Sun Dried Tomato Orzo (One Pot)

I love making meals that I can cook in a single pot or skillet – it saves me clean-up time! One of my favorite One Pot recipes is my Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo, a deliciously decadent (and surprisingly healthy) meal that is easy to make and tastes incredible!

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This recipe is one that I’ve been wanting to share with you for awhile, but each time I planned to make it, something came up. But today is the day!

This Sun Dried Tomato Orzo is a fabulously easy recipe to cook, subtly creamy, and it is a perfect way for me to use up some more of the Giant Canister of Orzo that I had left after making my Easy Avgolemono Soup with Orzo Recipe last month.

What Is A One-Pot Recipe?

It is exactly what it sounds like – a recipe that you can make entirely in a single pot! For this recipe, I am going to use a heavy, ceramic pot or sauce pan, with a handle and tight-fitting lid like this one.

You can certainly use a small dutch oven if you want to prepare a larger amount of this incredibly tasty and creamy dish!

And you can even make this Sun Dried Tomato Orzo in a high-sided skillet with a lid, if you prefer.

The Perfect Recipe For Late Spring

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ll notice I try to make fun and healthy seasonal recipes to share with you.

So in the winter I’ll focus more on healthy pastas and hearty soups and as the weather warms, I tend to share recipes on the lighter side, like my Fresh Shrimp Spring Rolls or Vegan Somen Salad.

It’s late Spring now and I thought a nice Orzo-based recipe would be perfect for this time of year.

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What Is Orzo, Anyway?

Orzo is a type of pasta even though it looks like rice.

Even I still confuse it with rice sometimes!

Although it is technically pasta, orzo just doesn’t feel as heavy to me as other types of pasta, such as a thick linguine noodle or one of my Low Carb Keto Raviolis.

What Makes This Recipe For Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo Unique?

There are several similar recipes online. In fact, I was inspired by this amazing recipe for a nice, Creamy Sun-dried tomato Orzo with Spinach from TheFeedFeed.com.

And what I found with the recipe linked to above, as well as many other variations of this recipe, was that many recommend using dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes.

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While there is nothing wrong with using dry-packed tomatoes, this extends the preparation time of this recipe because these dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes must first be re-hydrated before cooking.

My recipe calls for using jarred sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil like these, instead.

This serves two purposes, it cuts down on the overall time (preparation time + cooking time) to make this dish and saves an ingredient (olive oil) because you can simply use the olive oil that the tomatoes come in as the base in which to saute your ingredients.

In another recipe here on SeasonalCookbook.com, I also provided a similar time-saving recommendation.

I was able to reduce the preparation time of my Copycat Applebee’s Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe by over 20 minutes simply by recommending using canned artichokes versus peeling the artichokes yourself.

Do you ever try to think of easy ways to save cooking and preparation time, too? If so, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE share some of your time-saving recipe hacks in the Comments Section below!

How Long Does Orzo Take To Cook?

Since Orzo is a pasta and not a type of rice, it absorbs water quickly and cooks quite a bit faster than rice.

I typically prefer using Orzo as a starchy foundation for many of my recipes, versus serving them over rice or making a risotto.

I love risotto, don’t get me wrong, but I wanted to make this recipe for lunch and only had about 20 minutes to prepare it!

For the amount of Orzo I’m using in this recipe (2 cups) it took about 8-10 minutes for the Orzo to cook, which is somewhat consistent with other online recipes for this dish, such as this delicious-looking One Pot Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo from Half-Baked Harvest.

Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo – The Ingredients

1 8 oz jar of Sun Dried Tomatoes in olive oil

2 Cups of Regular or Whole Wheat Orzo

2 Cups Chicken Broth – roughly one 12 ounce can (Chicken Stock is fine, too)

1 tbsp of minced garlic

1 cup of fat-free milk

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2 tbsp of Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Grated Parmesan Romano Asiago Cheese (to taste) – Grated Parmesan or Parmesan Romano works, too!

1 Fresh Lemon

3-4 Pinches of Salt (optional ingredient – not shown in photo)

3-4 Pinches of Pepper (optional ingredient – not shown in photo)

2 ounces raw spinach leaves (optional ingredient – not shown in photo)

Sun Dried Tomato Orzo – Recipe Equipment Needed

A heavy ceramic pot with a nice, tight-fitting lid like the one shown above (sometimes referred to as a deep sauce pan) was the perfect piece of recipe equipment to use for making my One Pot Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo.

There is a similar heavy, ceramic sauce pan like the one I used currently on sale on Amazon.com.

A serving spoon is also an essential tool since the Orzo can easily stick to the bottom of your pot. (Note: If you’re worried about scraping your pot, simply use a plastic or hard rubber spoon like this one from Greenlife’s Colorful Cookware Series.

A measuring cup like the one shown above is very handy – here’s the exact same one on Amazon.com.

I measured the Orzo in it, first, and then used the measuring cup to measure the liquid (Chicken Broth), second.

Preparing The Ingredients

The first thing I did to get ready to cook this recipe, was simply slice my fresh lemon in half – this way it would be ready to squeeze or zest as soon as I needed it.

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Secondly, I poured the oil from the jar the Sun Dried tomatoes came in, into my heavy pot that I had already placed on my stove top (DO NOT TURN ON THE HEAT YET OTHERWISE THE OIL WILL BURN).

Once the oil was poured from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, it was much easier to remove the Sun-Dried tomatoes and chop them into smaller pieces – I actually like large, chunky, sun-dried tomatoes, but I know not everybody does).

I placed the two-halves of the sliced lemon and the chopped sun-dried tomatoes on a plate so that they would be ready as soon as I needed these ingredients (see photo above).

Next, I used my measuring cup to measure out 2 Cups of dried Orzo (don’t ask me what I did with that photo!)

I then dumped the Orzo from the measuring cup into a separate plate so that it would be ready for later.

Finally, I opened my can of chicken broth and poured it into the measuring cup.

With the ingredients sufficiently prepared, I was ready to finally start cooking!

Below you will find my Recipe Card with links to all of the ingredients used in this dish, as well as Step-by-Step detailed recipe instructions for making this deliciously Creamy One-Pot Sun Dried Tomato Orzo.

Is There A Vegetarian Version Of This Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo?

Astute readers will notice that this recipe is not quite vegetarian due to the use of chicken broth.

To make a Vegetarian Sun Dried Tomato Orzo, simply use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.

How Can I Make A Chicken Sun Dried Tomato Orzo?

Use the same ingredients shown above, including using the chicken broth or chicken stock as a base and just add some chopped, cooked chicken pieces.

How Does Your Recipe Differ From The Half Baked Harvest Sun Dried Tomato Orzo Recipe Found Online?

That recipe is certainly popular and looks delicious, however it uses sausage, which I know many people love, but wasn’t an ingredient I wanted to add.

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Also, the Half-Baked Harvest Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo called for a much larger serving size of Orzo, more appropriate for feeding an entire family, whereas my recipes are usually intended for just myself and my wife – I am usually just Cooking for Two!

Have You Tried Making a One-Pot Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo?

If so, did you do anything differently? Did you take any inspiration from my recipe? If so, I would love to hear what you think in the Comments Section Below.

Happy Cooking!