- 180g uncooked orzo
- 150g baby spinach leaves
- 150g button mushrooms, finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp bouillon powder (vegetable stock)
- 400ml boiling water
Am I the only person in the world who wonders why Italians make rice-shaped pasta? I remember trying orzo for the first time 9 years ago – it was an orzo and sun-dried tomato salad from Marks and Spencer’s. I was very confused at first as I’d never even seen orzo in Hong Kong before, but since then it’s become a regular ingredient on my shopping list.
Why orzo?
Reason 1:
I love carbs – pasta, rice, noodles, potato… All sort of carbs! I know it’s probably not that healthy to eat carbs all the time and I am trying to cut down my consumption, but… I can’t help it!
Reason 2:
Orzo has a much shorter cooking time than rice so it’s perfect for a busy / lazy person like me, especially after a long week at work and the gym. Most evenings I return home late and exhausted and don’t want to spend the entire evening cooking and washing up so orzo is perfect!
Reason 3:
Orzo tastes really good the day after cooking, so it is ideal for a bento box – tomorrow’s lunch sorted!!
This dish is super easy to cook, you just need to do a bit of chopping beforehand.
Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan, add the minced garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes until the garlic starts to golden.
Add the sliced mushrooms and toss for 2-3 minutes.
Once the mushrooms have softened slightly and are starting to brown in colour add the boiling water and orzo to the pan. Season it with salt, nutritional yeast, and bouillon powder.
Bring to the boil and then reduce to medium-low heat. Cover with the lid and let the orzo simmer for 10-12 minutes until the it’s tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
Finally, add the baby spinach. Stir it into the orzo and just cook for another 1-2 minutes. Serve warm and delicious!
One-pot orzo with mushrooms and spinach is comforting, effortless, and most importantly, delicious. This is an immensely satisfying one-pot meal, using simple ingredients and easy to cook, it’s ready to eat in less than 20 minutes!
If you’re interested, you can check out my other quick and easy pasta recipes here.
Let me know if you try out this recipe. You can leave a comment below, or take a picture and tag it with #k33_kitchen and share it on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, hope you enjoy my recipes!
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Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 2
Prep.: 5 mins | Cook: 20 mins
Ingredients:
Instructions:
- Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan, add the minced garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes until the garlic starts to golden.
- Add the sliced mushrooms and toss for 2-3 minutes.
- Once the mushrooms have softened slightly and are starting to brown in colour add the boiling water and orzo to the pan. Season it with salt, nutritional yeast, and bouillon powder.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce to medium-low heat. Cover with the lid and let the orzo simmer for 10-12 minutes until the it’s tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
- Finally, add the baby spinach. Stir it into the orzo and just cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Serve warm and delicious!
Added lemon juice! Amazing!