Greek-style lemon orzo salad with cucumbers, feta, lemon, and lots of herbs like parsley and mint, fresh-tasting and perfect for the summer days.
This lemon orzo salad with cucumbers, feta and mint is one of the most refreshing pasta salads you could imagine. Full of flavor, comforting, just perfect as a side dish for grilled meats or as a light meal on its own.
We grilled on Friday! Last Friday, that is one week after we had a snowy Friday. The Friday before last there was Christmas on Easter and this Friday we had like 20 degrees Celsius. Not quite normal, I would say, but still we were soooo happy to have such a sunny warm day so early in spring. So we decided to take this chance and have the first and probably earliest ever barbecue party in the garden.
Why this intro about grilling? Because one of the things we ate alongside the meat was this wonderful lemon orzo salad. I had an open bag of orzo pasta and wanted to make a pasta salad, so I searched for a recipe on Pinterest and found this orzo salad.
It was so simple and so good I just had to post it as soon as possible in case somebody will be searching for a pasta salad for their own first grilling opportunity this year.
I made quite a lot of it and we had some other things to eat as well, for instance, this amazing Romanian Garlic Dip with Sour Cream and Tomatoes and a Simple White Cabbage Salad – Romanian Recipe, so there were leftovers.
So happy about that! I think the salad tasted even better the next day.
Pin it for later!
More pasta salads?
Feta Pasta Salad – Greek Style – A hearty feta pasta salad with green peppers and tomatoes, pasta salad Greek style. Pretty bow tie noodles, feta, fresh vegetables like tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers.
Creamy Deviled Egg Pasta Salad – Simple and creamy deviled egg macaroni or pasta recipe with bacon, Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, and gherkins, a wonderful way of using some of those leftover hard-boiled eggs from Easter.
German Noodle Salad – Noodle salad with peas, gherkins, and a creamy dressing, this is one of the most popular potluck German pasta salads in our region.
Lemon Orzo Salad
Ingredients
- 300 g/ 10.6 oz dry pasta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 1 large cucumber
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon mint chopped (optional)
- 125 g/ 4.4 oz feta crumbled
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the orzo pasta according to the packet's instructions. Drain, let cool for a few minutes, place in a bowl, and mix with the olive oil.
- Deseed and chop the cucumber. Add to the pasta bowl together with the herbs, feta, and lemon zest. Add lemon juice to taste and keep what is left, you might want to add some more of it to the salad just before serving.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, cover the bowl with plastic foil, and place in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- Just before serving adjust the taste again with some more lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I find the salad tasted even better the next day.