Description
This Roasted Garlic Orzo Salad comes together in just 30 minutes and is topped off with a delicious roasted garlic dressing for a healthy vegetable loaded salad you won’t be able to get enough of!
Ingredients
Scale
Orzo Salad
- 2 tsp onion powder, divided
- 1 tsp garlic powder, divided
- 1/2 tsp white or black pepper
- 1/4–1/2 tsp salt based on preference
- 1–2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp neutral oil of choice (I used avocado oil)
- 1 block (450g) of extra firm tofu, pressed and drained then cut into cubes
- 1 bunch fresh asparagus, ends trimmed off and cut into small pieces
- 4 cloves of garlic in their wrapper, lightly crushed
- 1 1/2 cups dry orzo pasta
- 1/4 cup marinated artichokes
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
Dressing
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Juice of one small lemon
- 1 tbsp liquid sweetener of choice (I used maple syrup)
- 1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
- 4 cloves roasted garlic from above
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Set oven to 400F and bring a pot of salted water to a boil on the stove top.
- On a large lined baking tray or two separate trays add tofu and asparagus.
- Sprinkle overtop the onion powder, garlic powder, white pepper, salt, nutritional yeast and oil.
- With your hands toss everything together and carefully spread it out to make sure the asparagus and tofu pieces are not laying on top of each other.
- Add your lightly crushed garlic cloves (with a drizzle extra oil) to the pan and pop into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes then remove from the oven.
- Add orzo to the pot of boiling water and cook according to box instructions, making sure to stir regularly.
- Once cooked, drain the orzo and place in a large bowl then top with the tofu, asparagus, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and parsley.
- When garlic is cool enough to handle, remove the skins and mash with a fork in a bowl and add the remaining dressing ingredients and mix very well to combine.
- Once mixed, pour over your orzo and vegetables and toss together to coat well. Serve warm or cool it in the fridge for an hour before serving.
Notes
To make sure your orzo doesn’t clump together as it cooks, make sure to stir your orzo as it’s boiling in the pot. This will prevent the orzo from clumping at the bottom.
Don’t rinse your orzo after it cooks. Just drain it. Rinsing it will remove some of the starches needed to help coat your salad properly and adhere all the yummy bits of the sauce.
