Aggie's Kitchen

Spinach and Orzo Salad with Cranberries and Almonds

Spinach and Orzo Salad with Cranberries and Almonds

I’m in love with this salad.  Actually, I started out being in love with Jamie’s Spinach Salad recipe that I found on allrecipes.com, but after making it 3 or 4 times I wanted to turn into something a little more.  The kids and I were heading over to a friend’s house for a playdate with their classmates and their mommies and I wanted to bring over something healthy and yummy for the mommies to munch on for lunch.  I love using orzo in pasta salads, especially whole wheat orzo.  It has a nice punch of protein (7g) and fiber (9g) already in the pasta and turns the salad into more of a meal in itself.

The recipe for the dressing makes a good amount, so I’ve been actually keeping it in the fridge to dress pretty much anything and everything from leftover black beans and quinoa to a Spicy Slaw Salad that I’ll be posting later this week.  Enjoy!

Spinach and Orzo Salad with Cranberries and Almonds

Print Recipe

Spinach and Orzo Salad with Cranberries and Almonds

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup whole wheat orzo, uncooked
  • 3/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
  • about 3/4 of a 6 oz bag of baby spinach, thinly sliced
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 4 oz gorgonzola, crumbled
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (I toast in a nonstick skillet over med heat for about 5 minutes)
  • 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
  • 1-2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons minced onion
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/3 - 1/2 cup oil (I used grapeseed oil, but canola or light olive oil will work)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Cook orzo according to instructions on package, set aside to cool.
  2. In bowl, whisk together sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, vinegar, oil and pinches of salt and pepper.
  3. In a large salad bowl combine orzo, almonds, spinach and cranberries. Gently toss ingredients with 1/3-1/2 amount of dressing, add more or less to your liking. I don't like my salad overdressed. Add gorgonzola and gently toss again. Serve immediately at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

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26 comments on “Spinach and Orzo Salad with Cranberries and Almonds”

  1. YUM! I bet the moms were loving this. Love the addition of the gorgonzola. Perfection 🙂

  2. Aggie, you are the one who finally convinced me to try orzo! This salad looks yummy!

  3. This looks good. I was actually trying to decide what to put with my spinach salad other than the regular bacon or boiled eggs. Perfect combo.

  4. It was good…everything about it. Thanks Aggie!

  5. I’ve been wicked bad and haven’t been eating salads much lately. That looks really good to me right now! Heh.

  6. Now this is what I call a salad Aggie = ) How have you been? Were your holidays smashing?

  7. Beautiful salad! I’ll bet it’s loaded with flavor!

  8. What a refreshing salad! I need to try adding orzo to my salads like this… what a great idea!

  9. I do love jamies’s Spinach Salad amd make it with bacon, feta or sometimes blue cheese so adding orzo would be a natural.

  10. I make a similar salad. Your photos keep getting better and better! Nice work:)

  11. bookmarked! this looks fabulous!

  12. This looks amazing, Aggie! I’d probably substitute feta for gorgonzola, though. Might have to add this to a menu in the near future!

  13. i truly love orzo pasta! this is such a great salad very light yet tasty

  14. Aggie! I am so loving your salads lately! YUM

  15. This looks AWESOME. bookmarking it and trying it soon!

  16. ohhh girl…you are rockin that ego light!!!

  17. Aggie,
    I need to make that Jamie’s Spinach salad (since it does have my namesake) and I also need to try your version. Your salad looks so delish, flavorful and healthy. Everything a salad should be.

  18. Wow, that’s beautiful. I love anything with orzo. I don’t know why but that the texture is so smooth that you can’t go wrong.

  19. That looks delicious and fresh! I love salads like that because there are so many possibilities for ingredients too 🙂 Love the light, must try that out soon. I may try to make my own, but we’ll see how that goes lol

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  21. This was delicious! I will definitely be back to try some more of your recipes!!

  22. One idea I had for salads with a cranberry theme was to add cranberry powder (or dried cranberries sent through a blender) to a vinagrette. This way there is a more prominent cranberry theme great for the summer time.

    It may be too strong for some but its worth a try.

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  25. Made this for our thanksgiving salad- It was a hit!!
    I changed a few things to tweak to our tastes:
    Slivers of Parmesan
    1/4 cup of lemon olive oil
    Apple cider vinegar
    lots of salt
    2 tablespoons of sugar
    (no poppyseeds)
    Added sliced cucumbers and tiny sunburst tomatoes (like cherry but sweeter and smaller)
    Def used the cranberries and almonds and spinach base.

    Everyone loved it!
    Thanks and by the way I found this recipe on Gojee.com ( who scours the internet for the best recipe’s on earth!)

    • Yay! Sounds like an absolutely wonderful version of the salad, thanks so much for letting me know! And I love Gojee 🙂