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.
Did you make this recipe?
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I’m only seeing a video, no written recipe. Am I missing something? Love your blog and would love to try this!
Hi Tricia! There was a system glitch last night but all recipes have been restored. I recommend clearing your cache to view the recipe. SO SORRY for the inconvenience!
So flavorful and easy to make! We loved it!
This is so delicious! I will definitely be making this part of our regular lineup! It’s hearty, savory, and packed full of vegetables. Thanks!
This is a banger. It’s crazy good. And that’s after doubling the amount of Orzo. Added dried morel mushrooms which I felt really complimented the parmesan.
This. Was. Goo0d. Thank you for a new recipe that both my husband and I enjoyed. I looked up “mushrooms and spinach” recipes because I had some of each on hand, and I found this one. I had all the necessary ingredients (including a box of orzo that needed to be used); the recipe came together in stages easily enough (I appreciated the detailed timing of each step); the dish smelled fragrant as it perfumed the house, and it tasted, well…you know, delicious.
Creamy and delicious! The recipe has that “add flour and whisk” instruction that makes me feel like a chef. The kitchen smelled incredible while the mushrooms and shallots were cooking with the garlic & thyme. This is one of the recipes I like enough to hand-write on an index card for the recipe box. That’s a rare recipe.
Sooooo good! I served as a side with Tilapia.
Can’t wait to make it again.
Next time will make as a main!
This was soooo good. So easy to make turned out better than I expected as a new chef definitely recommend and making again ♥️♥️
We’re so happy to hear that you enjoyed this so much, Sajidah!
First of all I love this site!
I have had such good luck with your recipes, many of them go into regular rotation after just trying once. Kudos to you, Chungah! I made this recipe and we really enjoyed it (I’m not one of those people who likes to alter the recipe in a make a comment about how it’s an improvement). But I didn’t have any fresh spinach so I added a box of frozen Spinach when I added the vegetable broth, and let it “defrost” and cook into the sauce and then added the orzo last. We like ours a little more garlicky so I did add quite a bit more garlic and we put a splash of lemon juice on each serving at the table. This was super delicious!!!
I made this for dinner this week and it was a hit! I added chicken for additional protein and sprinkled some red pepper flakes on top while serving. The red pepper flakes added a nice kick to it. I’ll definitely make this again.
That’s great!
Looks delicious!
I made this other day added Grilled Chicken breast cubes and used chicken stock in place of vegetable. It was AMAZING!
Awesome!
Prepared exactly per recipe! Simple ingredients disguise how totally savory this recipe is! A+ Chunga! Thank you again for a winner!
Thank you so much!
I made this last night and each bite was as delicious as the bite before it. I didn’t want the dish to end. The sauce was tasty, creamy, and perfectly balanced.. I halved the recipe for 2. I didn’t have half and half so I used whipping cream. I also added a scant tablespoon of butter to the oil. For everything else I followed the directions. I will add this to my rotation. It’s a keeper. Thank you for this recipe and many others. You know what you’re doing!
Awesome Glenda! So happy to hear you loved it!
this looks absolutely amazing. I just need to buy a few things and this will be in my belly
.
sidenote: this recipe is 6 weight watchers freestyle points.
Good to know, thank you! Some chicken breast and a salad or maybe another veggie side and I would be super happy with that meal.
Still haven’t tried orzo but this really makes me want to try! Thanks for sharing (:
It’s so yummy! Definitely worth a try. If you love pasta, you’ll love orzo!
What do you think about quinoa rather than orzo?
That’s definitely a healthy alternative. You’ll just have to adjust the cooking times etc. to your best judgement.
Can’t wait to make this!!
The instructions say chicken broth, but ingredient list says vegetable broth.
How weird – it says vegetable broth on both ends for me! 🙂
In the video instructions it says chicken broth:)
Yes, but you can easily switch to any broth you’d prefer 🙂
Sounds delicious!
One question: How do you suggest shredding the baby spinach?
You can shred using a knife. 🙂
Chungah and Leann, it might be easier to shred the spinach by rolling up the leaves
and using a scissor on them.
What can I sub the half & half with?
You can substitute with whole milk, although the “creaminess” factor can vary quite a bit.
I have read through all the comments to find if anyone had asked what is ‘half and half’.
The last comment and your reply leads me to think it must be half fat milk. Is that a correct assumption ?