Orzo pasta salad is filled with black beans, corn, sweet bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onions and fresh cilantro. This southwestern pasta salad is perfect for lunch or served as a side dish.
Why make this salad
My family is a huge fan of pasta salads. I often make up one and store in the fridge for one to two days. The kids eat it for lunch or snacks. If it's in the fridge, they will eat it up.
This is also a perfect salad to pack in a lunch box. I switch between this orzo pasta salad, a couscous salad and a quinoa salad.
Key Ingredients
- Orzo - a small rice shaped pasta. If you don't have orzo, you can substitute small macaroni pasta.
- Black Beans - One can of beans, rinsed and drained, or you can make your own from dried beans.
- Frozen Corn - Can use fresh too, just cook, cool and remove from the cob.
- Cherry tomatoes - Any small cherry or grape tomato works
- Bell peppers - Red, yellow or orange
- Red onion - You could also use a white or yellow onion.
- Fresh cilantro -. If you aren't a fan of cilantro, you may use fresh parsley.
- Fresh lime juice - Fresh squeezed is best!
Additional Add Ins
If desired you can easily add almost anything you think would work into this salad. Some ideas include:
- Chopped cooked chicken
- Leftover chunked salmon
- Chopped avocado
- Black olives
- Finely chopped jalapenos
Tips for making
- After cooking orzo, drain and rinse with cold water.
- Drain and rinse canned black beans.
- Cut all veggies to a small dice with a consistent size.
- Quarter tomatoes
Frequently Asked Questions
This salad will last for up to 4 days if kept covered and refrigerated. Just give a quick stir before using.
Yes, this salad can be made ahead of time. Just cover and refrigerate until serving time. You can also serve right away at room temperature.
Rinsing the orzo does three things - it stops the cooking process, it removes the excess starch and it cools the temperature of the pasta.
Other great salad recipes
If you love summer salads as much as we do, you'll want to check out these other recipes too!
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Be sure to check out all my delicious salads!
Orzo Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon smoked paprika (or regular paprika)
- ⅛ teaspoon chili powder
Salad
- 1 cup orzo pasta (uncooked)
- 1 can black beans (15.5 ounce can, drained and rinsed)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (quartered)
- ½ cup red onion (diced)
- 1 cup bell peppers (diced)
- ½ cup cilantro (chopped)
- 1 juice from one lime
Instructions
Dressing
- Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
Salad
- Cook orzo according to package directions. Drain into a sieve and rinse until cool.
- Add cooked pasta, rinsed black beans, corn, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and cilantro into a large mixing bowl. Toss to mix.
- Squeeze lime juice over pasta mixture.
- Add prepared dressing and mix gently until well coated.
- Serve or cover and refrigerate.
Notes
- Chopped cooked chicken
- Leftover chunked salmon
- Chopped avocado
- Black olives
- Finely chopped jalapenos
- Use a small salad macaroni in place of the orzo pasta
- Use fresh chopped parsley instead of cilantro
- Use a white onion instead of a read onion
- Use regular paprika instead of smoke paprika
Karen says
Can you eliminate the salad dressing and use ranch dressing or another kind of dressing?
Kathy says
Sure! That should work just fine!
Enjoy 🙂
David @ Spiced says
We love orzo salad here, too! Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since we've made one. It's hot here, and I'm all about the summer salads right now. This one sounds like it's packed with summer flavor! Pass me a spoon please. 🙂
Mary Ann | The Beach House Kitchen says
I love pasta salads with orzo Kathy! And the ingredient list here is pushing all my buttons. Perfect for lunch, dinner and meal prep for the week. I can't wait to give it a try!
Kathy says
Enjoy!!! 🙂
Dawn - Girl Heart Food says
I love pasta salad, especially this time of year! This one looks packed with flavour and I could easily enjoy as is, without anything else, and be quite happy 🙂
Kathy says
I often eat just this salad for lunch and it's totally satisfying!