This garlic parmesan orzo is a delicious and easy side dish. It's made with orzo pasta, spinach, garlic, and parmesan cheese. It's quick to throw together and can be ready in just 20 minutes.
What is Orzo? What is Orzo Pasta?
Orzo is a type of short cut pasta shaped like a large grain of rice. It's named Orzo because it's Italian and the name means barley. Orzo used to be made from barley rather than wheat. It's the perfect base to this orzo and parmesan recipe.
Orzo, rice-shaped pasta, is very versatile. It can stand up to many different types of cooking. You can boil and drain off the liquid, you can cook it until the liquid absorbs, or you can cook it risotto style.
Spinach parmesan orzo recipe:
This orzo pasta with spinach and parmesan only take a few minutes to make. We love enjoying this recipe with a grilled chicken breast or grilled steak. It only takes about 10 minutes to cook.
This creamy garlic parmesan orzo can be made even creamier. You can add a splash of cream after the pasta has cooked. You will love this cheese garlic parmesan spinach orzo.
Creamy spinach parmesan orzo is the perfect side dish to these other delicious recipes.
Simple Oven-Baked Chicken Breast
Tips for making this Creamy Parmesan Orzo Pasta:
- Melt butter and saute the garlic for a couple of minutes before adding the other ingredients.
- Stir the parmesan orzo pasta every 2 minutes while it cooks to make sure the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Instead of cooking the pasta in water, use chicken broth. It makes the parmesan Orzo have even more flavor.
- If you love it extra creamy, add a splash of cream in the pasta after it's finished cooking.
Garlic Parmesan Orzo
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Butter salted
- 1 ½ Tablespoons Garlic Minced
- 2 ⅔ cups Chicken Broth
- 2 cups Spinach raw, fresh
- ½ cup Parmesan Cheese grated works best
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 16 ounce package Orzo Pasta
- ¼ cup Cream to add at the end, optional
Instructions
- Cut spinach into ½" slices and set aside.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter. Add the garlic and stir until garlic is fragrant and just starting to turn a darker color. Add the chicken broth, spinach, parmesan cheese, salt, and Orzo pasta. Stir lightly and cover with a lid.
- Turn heat to low and Stir every 2 minutes. Cook the pasta a total of 8-9 minutes. The cheese should be melted and the pasta cooked al dente which means firm but not hard in the middle. There should be a little chew in the pasta.
- Take off the heat and add the cream (if desired) cover with a lid for a couple more minutes. This will allow the pasta to soak up the rest of the liquid. If desired, sprinkle a little more parmesan on the top and some fresh minced parsley too. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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Caroline
This is delicious! Made it for the second time tonight. It would be way to much for 3 so I cut the recipe in half - decided to after the spinach was cut up so still used most of it. It had to sit a few minutes while the chicken finished cooking so used a splash of milk just before serving!
Thanks for a easy, tasty side dish!
Jen
I made this w/ a few variations. I halved the recipe since I was using it as a side dish. I sautéed the rice a little before adding broth and also used a bit extra broth and added peas at the end. It was great and all gone. Next time will make a whole recipe!
Andrea
Nowhere near enough liquid or time to cook the pasta. I had to add almost 2 additional cups of broth and it easily took 20+ minutes. The flavor was fine, but after adjusting the liquid by that much I had to improvise of the spices to the point where this recipe is just kinda pointless.
The Carefree Kitchen
Shoot, Sorry yours didn't turn out how you were hoping. I went back to the drawing board, added more liquid and a splash of cream at the end. Thanks for the feedback.
Tasha
Tasty side dish! I did find that it required more liquid to thoroughly cook the orzo which also required more of the other ingredients to sustain the recipe. It also needed cream but i didn’t have any so I substituted with Alfredo sauce. Would make again.
The Carefree Kitchen
I love the idea of alfredo sauce, sounds amazing!
The Carefree Kitchen
I updated the recipe to include more liquid. Thanks for the feedback!
Ann Gorski
I used broccoli cut into small florets instead of spinach. I also needed at least 3/4 cup more liquid. I used about 1/2 cup chicken broth and 1/4 cup heavy cream. I will definitely make this again! I loved the garlic flavor.
The Carefree Kitchen
Thanks for the feedback, I updated the recipe.
Sonia
Has anyone tried this cold as a pasta salad?
Claire
Pasta turned out with a “sticky” texture. Highly recommend adding a splash of cream.