this again but use a larger pasta.
So easy and fun to make. The consistency was perfect! I was inspired by a similar risotto dish served to me at a restaurant. You could substitute risotto, I think. I used dried thyme and was not too happy with the flavor. Do you have any other seasoning suggestions?
can you substitute quinoa for the orzo?
I wouldn’t think the two are interchangeable. I think this would be more interchangeable with something like long-grain rice.