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So, it snowed this past weekend. That was all sorts of lovely. Maybe now with global warming the new saying will be, “April snow showers will bring May flowers.” haha
If you’re experiencing the unusually colder April weather or just looking for a great springtime dish, this one is calling your name! This arugula spinach pesto orzo salad is loaded with veggies and flavor. We loved serving this cold but it’s also great warm. This would make an excellent picnic dish or to bring to an outdoor potluck that has a nice pop of color. Nothing in this dish would spoil and it’s great at any temperature. I promise you that everyone will be going back for seconds and you’ll be leaving with an empty bowl!
Arugula Spinach Pesto Orzo Salad
Ingredients
- ½ pound (227 g) orzo pasta
- 1 pound (454 g) asparagus, cut into thirds
- 12 ounces (340 g) roasted red peppers, diced
- 8 ounces (227 g) roasted baby beets, diced
- ½ cup (80 g) diced red onion
- ⅔ cup (165 g) arugula spinach pesto, (add 7 ounces of baby spinach to the recipe for arugula pesto and add more olive oil if needed)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Shaved parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook orzo pasta according to directions on package. Reserve the liquid and just use a slotted spoon to drain the pasta and place into a large bowl.
- Use the same water that you cooked the orzo in and bring up to a simmer and add asparagus. Cook for 5 minutes then drain well and place asparagus in an ice bath (bowl of water with ice in it). Once asparagus has cooled, add to pasta bowl.
- Add the diced red peppers, beets, red onion, and arugula spinach pesto to the pasta bowl. Season with salt and pepper and stir all together until everything is coated in the pesto.
- Top with shaved parmesan cheese.
- Serve warm or cover and pop in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
I’m new to your blog (hate the adds) I printed your recipe, arugula spinach salad. I love orzo in anything but I have a question about the pesto in this recipe. It’s winter in Nebraska and there is a real shortage of arugula, roasted beets’. :-) What do I do? I am enjoying your recipes. I enjoy the Asian ones the most. I am building the staples in my cupboard so I’ll always have what I need.
Thank you so much,
Hi Nancy, welcome to the blog. I’m sorry to hear that you hate the ads. I think for being able to get free recipes in exchange for ads is a good trade-off! Just to give you a little background information: the ads support the website by compensating me for ingredients and the upkeep of the site (did you know I pay $210 a month to just keep this blog up and running on a web host? That isn’t even add in the cost of ingredients for recipe testing and all the hours I spend on here writing, etc.). Now, to answer your question – you could use baby spinach in replace of the arugula or another type of tender leafy green. For the roasted beets, you could omit or I know there are jarred pickled beets if that’s your thing! Hope that helps :)
You don’t mention the ingredients or directions for the spinach, arugula pesto:(((((
Also, how can I keep my beets from turning all the other stuff red?
Sorry, it was linked but somehow became unlinked. I’ve fixed it. I add my beets in last and gently fold. They still turn some of the ingredients red but not as much.
I made this over the weekend and it was delicious, however, the beets turned everything red. Does anyone know how to stop this? Your colors look so pretty and vibrant!
This looks so delicious and colourful! I love orzo pasta so I’m definitely going to try this, would be great as a side at a summer bbq!
This just screams Spring! And I love pesto, so this is a huge win in my book :) Let’s hope the snow is done until the end of the year now!