Orzo Chickpea Pasta Salad is a great summer side filled with feta, dill and lots of lemon.
Orzo Chickpea pasta salad is a light, flavorful pasta salad with the zesty flavors of lemon and feta; garbanzo beans bump up the protein in this simple side. It’s a great side to eat with this Lemon-Dill salmon.
It is so refreshing and lemony and easy. Easy is key. Plus, it’s great leftover and is meant to be eaten chilled or room temp which makes it an ideal make-ahead dish.
Perfect for picnics, to pack in your lunch or to have at home for a quick meal. Don’t you just love having good stuff leftover in your fridge? This holds up well for a few days so it can definitely get you through a few meals.
Another benefit of mixing the orzo with the beans and feta, you are getting more protein and less carbohydrates per serving. When my husband and I eat this we get about 6 servings out of the dish (3/4 to 1 cup) using 1 cup of uncooked orzo, which means you’re only getting half of a serving of pasta each time you eat it. This is filling and satisfying!
If your kids wouldn’t eat this, then you could cook up extra orzo and toss it with some pesto or a little butter.
This post was originally published July 2011. Original photos below:
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- 1 cup uncooked orzo
- 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), washed and drained
- ½ cup sliced green onions
- ½ cup crumbled feta
- ¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
- ¼ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Cook orzo in boiling water according to package directions. Drain, rinse in cold water and set aside in a large serving bowl.
- Once cooled down a little, add garbanzo beans, green onions, feta and chopped dill.
- Mix lemon juice, olive oil, garlic salt and black pepper in a separate small bowl and stir with a whisk. Pour lemon dressing on to pasta salad and stir well. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
Recipe modified from Cooking Light
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Oh yum, that sounds so great-will make it soon! Just love the orzo and like you said makes a nice light salad–especially with that lemon and dill–hadn’t thought of the garbanzos-great combo! Another good idea to inspire your mom dear daughter! xo ps already made to pesto salad (as soon as we got home from Missouri) was was wonderful-kept for days and got better and better!
Salads like this just scream summer! Looks delicious!
Will take your advice and try this some pesto and butter. It was not so popular with the kids. Though, personally. I loved it.
The recipe is missing the instructions for what to do with the oil and garlic. It looks as if it got deleted in an editing pass. Of course, it will be obvious, but worth fixing for new cooks! Looks delicious. Will definitely make this for lunch!
When do you add the garlic, olive oil and salt? Directions are incomplete. Thank you.
Hi Elizabeth,
Sorry about the delay. The directions actually are not incomplete. “Mix lemon juice through black pepper in a separate small bowl and stir with a whisk”. That means mix everything listed starting with lemon juice until the end of the ingredient list, which is black pepper. Hope you figured it out in time and were able to enjoy it!