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This delicious Greek shrimp and orzo pasta is the perfect recipe to meal prep for the week or to make when you just don’t have time. You can whip this bake up in only 25 minutes with a few tasty ingredients, herbs, and spices.
Why You’ll Love This Orzo Pasta
- Quick: This recipe is a great recipe for a busy weeknight. You can make it in only 25 minutes
- Versatile: You can totally make some substitutions to this recipe to make it your own or to use up ingredients you have on hand
- Healthy: This recipe is full of wholesome, healthy ingredients so you can feel good about serving it to your whole family
Ingredients
Shrimp – A lean, healthy protein source, filled with nutrients like vitamin B12. I love shrimp because you can add it to so many recipes or eat it on its own.
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Olives – This orzo pasta recipe is not complete without the olives but I’m a Greek girlie. If you aren’t into olives, you can omit them. I used castelvetrano olives which have a mild, buttery flavor, but you can use whatever olives you have.
How to Make Orzo Pasta
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- To a medium-sized baking dish mix together the orzo, chicken stock paste, water, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, dried oregano, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and olives. Stir everything together until well combined.
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until the orzo is al dente. To the pan add the shrimp and stir. Drizzle over the olive oil and bake for another 5-7 minutes or until the shrimp are just done. Stir and serve topped with crumbled feta cheese and fresh oregano.
Variations
- Vegan: Swap out the feta for a plant-based version of crumbly cheese, use veggie stock paste in place of the chicken, and remove the shrimp. I recommend adding your favorite plant-based protein instead to make it a complete meal. Try vegan sausages or ground meat substitute
- Vegetarian: You can easily swap out the chicken stock paste with veggie, and swap the shrimp for a plant-based protein, and voila
Best served with
How to Store Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-days. This recipe makes a great meal prep recipe if you want to make it up on Sunday and have an easy meal to grab for lunch or dinner all week.
Common Questions
Orzo has a higher concentration of protein and carbs, however, rice and orzo are both healthy for you.
Despite its shape, orzo is a pasta, but it can be great in place of recipes that you’d serve with rice.
It’s easy! Your shrimp will be a soft pink color when cooked. When it’s raw, it’s more of a translucent color.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup orzo
- 1 tbsp chicken stock paste
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 540 ml can of diced tomatoes
- ⅓ cup finely chopped castelvetrano olives
- 1 lb defrosted shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- fresh oregano for garnish
Instructions
Start Cooking- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- To a medium-sized baking dish mix together the orzo, chicken stock paste, water, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, dried oregano, tomato paste, diced tomatoes and olives. Stir everything together until well combined. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until the orzo is al dente.
- To the pan add the shrimp and stir. Drizzle over the olive oil and bake for another 5-7 minutes or until the shrimp are just done.
- Stir and serve topped with crumbled feta cheese and fresh oregano.
Notes
- Serve this with one of our favourite Greek salads – Simple Homemade Greek Salad
20 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
FAB-U-LOUS11 My family was missing the motherland after a recent trip. This was the perfect answer! Where are you sourcing your olives? Not wild about what is available locally and would love to order something that is better. Thanks for all you do!
Thank you so much, Susan!!! This makes me so happy!!!!!
Amazing! Absolutely delicious! The only thing I would do differently is use less water. I found it to have a bit too much. I think I would use 1 1/2 cups of water when also using the diced tomatoes undrained. ( A personal preference though) Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Thank you very much for the love, Sharon!!!
loved this used a homemade putanesca sauce I canned in place of tomatoes add artichokes and spinach. Was amazing
THan kyou so much!!!! that means so much to me hunnie!
Love your recipes, hence the 5 star rating!! My husband is GF do you think I could substitute basmati rice? Thanks!!!
Would I follow the same instructions as for orzo and would the amount of liquid used stay the same? Thanks!
That is where it get’s tricky! I would depend on how much rice you put! For most of my oven baked rice recipes I will do 2 cups of water (or stock or liquid) per 3/4 cup of rice!
yes! you can!
would I follow the same instructions as for orzo and would the amount of liquid used stay the same? Thanks!
An easy and delicious recipe! I was so happy with how the dish came out!
An easy and delicious recipe! I was so happy with how it came out!
thank you so much hun!!
Excellent recipe. Only change I made was to use Rotel tomatoes instead of regular. We like spicy. I did have to cook a little longer to get the orzo al dente and the shrimp cooked through.
Sounds great!!!!
Baked pasta is the ultimate homestyle dish. The orzo and shrimp combined with the garlicky, onion and tomato flavors really hit home. Adding olives and feta takes baked pasta to another level. This recipe is a new favorite of mine.
thank you so much, Karson!
My family loved this pasta bake! I had to bake it a bit longer than directed as my Orzo needed more time, but it was super easy to prep. Will defiantly make it again.
YES!! this makes me so happy!