Mediterranean Orzo Salad

To be honest, now that we are entering fall, it doesn’t quite seem appropriate to share this Mediterranean orzo salad with y’all! This chilled orzo salad is so tasty and colorful, so it feels like more of a summer dish. But considering it doesn’t actually get cool here in Charlotte until later, it’s basically still late summer here. Plus this salad is just so good, I just have to share!

I had to make it one last time for the summer because I was CRAVING kalamata olives. Funny enough, I actually only recently started liking olives. I think maybe something changed within me during pregnancy. But now I seriously cannot get enough of them!

This recipe makes a pretty big amount, so when I made it last week, I ate on it every day for almost a week for lunch!

This is a dish my mom makes a lot and I’m not sure where she got the original inspiration from, but she kind of tweaks it every time she makes it and I’ve since tweaked it a bit since she told me how she makes it too!

This would be really great for a barbecue or picnic because you can make it ahead of time and its kind of a refreshing side. It’s not as heavy as a pasta salad with mayonnaise, plus it’s packed with lots of tasty veggies! It’s really one of my favorite side dishes.

Plus all of the colors from the veggies makes it really gorgeous to serve!

It also goes without saying that you can use another type of pasta noodle if you prefer. Bow-tie pasta I think would also work fine in this dish. I think orzo is perfect though because you can really get more of all of the veggies in one bite with how small the orzo is.