This Greek Orzo with Lemon and Herbs makes the best side dish for fish, chicken, steak, lamb or shellfish. You can even serve this with roasted veg and keep it vegetarian.
It is quick to cook and packed with flavor. In under 15 minutes, you can have this fresh and delicious pasta side dish ready for the table.
You can serve it hot or cold and it tastes wonderful the next day, making it great for lunchboxes.
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Orzo Pasta
Orzo is a small shaped pasta. Its small size makes it perfect for serving as a side dish.
You can read more about Ozro over in my Meatball Orzo post.
How to make Greek Orzo
To give this the wonderful flavors of Greece, we start by frying onion and garlic in plenty of extra virgin olive oil. The orzo is added along with oregano, dill and lemon zest. This is cooked for a minute and then broth/stock is added. (I use chicken stock but you can easily use vegetable broth)
Once everything is cooked the finished orzo is dressed with a little more lemon zest, a spritz of lemon juice and a final drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Delicious, simple perfection!
What to serve with Greek Orzo
The beauty of this side dish is you can literally serve it with almost anything. Whilst it is Greek Inspired, the flavors work just as well with a steak as they do greek chicken breasts.
Some of our favorites to serve with it are:
- Greek Salmon
- Greek Chicken with Oregano
- Lemon Dill Chicken
- Greek Chicken Thighs
- Steak with Blue Cheese Butter
- Scallops with Lemon and Paprika
How to store leftovers
This Orzo pasta makes a great lunch the following day. To ensure the pasta is still perfect, you want to drizzle over about 1 tablespoon extra olive oil (I like extra virgin olive oil here). This stops the pasta from clumping together.
Place it in an airtight container and it will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
You can take it for lunch as it is, or add some poached chicken, smoked salmon, or leftover steak.
Enjoy x
For other great pasta side dishes why not try:
- Easy Creamy Four Cheese Pasta
- Easy Creamy Herb Pasta
- No Cream Italian Herb Pasta
- Tomato Orzo Salad
- Risoni with Spinach, Parmesan and Basil
- Creamy Lemon Basil Pasta
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Greek Orzo with Lemon and Herbs Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil – plus more to serve
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried dill
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup orzo
- 1 lemon
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable/chicken broth – see note 1
- Fresh dill – optional garnish
Instructions
- Finely chop the onion and garlic.
- Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the onion, garlic, and salt, then cook gently until softened (about 2-3 minutes)
- Add in the oregano, dill and black pepper. Then stir in the orzo until well coated in the oil and herbs.
- Add the zest of the lemon and then pour over the broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer the orzo for 10 minutes or until cooked through. (There should be very little liquid left once cooked – see note 1)
Notes
- The orzo is cooked in simmering stock. It should absorb all of the stock with maybe a little left at the end of cooking time. This can just be drained away. If you find your broth has evaporated your heat may be too high, but don’t worry, just add extra broth or salted boiling water until the orzo is cooked.
Nutrition
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Chris says
I love that you can change the servings and it calculated it out! 😮 thank you! Can’t wait To try
Claire McEwen says
So pleased you like the feature, it is something I love too 🙂