Name: Green Veggie Orzotto
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 onions (finely diced ); 2 garlic cloves (crushed); 10 cherry tomatoes; 300 g orzo; 1 vegetable stock cube (made in 1ltr hot water); 250 g fresh greens; 200 g frozen peas; 110 g green beans (trimmed and cut 2cm); 1/2 lemon (zested and juiced); 15 g fresh basil (chopped); 50 g grated pecorino; 1 sweet red chilli peppers (diced )

Last updated on March 31st, 2024 at 12:58 pm

Have you ever heard of orzo? How about orzotto?

No, I hadn’t either. Orzo looks like rice but it is pasta. Now doesn’t that sound great? We made into a healthy veggie dinner for the whole family so it became orzotto, like risotto.

The kids like it better than risotto as it has the pasta texture and this Orzotto isn’t as wet and what my kids call gooey like risotto. You can use it in all your favorite pasta dishes too. Spaghetti nights just got a whole lot more interesting. It’s the perfect size for weaning little tots too.

Green Veggie Orzotto for a healthy dinner

5 from 1 vote

Green Veggie Orzotto

pasta at it's finest

Course dinner

Keyword orzo, orzotto

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Calories 455 kcal

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions finely diced
2 garlic cloves crushed
10 cherry tomatoes
300 g orzo
1 vegetable stock cube made in 1ltr hot water
250 g fresh greens
200 g frozen peas
110 g green beans trimmed and cut 2cm
1/2 lemon zested and juiced
15 g fresh basil chopped
50 g grated pecorino
1 sweet red chilli peppers diced

Instructions

Heat oil in large deep saucepan or wok.
Fry onions until soft. Add garlic for 1 min.
Add orzo and stock and mix well.
Simmer for 5 mins.
Remove thick stalks from greens and shred leaves. Stir into orzo with peas and green beans.
Simmer for 5-10 minutes, keep stirring.
You might need a little extra stock until veggies are all cooked and orzo is creamy and soft.
Stir lemon juice, basil, pecorino, and sweet chilli peppers.
Serve with cherry tomatoes on the side and lemon zest on top.

This was a hit with my kids. They have never shied away from veggies and this dish is bursting with colorful vegetables too. Since they started eating solids I have always offered at least two vegetables every night and always different so they didn’t become reluctant to eat new ones. or dependent on ones they knew they liked. So far, all three are not fussy eaters, thankfully. It definitely helps getting them involved in cooking and shopping for food too.

Do your your kids get involved in the kitchen?

Think veggie orzotto is too out of your family’s comfort zone with big veggies, try cutting all the green vegetables up really small, more like diced so the pasta is the main focus. Or try orzo on your next spaghetti night first. Baby steps when introducing new recipes to the family will be easier to broaden their taste buds.

*We first shared this recipe on our socials when we teamed up with Tesco as part of a campaign. This is in no relation to that and recipe has been used and modified numerous times to suit our families tastes so we thought we would share our version here. This is no an ad or campaign.