Caramelized Onion Orzo
I wanted to serve orzo as a side dish for dinner. I decided to make it extra special by adding caramelized onion to it along with sautéed minced garlic and fresh parsley. The orzo was flavorful and delicious – my husband and I loved the onions! My son, on the other hand, couldn’t believe I would ruin pasta with onions! My daughter didn’t say much about the orzo but ate it all so I’ll take that as a good sign. Simple and fast – perfect for a weeknight side dish.
How to Make Caramelized Onion Orzo
Heat a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Side Note: If the onion starts to get dry, add a little bit of water to moisten them up. You can also add more olive oil if you prefer.
When the onions are 10 minutes from being done, cook the pasta, per instructions in salted water. Drain.
Add the minced garlic to the finished caramelized onions and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
Add the pasta to the onion mixture along with the fresh parsley then season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Toss to mix thoroughly. Serve immediately. Enjoy.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small sweet yellow onion diced
- 1 cup of orzo cooked per instructions
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
- Parmesan grated (optional)
Instructions
- Heat a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Side Note: If the onion starts to get dry, add a little bit of water to moisten them up. You can also add more olive oil if you prefer.
- When the onions are 10 minutes from being done, cook the pasta, per instructions in salted water. Drain.
- Add the minced garlic to the finished caramelized onions and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the pasta to the onion mixture along with the fresh parsley then season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Toss to mix thoroughly. Serve immediately. Enjoy.
I love the idea of caramelized onions, that’s brilliant. I usually toast the raw orzo in a pan with a dab of butter until it’s light golden color and then instead of using water, I use chicken broth, which has been very good, but with your addition of the onions, it will be MUCH better, thank you for sharing.
Your son’s reaction is hilarious!! lol I adore caramelized onions.. actually, it’s the one way I really enjoy eating them…. this is a fantastic idea! Can’t wait to try it!
I would love this dish.
I laughed when I saw your son’s comment! I love onions, so this looks delicious to me!
Fabulous side idea, Pam! We love orzo but I tend to lose creativity with it once in a while. Thanks for sharing!
Sometimes your son sounds like my youngest fussbudget! Ruining the pasta, indeed! I made brown rice the other night, and said son basically refused to eat it. Can’t win them all. This sounds like an idea that could be used with barley, too.
Caramelized onions make a great compliment to orzo. Nice dish!
I love caramelized onions so this sounds like a winner to me!
Funny about your son and onions. I ran into that at Thanksgiving when I decided to zip up my cheese sauce broccoli. One of the zippy ingredients was onions. Boy howdy there were two very disappointed people in the group because I ‘ruined’ my broccoli with cheese sauce. I thought it was great and they were in the minority. So you get my vote for your recipe.
Looks good to me.
I just made this, it is delicious! I might add some cherry tomatoes to it next time.
caramelized onion has become a red flag for me, meaning that when i see it in a title, i want to eat that dish. 🙂
I still pretend orzo is rice even though I know better now. Thought it was the tenderest rice forever.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Light and bit buttery. So good. I even forgot the garlic! Will definitely be making this again!