Tomato Cucumber Orzo Salad is a beautifully colorful yet super simple, quick summer side dish for all your garden tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh basil! With creamy salty feta cheese and a quick dressing shaken in a jar, you'll want to come back to this light and fresh pasta salad again and again!
- From the Garden! - By late summer my garden is overrun with tomatoes, cucumbers and basil! This trifecta finds its way into lots of our meals and we love it for its simple fresh summer flavor!
- Easy and Customizable! - Keeping things basic means even my kids like this orzo salad, but it's also easy to add extra veggies you might have, or canned chickpeas to bump up the protein.
- Love Fresh Summer Salads? So do we! Use your tomatoes and cucumbers on this Blackened Chicken Chopped Salad, or check out lots of summer side dish ideas with these 24 Summer Salad Recipes!
Jump to:
Ingredients & Substitutions
Keeping things very basic, this recipe features just a few very fresh ingredients! If they are straight from your summer garden or the farmer's market, all the better!
- Orzo Pasta - We love salads made from this rice shaped pasta! You could easily swap other small pasta shapes like bowtie, small shells, orecchiette, or ditalini. Try this Lemon Orzo Pasta Salad or this Arugula Orzo Pasta Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes too!
- Tomato - You can really use any type of fresh summer tomatoes, but I especially like using some cherry tomatoes. They hold up well in the salad, have great flavor, and if you have a combination of red and yellow, it looks really nice! If you grow tomatoes, check out these 21 Ways to Use Tomatoes without Canning!
- Cucumber - Adds fresh crispness, and I'll take any chance to use up garden cucumbers!
- Red Onions - The sharp zing from a few red onion slices really gives this pasta salad the right balance. If you're not an onion person, you could use milder shallots, scallions or chives.
- Feta Cheese - Salty briny feta is my go-to for pasta salads! I like to buy it in a block that comes in a tub of brine and crumble it myself for the best texture and flavor.
- Homemade Vinaigrette - A simple vinaigrette salad dressing can be made up in a jar and shaken to emulsify! Don't skip the fresh clove of garlic, it really adds so much flavor! Red or white wine vinegar would both be fine.
- Basil - Lots of fresh basil is more than just a garnish, it adds a huge boost of flavor and feels like summer!
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
This salad is as easy as cooking the pasta, shaking up the dressing, and tossing everything together!
Step 1 - Cook the orzo pasta in boiling salted water, about 8 minutes.
Cool the pasta by either draining it under running cold water, or setting the drained pasta in the fridge.
Add the dressing ingredients to a jar with a lid and shake to emulsify.
Step 2 - Add about half of the chopped cucumber, tomato, red onion slices and crumbled feta to a mixing bowl with the orzo.
Toss well with some of the dressing, you won't need all of it.
Step 3 - Add to a serving bowl and then arrange more of the chopped ingredients over the top so the salad looks full and abundant!
Some of the basil can be chopped and tossed it, but garnish with plenty more over the top!
Recipe Notes & Tips
- Toss Some, Arrange Some - I love this little tip that applies to almost any salad. Toss some of your ingredients in the bowl with the dressing, but save some to add over the top. This gives your salad a gorgeous presentation without the best part sinking to the bottom of the bowl!
- Adjusting the Portion Size - This salad is an easy one to eye-ball the amounts. I used a generous amount of cucumber and tomato, but these amounts don't need to be exact, add what looks right to you. This salad serves about 6 people as a side dish, maybe 4 people if it's the only side dish and the servings are bigger. You can easily adjust it up or down for a small weeknight dinner, or a larger party.
- What to Serve it With - Tomato Cucumber Orzo Salad is perfect for simple weeknight dinners in the summer when you want to use your fresh ingredients! It's also great for the summer holidays, cabin weekends, grill outs, and goes well with burgers, brats, grilled chicken, Grilled Steak Kabobs, or really any main course.
- Storage - Leftover orzo salad can be kept in the fridge an eaten within the next day or two. Extra dressing will keep in the fridge for a month and can be used on any salad. Let it come to room temperature and shake to emulsify.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, this is a great salad to make ahead! Just cook the pasta and run it under cold water. Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl but don't mix. Shake up the dressing in the jar and keep it separate. Then just refrigerate and toss everything together with the dressing when you're ready to serve! You'll want to let the dressing come to room temperature before using. You could also make the salad completely, tossed with the dressing, about an hour or so before serving and keep it in the fridge. The pasta will soak up the dressing so just add a bit more if it seems dry.
This salad is so simple and basic that you can easily add ingredients to your liking. Try adding canned chickpeas, sliced red bell peppers, kalamata olives, avocado, fresh arugula, or sun-dried tomatoes.
The short answer is no, both are completely edible. However, do make sure to pick your cucumbers when they are smaller. Overgrown cucumbers can be full of seeds and have tougher skin.
More Garden Fresh Salad Recipes!
If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it! Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!
Follow Sungrown Kitchen on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for loads of garden recipes! Be sure to Join the Email List for new recipes delivered straight to your inbox!
Tomato Cucumber Orzo Salad
Hit the stars to rate this recipe!
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 1 cup orzo pasta (uncooked)
- 1½ cups cherry tomato sliced in half
- 1 cucumber chopped (about 1½ cups)
- ½ cup feta cheese crumbled
- ⅛ cup red onion thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh basil
For the Dressing
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 grinds fresh black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
- 3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Cook the orzo pasta in boiling salted water, about 8 minutes. Drain and cool (either run under cold water before draining or set drained pasta in the fridge).
- Add all the ingredients for the dressing to a jar with a lid and shake well to emulsify.
- Chop all ingredients. Add about half of each to a mixing bowl with the orzo, including some dressing, and toss well. Some basil can be chopped and tossed with the salad.
- Transfer to a serving bowl, arranging the remaining ingredients and more dressing over the top. Garnish with plenty of fresh basil.
Notes
- Tomatoes - You can use any kind of tomatoes, including larger or cherry tomatoes, about 1.5 cups when chopped. A combination of yellow and red is nice!
- Basil - Be generous with the fresh basil, chop some and toss it in the salad, and add more leaves on top to garnish.
- Pasta Shape - Any small pasta shape could be used such as bowtie, small shells, orecchiette, or ditalini.
- Cool the Orzo - Cool the pasta any way you like. You can run it under cold water before draining, or set it in the fridge if you aren't assembling the salad immediately.
- Dressing - Red or white wine vinegar can be used. You won't need all the dressing for this salad. Extra can be stored in the fridge for months, just let it come to room temp before shaking and using on any salad.
- Nutrition Info includes all the dressing, even though you probably won't use it all for this recipe.
Leave a Review