One Pot Tomato Orzo

A pan of tomato and orzo pasta with a wooden spoon.

5 from 1 vote

The perfect family-friendly weeknight dinner, this easy and cheesy Tomato Orzo is a one-pot meal everyone will love. Ready in under 30 minutes with basic ingredients, enjoy alone or with your family's favourite protein.

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Total Time30

Course: Dinner, One Pot

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: servings

Calories: 336kcal

Author: Carrie Carvalho

Equipment

Large frying pan or skillet

Ingredients

200 grams orzo (1 cup orzo = 200g)
1 onion diced
1 rib of celery diced
2 cloves garlic diced
1 medium carrot diced
1 tbsp Tomato paste
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock I use one very low salt stock cube
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes (14oz can of diced tomatoes)
1 tbsp olive oil Or whatever you prefer for cooking. Butter also works.
small bunch fresh parsley or basil chopped
50 grams grated cheddar cheese or Parmesan or mozzarella
Salt and pepper adjust to serve - omit/reduce salt for babies and young children as required

Metric - US Measures

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat.
Add the diced onion, celery and carrot (plus optional pinch of salt) and sauté for about 5 minutes until softening.
Stir in the garlic and tomato puree and cook for another 2 minutes before stirring in the orzo and tinned tomatoes.
Pour over the stock, stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes until the orzo is tender and the liquid has reduced.
Annoyingly, orzo likes to stick to the bottom of the pan so make sure to give it a stir every few minutes.
Once the orzo is cooked, stir in the cheese and chopped parsley then season as required with salt and pepper. Add extra cheese to serve.
Optional - stir through half the cheese then scatter the rest on top and bake till golden and bubbling.

Notes

I find this recipe to easily feed 2 adults and 2 children, but you may need to adjust depending on your family's appetite and ages of children etc. There are buttons beside the Ingredients heading in the recipe card to allow you to increase the quantities.

Nutrition