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I made the Greek Baked Orzo last night and it was delicious. My husband had two servings. Great one pot dish and very tasty too. Definitely will be making it again.
This recipe is sponsored by DeLallo
Lightly tomato-sauced-up orzo baked in a skillet with red peppers, kale, chicken – or chickpeas – and a topping of feta, lemon juice, and fresh dill is something that I am never disappointed to eat on a chilly weeknight in November.
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Greek Baked Orzo:
In fact, it is kind of the perfect thing for that still-needs-something-cozy-but-already-overdid-it-on-the-old-favorites time of year, which seems to be about now. The soups have been made, the curries have been devoured, the tacos have been on repeat, and now it’s just a good time to introduce something fresh, zippy, and different.
Honorable mention to the health factor here, because this recipe is full of kale, red peppers, tomatoes, and chickpeas if you wish. All these flavor-rich, cozy veggies provide a good contrast to some of the more, what’s a good word here, comforting? heavy? buttery? recipes that seem to get put on repeat every weekend.
Healthy? Cozy? This one can check both boxes for us.
The thing about orzo is that it’s one of those types of pasta that can kind of get lost in obscurity, but whenever I make it I find myself thinking: I NEED TO MAKE THAT MORE.
I use (and have used, for a long time!) DeLallo pastas, and orzo is no exception. DeLallo also makes tomato paste, fire-roasted tomatoes, and canned chickpeas, all of which were put to use for this Greek Baked Orzo masterpiece.
The whole process of making this recipe is so simple and the flavor… the flavor! It honestly had me snacking on the last orzo bits straight out of the pan. Like, the little semi-browned bits that were stuck to the edges after baking? I know you know what I’m talking about.
This recipe practically requires that you make it your own – add some chicken meatballs, rotisserie chicken, chickpeas, more vegetables, kalamata olives. You are ready to take this and run.
Also: having a strange craving for no-knead bread with this, which doesn’t exactly make sense but also with olive oil for dipping and some extra orzo for scooping… definitely does make sense.
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Greek Baked Orzo
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Greek Baked Orzo! Lightly tomato-sauced orzo baked in a skillet with red peppers, kale, chicken – or chickpeas – and a topping of feta, lemon juice, and fresh dill.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 cups kale, chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- a tiny pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup uncooked orzo
- one 14-ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1–2 cups cooked chicken or chickpeas
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 1–2 tablespoons butter (optional)
- 1/2 cup feta for topping (optional)
- 3 tablespoons dill for topping (optional)
- lemon squeezies for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large oven-safe skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion. Saute for 5 minutes or until soft.
- Add the garlic, red pepper, kale, oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt. Saute for 5 minutes or until the kale is wilted.
- Add the tomato paste. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the orzo, canned tomatoes, chicken or chickpeas, and broth. Bring to a simmer.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes until the orzo is soft.
- Finish by stirring in butter, crumbling feta over the top, and dusting with some fresh dill, lemon juice, and freshly ground black pepper. YEAH BABY.
Equipment
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Buy Now → Notes
If you want the feta to get soft, just crumble and then put it back in the oven for 5 minutes or so before serving.
I normally use an enameled cast iron pan for this, and I find that the orzo likes to stick to the bottom of the pan. But it should release fine with some gentle pressure from a spatula or wooden spoon and then you’ll be good to go! If it persists, here’s How To Clean A Cast Iron Pan That is Very, Very Far Gone.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Greek-Inspired
Keywords: Greek recipe, orzo recipe, baked pasta recipe, vegetarian pasta
Thank you to DeLallo for sponsoring this recipe!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of yummy kale recipes. Check it out!
I just wanted some suggestions about how to cook the chicken do you just use shredded chicken or pan seared chicken? Do you use some sort of specific seasonings or do you keep the chicken pretty plain? Thank you so much. It looks like an awesome recipe.
As an Orthodox Christian we are always looking for fast friendly meals and this was amazing( omitted the feta)!! And , as a shopper at Dellalo’s I definitely had thier orzo on hand. This is a 10 out of 10
In what world can someone in these comments refer to this recipe as “bland”?? This was delicious! Even my 7-year-old “picky” eater ate it!
Another family staple that is requested by our (now adult) kids. I always add some cooked chicken (for my hubby) but it’s good without it, too, and I always do the chickpeas. It’s a great way to use up kale from the garden – any type works, and I often throw in extra, since it’s good for us too.
This was excellent. I was a little worried because I don’t generally like chickpeas or kale, and I saw a couple comments saying that the recipe was bland. That was definitely not the case. It was delicious. My entire family liked it, including my picky kids. Nice to find a healthy, vegetarian meal, as I’m trying to lower our meat consumption. This will definitely go into our rotation. Thank you.
This recipe was delicious and so fun! This was my first time cooking with orzo and I loved it!
Make sure to put it in the oven uncovered. I forgot to do that and it was a little soupy, although that was fixed easily with a tad more time in the oven.
Added it to the list of husband approved recipes!
This was a hit for my family tonight. I loved making it- fast and easy. My family loved eating it- the depth of flavor was amazing. The “optional” feta, butter and dill really made the dish pop.
This was delicious!! I used Tuscan kale and added sautéed shrimp after I took it out of the oven. Def will make again!
I want to make this for a potluck dinner. How long can I keep it in a refrigerator?
yum
Wow this was a dream! I added black olives and used chicken instead of chickpeas and even my super picky son loved it. This will on my weekly rotation now, thank you so much for sharing!
This was great, I had no kale so used baby spinach and didn’t bother with chicken but put two cod loin on tip as it went into the oven. It was gorgeous!
Not sure the point of this being baked. It could just be done on the hob.
I made this recipe with chicken and added white beans and kalamata olives and it was so darn good. I highly recommend adding the feta and returning to the oven for a few minutes. We opted to garnish with dill and added juice from lemon wedges and oh my! The flavors were so amazing and complex. I highly recommend this recipe
I made this recipe with chicken and added white beans and kalamata olives and it was so darn good. I highly recommend adding the feta and returning to the oven for a few minutes. We opted to garnish with dill and added juice from lemon wedges and oh my! The flavors were so amazing and complex. I highly recommend this recipe
I really enjoyed this, Lindsay, and so did all the six-strong household. I had found orzo in the cupboard that I’d forgotten about, and remembered how much I had enjoyed it (but forgotten details) so looked online and founds lots of recipes but yours looked the best. And it was!
Almost everything I cook is Greek, and a lot of this recipe isn’t Greek at all, so I was intrigued. Overall, the flavor is okay, though I added way more garlic than called for. Lemon is never optional.
The proportion of orzo to everything else is way off. There should be two cups uncooked orzo and more broth to account for that. Otherwise, not bad. Not authentic but not bad.
Delicious and easy! This was a perfect recipe for a weeknight meal. I paired it with some Greek turkey meatballs. I will definitely save this one and make it again 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I love the fact that it doesn’t dirty many dishes and it’s very easy to throw together yet incredibly flavourful. Thanks for a great recipe.
As is, this was very bland. The main taste came from the feta which was not what I wanted. When I added additional spices, though (black garlic salt, white pepper, extra chili flakes, chicken bullion) it was pretty good. Didn’t have enough kale for the second time around but spinach worked well.
I just read the ingredients and instructions and had to comment how beautiful this is already. Thank you.
My favorite go-to week night recipe! It’s absolutely delicious. I must have made it 50 times. Each time I add in whatever veggies I have on hand (today: broccoli and spinach!) in addition to what you call for. And I double up the beans and tomatoes to make more for leftovers for the week. 10/10 recommend
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times and LOVE! So easy and great flavours. Last night, I didn’t have orzo on hand, but had pearl couscous and it worked pretty much the same. Perhaps could have 1/4 – 1/2 cup less liquid with the couscous, but I kind of enjoyed the silky sauciness with the same amount of liquid. Just a note in case anyone is trying this with a different shape of starch / pasta!
This was excellent! I love your blog. Your recipes are always wonderful!
I made this with protein penne pasta and it worked great! Didn’t add in chick peas or chicken. Will be making this again!