This easy, delicious, parmesan orzo recipe is so delicious and so simple. It's a one pot pasta that takes less than 25 minutes to make. And though it develops a creamy consistency with the help of pasta water, parmesan cheese, and a touch of butter, there's no heavy cream in this recipe. You'll be surprised by how perfect this simple quick side dish really is.
This Parmesan Orzo Recipe is a great way to add a comforting element to weeknight dinners. You can serve it with almost anything- a perfect side dish for simply grilled chicken, fried chicken cutlets, pork chops, or even a big nutritious salad. It's really just so easy to make, and you probably already have most of the ingredients on hand.
How to make Parmesan Orzo
This easy orzo pasta recipe calls for just a few simple ingredients and about 20 minutes of your time.
Ingredients
It has just 7 ingredients, including butter, salt, and pepper. Sometimes the best Italian-inspired recipes are the most simple to make.
- A box of Orzo Pasta (or other small pasta shape like ditalini or elbows)
- Lemon peel (removed from lemon with a peeler)
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Freshly grated black pepper
- Butter (salted and unsalted are both fine)
- Freshly grated nutmeg (optional, but highly recommended. Nutmeg and parmesan is such a delightful nutty combination)
- Kosher salt
See recipe card for exact quantities
Parmesan Orzo Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Bring 2.5 quarts of water and lemon rind strips to a boil in a medium-large pot. Salt the water until it tastes as salty as soup. When the water boils, remove the lemon peels from the water using a spider, and discard them.
Step 2: Add a box of orzo and boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally so the orzo doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Use instructions on the box as a guide, and start tasting after 6 minutes so you don't overcook the orzo.
Step 3: Once al dente, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water then dump the orzo through a colander. Return orzo to the pot, add the butter, reserved pasta water, and fresh nutmeg, and stir for 1 whole minute.(IMPORTANT) This step helps create a starchy creamy sauce while also cooling down the pasta. This way the cheese, which is added in the next step, doesn't clump.
Step 4: Quickly stir in the parmesan cheese and a pinch of salt (to taste) If your pasta water is salty enough, you may not need to add salt.
Step 5: Serve the delicious parmesan orzo alongside your favorite protein or vegetable and enjoy!
Variations
- Boil the pasta in chicken broth or chicken stock. If you want the creamy orzo dish to have a little more depth of flavor, you can use one of these instead of water. It'll taste a little more soup-like in the end.
- Add fresh herbs like fresh parsley or basil
- Add protein like ground chicken sausage. Cook it in a separate pan, then top the parmesan orzo with the chicken sausage after both are finished cooking.
- Type of pasta: You can make this recipe using other small pastas too, such as stelline, baby elbows, or dittalini.
- Make it spicy: add a teaspoon of Calabrian chili peppers when you add the butter and pasta water.
Possible Parmesan Orzo Recipe Substitutions
A couple ways to tailor this pasta dish to various dietary restrictions:
- Make it gluten-free: Simply use gluten-free orzo or whatever gluten-free little pasta you can find.
- Another gluten-free option: Make this recipe using rice. Cook the rice with some lemon zest per package directions. Then just add the butter and parmesan like the recipe states. Or follow my recipe for Risotto Cacio e Pepe
- Dairy-free: This recipe undoubtedly has lots of dairy. If you have a dairy free parmesan option you like, absolutely try making it with that. And simply use olive oil or vegan butter in place of regular butter.
Making sure the cheese doesn't clump
This article from Just Kitchin evaluates many ways to prevent the cheese in cacio e pepe and other cheese-forward pastas from clumping. The main goal is to maintain enough heat to melt the cheese but reduce the heat enough to keep the cheese from clumping and becoming stringy.
For this recipe I recommend using cold butter and stirring for 1 whole minute to cool down the orzo just enough.
Recipe
Print
Easy Parmesan Orzo Recipe
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 as a side dish 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Method: pasta water; one pot pasta
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 lb of Orzo Pasta (or other small pasta shape like dittalini or elbows)
- The rind of 1 lemon (removed from lemon with a peeler)
- 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon of black pepper
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- ¼ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
- Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Bring 2.5 quarts of water and lemon rind strips to a boil in a medium-large pot. Salt the water until it tastes as salty as soup. When the water boils, remove the lemon peels from the water using a spider, and discard them.
- Add a pound of orzo and boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally so the orzo doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Use instructions on the box as a guide, and start tasting after 6 minutes so you don't overcook the orzo.
- Once al dente, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water then dump the orzo through a colander. Return orzo to the pot, add the butter, reserved pasta water, and fresh nutmeg, and stir for about 1 minute. This step helps create a starchy creamy sauce while also cooling down the pasta. This way the cheese, which is added in the next step, doesn't clump.
- Quickly stir in the parmesan cheese and a pinch of salt (to taste) If your pasta water is salty enough, you may not need to add salt.
- Serve alongside your favorite protein or vegetable and enjoy!
Keywords: parmesan orzo recipe