Salad with Grilled Vegetables, Orzo, and Feta

This tasty Salad with Grilled Vegetables, Orzo, and Feta has all the flavors of summer in a tasty meatless salad combination. Just use cauliflower rice for a low-carb version of this tasty salad. 

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I’ve always been a fan of orzo, so I was thrilled when I discovered whole wheat orzo. And I’ve already made the Salad with Grilled Vegetables, Orzo, and Feta featured in this post three times and gobbled it up each time. But the orzo in the salad does add quite a few carbs, and I’d love this salad just as much with quickly-cooked cauliflower rice replacing the orzo, so take your choice on that! You could also make something like my Grilled Zucchini Greek Salad if you’d like a grilled vegetable salad without any pasta or cauliflower rice.

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

• Whole Wheat Orzo (affiliate link)
• zucchini
• red bell pepper
• Italian Herb Seasoning (affiliate link) or other dried herb seasoning
• green onions
• fresh basil
• fresh oregano
• canned black olives
• Feta cheese
• olive oil
• Red Wine Vinegar (affiliate link)
• Dijon mustard (affiliate link)
• Dried Oregano (affiliate link)

What is Orzo?

If you’re not familiar with orzo, it’s a tiny pasta shaped similar to rice but slightly bigger. It’s often used in soups and pilafs, but it’s also a perfect pasta salad ingredient because it lets the pasta take a supporting role and puts the spotlight on the other ingredients.

Where Can You Find Whole Wheat Orzo?

In Salt Lake I can find Whole Wheat Orzo at Whole Foods. You can also get Whole Wheat Orzo (affiliate link) at Amazon.com if you don’t find it in your store, or just use one of the alternatives mentioned above. (If readers know of a store that carries whole wheat orzo, let us know in the comments.)

How can you make this salad low-carb or gluten-free?

Orzo is made with wheat, but for a gluten-free alternative I think brown rice would also be great in any salad that uses whole wheat orzo. And if you want a low-carb version of this tasty grilled vegetable salad, just make some of my Best Easy Cauliflower Rice and use that instead of the orzo.

How to make the grilled vegetable salad:

(Scroll down for complete recipe with nutritional information.)

1. Cook the orzo until it’s barely al dente (follow package directions for cooking time) and then drain and let cool. (Or cook brown rice or Cauliflower Rice if you want a gluten-free or lower-carb version.)
2. Cut the zucchini and red bell peppers into fourths and brush with olive oil and Italian seasoning. (I used Penzeys Pasta Sprinkle, which has sweet basil, Turkish oregano, thyme, and garlic; any similar dried herbs will be great.)
3. Grill the vegetables on high until they are cooked, but still slightly crisp, about 10-15 minutes.  Turn several times to get lots of grill marks.  Let vegetables cool for a few minutes.
4. While veggies cool, slice the green onions and chop the herbs. (I used a combination or oregano and basil and used a good amount of herbs.)
5. Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon, and dried oregano to make the dressing.
6. When the vegetables are cool, you should be able to pull the skins right off the red bell peppers, or leave them on if you don’t want to bother with that. Cut peppers and zucchini into bite-sized pieces.
7. Put the zucchini and peppers into a bowl large enough to hold all the salad, add about 1/3 of the dressing, and stir so the vegetables are all coated with dressing.
8. Let the vegetables marinate in the dressing while you slice the olives in half and crumble the Feta.
9. Stir in the orzo (or brown rice or cauliflower rice), green onions, and herbs and add just enough dressing to moisten the salad.
10. Then gently stir in the olives and crumbled feta. 
11. Season salad to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper and serve room temperature or slightly chilled.

More Ideas with Grilled Vegetables:

Check out Low-Carb and Keto Grilled Vegetables or Low-Carb and Keto Grilled Zucchini Recipes for lots more tasty ideas using vegetables cooked on the grill!

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep  to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

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Yield: 6 servings

Salad with Grilled Vegetables, Orzo, and Feta

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

This Salad with Grilled Vegetables, Orzo, and Feta has all the flavors of summer; replace the orzo with cauliflower rice if you want a low-carb version!

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat orzo, cooked according to package directions (see notes)
• 2 small zucchini
• 1 large red bell pepper
• olive oil, for brushing vegetables
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning or other dried herb seasoning
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 2 T chopped fresh basil (see notes)
• 2 T chopped fresh oregano (see notes)
• 1 can  black olives, drained and cut in half  (6 oz. drained)
• 1/2 cup Feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

Instructions

1. Preheat grill to high.
2. Cook orzo according to package directions, being careful not to overcook. Drain and let cool while you prep other ingredients.
3. Cut the zucchini and red bell pepper lengthwise into fourths and remove seeds and stem from pepper.  Brush the vegetables on both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with dried herb mix.
4. Turn the grill down to medium-high, then grill vegetables until they are cooked, but still slightly crisp, about 10-15 minutes.  I turned them several times so I had grill marks on all the sides.  Remove vegetables and let them cool.
5. Thinly slice green onions and chop fresh herbs.
6. Whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon, and dried oregano to make the dressing.
7. When vegetables are cool enough to handle easily, pull the skins off red peppers.  (They should come off fairly easily, but no worries if you prefer to leave them on.)
8. Cut the zucchini and pepper into bite-sized pieces and put into a plastic bowl large enough to hold all the salad ingredients.
9. Add about 1/3 of dressing and stir so all the vegetable pieces are coated with dressing.
10. Let the vegetables marinate while you drain olives, cut them into half, and crumble the feta.
11. Add the cooked orzo (or brown rice or cauliflower rice), green onions, and herbs to the vegetables and add enough dressing to moisten all ingredients.  (You may not need all the dressing.)
12. Gently stir in the olives and crumbled feta.
13. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.
14. This salad will stay good in the fridge for several days, but only if you’re able to stop eating it!

Notes

You can use less orzo, or replace the orzo with cauliflower rice if you want fewer carbs. You can use 4 T  of any chopped fresh herbs of your choice such as parsley, mint, thyme, or chives.

Adapted from a recipe by Pamela Anderson for Fine Cooking.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 291Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 3.3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8.9gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 192mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 5.7gSugar: 3gProtein: 9.7g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Salad with Grilled Vegetables, Orzo, and Feta is loaded with low-glycemic ingredients, but to make it more suitable for phase 2 or 3 of the South Beach Diet I used whole wheat orzo and decreased the amount of pasta in proportion to the other ingredients. To make the salad lower in carbs, use even less orzo, or replace it with cauliflower rice for a low-carb salad.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Salad Index to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This grilled vegetable salad was first posted in 2011. It was updated with more information and the option to make the salad lower in carbs in 2021.

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