This dreamy orzo dish kicked off my love of the little pasta over 5 years ago. Get ready for an easy garlic parmesan orzo pasta with spinach, crispy bacon, and all the veggies you could dream of.
This delicious, healthy one pan dinner is one that you can throw together any day of the week. Everyone loves it thanks to flavorful, crispy bacon. Personally, I’m a huge fan because it’s a great excuse to use up all the veggies in your fridge (including an entire package of spinach!)
I recommend serving this recipe with a side of my best ever garlic bread, because why not?
Everything you’ll need to make this parmesan orzo pasta
This easy garlic parmesan orzo is filled with colorful veggies, tender orzo pasta, and savory bacon. What more could you ask for?! Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Orzo: the base is, of course, delicious orzo!
- Bacon: we’re adding a wonderful, savory, salty element with bacon.
- Produce: you’ll also need garlic, onion, spinach, shredded carrots, red bell pepper, zucchini, and corn. Gorgeous!
- Seasonings: don’t forget plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Chicken broth: you’ll simmer the orzo low-sodium chicken broth to get it tender and flavorful.
- Parmesan: gotta have that melty cheese in every bite! Plus, garlic and parmesan together is just *chef’s kiss*.
- To garnish: I like to finish the dish with lemon zest, lemon juice, and a drizzle of hot honey. YUM.
Our fav ingredient swaps
Looking to customize a bit? Here’s what we can recommend for substituting in this orzo recipe:
- Swap the bacon. Feel free to use sliced, sauteed chicken sausage instead, or even some cooked, shredded chicken!
- Make it vegetarian. A can of rinsed, drained white beans or even roasted, crunchy chickpeas would be the perfect swap for the bacon to keep the recipe vegetarian.
- Up the veggies. Feel free to swap or add in any veggies you’d like as well. Broccoli would be delicious.
Tips for the best garlic parmesan orzo
- Use fresh parmesan. The parmesan that comes out of the green canister often has caking agents in it, so it doesn’t melt well. We want the real deal, freshly grated parmesan cheese for flavor and creaminess!
- Cook the bacon properly. Use good-quality bacon and cook it over medium heat, then switch it to medium-low to prevent burning. You can also cook it in the oven with this tutorial! Feel free to cook it for more or less time depending on how crispy you like it, and blot the excess grease from the bacon when it’s done.
How to store leftovers
Add any leftover orzo to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days. Simply reheat in a microwave safe dish.
Tools you’ll need
Get all of my fav kitchen tools here!
More pasta recipes you’ll love
- Crispy Broccoli Sweet and Spicy Sesame Tahini Noodles
- 30 Minute Brown Butter Goat Cheese Grilled Veggie Orzo
- One Pot Cheesy Mushroom Spinach Beef Pasta
- Sweet & Spicy Hot Chili Chicken Noodles
- Vegan Pasta Primavera with Creamy Garlic Cashew Sauce
Get all of our amazing noodles & pasta recipes here!
I hope you love this easy, delicious garlic parmesan orzo recipe! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Spinach Garlic Parmesan Orzo with Crispy Bacon
Ingredients
- 10 slices uncooked thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks
- ½ cup shredded or diced carrots (from 1 medium carrot)
- 1 medium zucchini, quartered
- ¾ cup frozen or fresh sweet corn
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 12 ounces uncooked orzo pasta (about 2 cups dry orzo)
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 cups spinach, roughly chopped
- ¾ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 small lemon
- 2 to 3 tablespoons hot honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Cook the bacon: Place a large oven-safe skillet or 3.5 qt braiser over medium heat. Add the bacon, stirring occasionally and cook until crispy and golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Once bacon is done, transfer it to a plate lined with a paper towel and set aside.While the bacon cooks, you can chop your veggies.
- Carefully drain the bacon grease (I transfer it to a medium bowl then set aside).
- Cook the veggies: In the same pan, warm 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease over medium heat. Add the add in the onion, bell pepper, carrot, zucchini and corn, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are slightly tender, 5 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, and a few grinds of pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is fragrant, 30 seconds.
- Add orzo and broth: Stir in the orzo and toast in the pan for 1 minute, stirring frequently, to develop flavor. Stir in the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over medium-high heat.
- Bake: Cover and bake undisturbed until the orzo is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and stir in the parmesan and spinach until the spinach wilts and cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Top with lemon zest and lemon juice. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as necessary.
- Top with bacon pieces and a drizzle of hot honey. Add salt and pepper to taste. I like to add A LOT of black pepper into this dish -- it just gives it a really nice flavor! If you think it needs a little extra parmesan cheese, feel free to stir in ¼ cup more. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on March 26, 2019, republished on September 1st, 2021, republished on April 12th, 2023, and republished on May 26th, 2026, with updated ingredients and instructions to bake in the oven.
I echo the sentiment to bring back the stovetop version as an option. I make this every summer when corn is fresh and when I went to make it today the recipe wasn’t what I remembered. Luckily I went to the wayback machine and was able to get the previous version. I completely understand why you might want to update your recipes over time, so no shade on that! I just don’t want to turn on the oven on a day it’s 103 outside. Also I like being able to control how crispy the veggies get on the stove vs. cooking them in liquid in the oven. (Personal preference!)
Totally understand! You can always reach out to us to send you any versions you need or to ask any questions you have 🙂 I’ll have our team send it over!
This is my husband’s most favorite dish! I’ve been making it for years now! I realized the recipe has changed a bit with the addition of chicken broth, honey and now says to use the oven. Do you have the previous version that my family loves so much? Thanks!
So happy to hear that! And yes, I’ll send you a copy via email 🙂
This sounds SO good, but I also don’t want to use my oven with the temps in the mid 90s. I would love your stovetop version. Thanks!
I’ll email it to you!
Very excited to make this dish! Would I be able to use pearl couscous in place of orzo?
Yes absolutely! I recommend 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth + 1½ cups pearl couscous for this. The cook time will remain the same.
I’ve made this SO many times on the stovetop! Is it possible to get this version of the recipe? Also- I need to make it gluten-free. Should I use gluten-free pasta or would rice be better?
So happy to hear that! Yes, I’ll email you the stovetop version 🙂 Either will work – for rice, I recommend: 1 1/2 cups white jasmine rice (rinsed + 3 cups chicken broth). bake at 375 degrees covered for 20 minutes 🙂
Hi Monique. I have thoroughly enjoyed your site for a while now. I made this on the stovetop and it was yummy, but I saw in another comment that you have an actual recipe for that? If so, would you please send it to me? I don’t want to use my oven in the summer. I appreciate all the hard work that goes into sharing a recipe. Thank you so much!
Hi Linda! Yes, happy to send it to you!
I really enjoyed this meal although next time I’ll cook the bacon in the oven. My recipe didn’t mention the corn and I realized at the end I hadn’t added it, so I just microwaved it and added it at the end. I also wasn’t sure what quartering the zucchini meant (other than the obvious) so I quartered it and sliced it into big chunks. After making it, I didn’t think it would have a lot of flavor, but it was really good! Good combo of all the veggies and orzo, nice with the parmesan cheese as well. I can’t wait to make it with fresh corn this summer. This will definitely be a keeper!
So glad you enjoyed! My apologies, I updated the recipe to include the corn in the instructions 🙂 This one’s very forgiving!
I was a little overwhelmed by all of the ingredients but made the bacon on a previous day and then prepared when I wasn’t in a hurry. The meal came out fabulous! Everybody (including my picky little one) loved it. I also added some chicken for extra protein. I will definitely be making this often!
Once you make it the first time you realize how much easier it is than it looks! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 Glad it was a hit!
Does the recipe say when to add the corn?
Thank you for the catch! You’ll add it with the rest of the veggies 🙂
WOW. This was so tasty and easy and colorful! In about a month it’s going to get way too hot to have the oven on until probably late September and I might try this on the stovetop. It would be a great way to use summer garden veggies. I wonder if I should change the amount of broth or anything if I were to try doing it on the stovetop? It’s just too veggielicious a recipe to put away when the garden is teeming!
Absolutely! My original recipe actually has this cooked on the stovetop, so I’d be happy to send that to you 🙂
Cool! Thanks so much!
What happened to the original recipe ?
I have it written down in my recipe book (it’s yours, I go online to check something and it has extra things?!) did I miss something? Otherwise it’s delicious as usual?
What happened to the original recipe ?
I have it written down in my recipe book (it’s yours, I go online to check something and it has extra things?!) did I miss something? Otherwise it’s delicious as usual!
Hi! I’ve recently updated this recipe to be even better 🙂 I’m happy to send you the original recipe if you’d like!
Do you think substituting rice would cook in the same time? The time you listed sounds about right, but I never bake my rice. I figure this substition for a gluten alergey would be closest to the original.
If you use rice here are the ratios I recommend: 1 1/2 cups white jasmine rice (rinsed + 3 cups chicken broth). bake at 375 degrees covered for 20 minutes 🙂
All the flavors and textures make this delicious! My husband commented on how colorful it is. Perfect recipe exactly as written! This is a great way for me to get my greens since I am not a salad person
So happy to hear that!
This is a yummy, easily adaptable and relatively healthy meal! I appreciate that you give us lots of substitutions for the various elements which makes it more than a one-off recipe. Thank you!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!