How to Make Italian Orzo Pasta Salad

Today on the stay at home chef , I'm showing you how to make Italian orzo pasta salad .

This cold pasta salad is perfect for summer picnics and backyard barbecues .

We're going to start by cooking our orzo pasta .

Bring a pot of water to a boil and then pour in your orzo pasta .

Cook it according to the packaged directions , which should take about nine minutes while the pasta is cooking , we can go ahead and prep all of our other ingredients .

We're going to be using four ounces of sliced olives , four ounces of mini pepperonis , one green bell pepper , chopped up and about a quarter cup of chopped pepper chini .

We're also going to use a pint of sliced tomatoes .

And I have an amazing trick for you when it comes to slicing tomatoes , take a handful of cherry or grape tomatoes and put them on your cutting board , then take a lid with a flat surface on it .

I'm using a clear lid today and press down on those tomatoes , then take your knife and the lid will hold them still and just run them across and you'll slice all of them at once .

Isn't that amazing ?

Seriously , this is so much easier than slicing them one at a time .

Once our pasta has finished cooking , we're going to drain it and then rinse it with some cold water .

Then take that pasta and pour it into a large mixing bowl .

Add in your tomatoes , olives , pepperoni , bell pepper and pepper .

Now , I know that a lot of recipes for pasta salad .

Have you used a bottled dressing ?

But not me .

I love cooking from scratch .

So first we're going to pour in two thirds of a cup of olive oil .

A quarter cup of white vinegar .

A teaspoon each of oregano and salt .

And then last of all , a half teaspoon each of onion powder , garlic powder , sugar and dried parsley and a quarter teaspoon .

Each of black pepper and basil just stir this all together .

Ideally , you want to chill this salad in the fridge for about an hour , but it's good to go the way it is .

But you know what I'm gonna add in one last ingredient , some cubed mozzarella cheese .

I can't help myself .

I love fresh mozzarella cheese and it makes this salad irresistible , homemade can be so simple and so delicious .

You can find the full written recipe in the video description .

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See you later .