Recipes

One Pan Sausage and Veggie Orzo

Mike and I had to hop on a plane super early in the morning to travel back east last week, so the night before I wanted a meal that was a) pretty simple, b) healthy (because it’s tough to be so when you’re traveling), and c) cleaned out some of our produce and leftovers in our fridge. And on hand, we had some leftover sausages, orzo, tomatoes, shallots, garlic, and herbs. I ended up picking up some mushrooms and zucchini to bulk up on the veggies on the way home and whipped up this recipe that turned out great. This one pot sausage and veggie orzo is chock-full of vegetables and is a great dish to make for any weeknight dinner.

Mike more than approved of this veggie orzo, which meant that we weren’t stuck with any leftovers for while we were gone (win!). And bonus – this recipe only uses one pan, which made cleanup easy. Although, as a confession, I did dirty more bowls for the sake of picture taking, but you certainly don’t need to! And since I’m being honest: in my version, I added some new orzo but also used some of our leftover parmesan orzo, but for the sake of simplicity—and with a fair assumption that most people don’t have leftover orzo in their fridge—I’ve provided the recipe below for adding only non-cooked orzo.

One thing to note is that I highly recommend adding fresh, not dried, herbs to this recipe (and well, all recipes). Ever since I moved into our new apartment, I’ve been keeping a lot of herbs on hand, which has been great when you just want that pop of fresh in your meals. This means having a basil plant and growing green onions from cuttings on the window sill, and then ore delicate herbs like fresh cilantro, parsley and mint in the refrigerator. For my fridge herbs, I keep the cuttings bought from the grocery store in mason jars, and then cover them with plastic bags to keep the moisture in. And whenever I need some herbs for a dish, I’ll just grab some sprigs. If you have the space to keep fresh herbs, I encourage you to do so. Such a difference over dried.

How to make one pan sausage and veggie orzo

I started by dicing up all the ingredients – garlic, shallots, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, green onions, parsley, basil, and mint.

Once all the food is prepped, add oil, shallots, red pepper flakes and garlic in a large skillet (I used a 12” saute pan) over medium-high heat. After about 1 minute, the garlic should get nice and fragrant and the shallots should soften slightly. Toss in the mushrooms, and cook for about 4-5 minutes until they soften and shrink. Add in the sausage, zucchini and green onions and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the zucchini gets soft.

In the same pan, add in the orzo, chicken broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, parsley, mint and basil and heat until the broth starts to bubble and boil. Then cover the pan and reduce the heat to low and simmer. After about 10-15 minutes, when the orzo has absorbed most of the broth and is tender, uncover the pan, add in the milk and parmesan and stir for another minute or two until the sauce thickens and coats all of the orzo.

Now all you need to do is turn off the heat, dish up the sausage and veggie orzo and garnish with parmesan shavings and herbs. A veggie-ful, healthy and delicious meal for two!

One-pan Sausage and Veggie Orzo

Print Recipe

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 10 min Cooking Time: 20 min

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
5 cups orzo
2 cups chicken broth
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 tomato, diced
½ pound of mushrooms (~10 cremini mushrooms), sliced
2 sausage links of any variety, sliced into rounds and then quarters
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp 1% milk
2 tbsp grated parmesan
For garnish: fresh parmesan shavings, green onions, basil

Instructions

In a large pan, heat up olive oil, garlic, shallots, and red pepper flakes over medium-high heat. Cook until fragrant – about 1 minute – stirring frequently.

Add in mushrooms and cook until they soften and shrink, about 4-5 minutes.

Add in the sausage, zucchini, and green onions. Saute until zucchini softens, about 3-4 minutes.

In the same pan, add in the orzo, chicken broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, mint, and parsley. Heat until the broth starts to boil.

Reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the orzo absorbs most of the broth and becomes plump and tender.

Uncover the pan, add in milk and parmesan and stir until well-incorporated. The sauce should thicken and coat the orzo.

Serve immediately. Garnish with parmesan shavings, green onions and basil, if desired.

Notes

I used cremini mushrooms, but you can use white button or baby portabellas instead. It’s best to use pre-cooked sausage for this recipe – I used one andouille and one chicken red pepper variety because that’s what I had on hand. If you use fresh sausage, you’ll need to adjust the cook times and might want to cook the sausage first. You could vary how much fresh herbs you use, and even remove some if necessary (like the mint). If in a dire pinch, replace with dried herbs, but again, I highly recommend you use fresh herbs if possible.