Salads don’t have to be boring! Here’s a delicious and hearty Orzo Salad Meal Prep for you to try this week! This orzo meal prep is the perfect cold work lunch as its filling and packed with healthy goodness! No boring iceberg lettuce here.
Orzo Pasta Salad Meal Prep
The name of the game here is fast, easy, and a meal prep that can be eaten cold because I lately, I’ve been real annoyed at work’s microwave. For example, the microwave in our work room takes 3-5 separate attempts to pop popcorn because the 2 minutes on high is just not as strong as it should be! So lately, it’s been really annoying having to microwave my meal a couple times and feeling like I’m hogging the microwave as my food is not being heating through the first time around.
So I’ve turned to going back to making cold lunch meal preps! It’s just so much easily to take it out from the fridge and eat it (or put it in a bowl if I’m feeling fancy) instead of wasting my lunch break hovering over the microwave.
This orzo pasta salad meal prep is super easy to make, the only cooking I do for this is the orzo and chicken. If you have leftover chicken, even better since all you’d need to cook then is the orzo. And if you’re feeling like you don’t want to cook at all, just skip the orzo altogether! Seriously, I’d never lie to you about something being easy ;)
What You’ll Need For This Orzo Meal Prep
- orzo
- chicken breasts: here’s how I make shredded chicken in the Instant Pot. You could also shred leftover rotisserie chicken.
- red onion
- spinach
- chickpeas: you can used drained and rinsed canned chickpeas but I like to make my own chickpeas with my Instant Pot
- peas
- asiago cheese
- dressing: I used my lemon basil vinaigrette but with dried basil instead of fresh. If you have another vinaigrette you’d like to use, go for it! However, I found this vinaigrette to pair really well with this orzo meal prep.
What Is Orzo and How To Cook Orzo
Orzo is a small rice-shaped pasta. In traditional Italian cooking, orzo is used in soups and broths due to its cute little size, but it’s also great as a side dish and in pasta salads.
The easiest way to cook orzo is to boil it in a pot of lightly salted water and then drain it as you would like with any other pasta. It cooks to al dente in about 7 to 10 minutes. 1 cup raw orzo will yield 2 cups cooked orzo.
How To Make this Easy Orzo Salad Meal Prep
In a pot, cook the orzo as directed on the packaging (or refer to the above paragraph).
While the orzo is cooking, shred the chicken, dice the onion, cut up the spinach. Make your dressing if you’re making your own, I recommend this lemon basil vinaigrette.
When the orzo is done, combine the orzo with the chicken, onion, spinach, chickpeas, and peas. Sprinkle in some asiago cheese.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Tips and Notes on Making This Orzo Salad
I pack my dressing on the side so I can decide how much I feel like putting in that day.
For more flavour, you can cook your orzo in chicken or vegetable broth instead of water.
If you don’t feel like orzo, skip it entirely and add more chickpeas. This is also a great way to keep things different throughout the week. Have two with orzo and maybe two with quinoa!
I prefer taking my orzo meal prep 10-20 minutes before I’m ready to eat so it’s chilled but not too cold.
I like to use these Glasslock airtight containers to store the meal preps.
Orzo Salad Meal Prep
Ingredients
- 1 cup orzo
- 2 cups shredded chicken
- 1 red onion, diced
- 4 cups spinach
- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or make own chickpeas with an Instant Pot
- 2 cups peas
- 1/2 cup asiago cheese
- Lemon Basil Vinaigrette or dressing of your choice
Instructions
- In a pot, cook the orzo as directed on the packaging.
- While the orzo is cooking, shred the chicken, dice the onion, cut up the spinach. Make your dressing if you’re making your own, I recommend this lemon basil vinaigrette.
- When the orzo is done, combine the orzo with the chicken, onion, spinach, chickpeas, and peas. Sprinkle in some asiago cheese.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
For more flavour, you can cook your orzo in chicken or vegetable broth instead of water. I prefer taking my orzo meal prep 10-20 minutes before I’m ready to eat so it’s chilled but not too cold. Calories do not include the dressing
Nutrition
RESOURCES AND TIPS FOR MEAL PREPPING
- How To Cook Chicken Breasts Perfectly
- What Is An Instant Pot
- Tips To Help You Meal Prep For The Week Successfully
- Tips for Meal Prepping on a Budget
- 7 Freezer Friendly Chicken Marinades
- 5 Freezer Friendly Marinades
- Meal Prep Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mealprepsupport
MORE COLD LUNCH IDEAS TO TRY
- Cold Chicken Spinach Pasta Salad
- Chicken Pepperoni Pasta Salad
- Healthy Chicken Mason Jar Salad
- Cold Chicken Pasta with Broccoli and Peas
- Mango Chili Lime Chicken
Other places to connect with me
Instagram: @carmyshungry
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carmyycom
Email: carmy@carmyy.com
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