More than just your ordinary side dish, Summer Risoni Salad can also be enjoyed as a light meal. A burst of refreshing flavors in every bite — and it only takes 25 minutes to prepare!
While you can certainly make this salad all year round, it’s exceptionally flavorful during the summer — when all the vegetables are in season.
Risoni salad is excellent as a side dish for grilled meat or fish, or enjoy it with some crusty bread or crackers.
Either way, you can expect a deliciously nourishing dish in every serving!
IF YOU WANT CLASSIC ITALIAN RECIPES FOR SUMMER, YOU WILL LIKE THESE POSTS!
Ingredients
- Risoni – also called ‘orzo,’ they look like rice, but they’re actually a type of pasta.
- Bell pepper – as shown in the image above, you need yellow bell pepper for this summer salad.
- Tomatoes – get the best ones you can find. For reference, I generally use cherry tomatoes for making risoni salad.
- Cucumber – I typically include the peel since they’re sold vacuum-packed here in Stockholm, but I leave that to you to decide.
- Olives – pitted green olives and chopped.
- Capers – rinsed and drained.
- Mozzarella – regardless of the size of the mozzarella, make sure you drain them to get rid of excess liquid.
- Olive oil – I strongly suggest extra virgin olive for this salad recipe.
- Lemon – you only need lemon juice (and oil) to dress this summer salad.
- Basil – fresh Italian basil leaves.
- Salt & pepper – just use your favorite brand for seasoning.
Preparation
Start making your risoni salad by cooking the risoni as instructed in its package.
Drain, rinse with cold water, and continue draining while preparing the rest of the summer salad ingredients.
Chop and dice the vegetables and mozzarella — try to keep them all in the same size.
Combine the following in a medium-sized mixing bowl: cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, olives, capers, and mozzarella.
Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Add the cooked and drained risoni.
Tear the basil leaves with your hands and add them as well.
Combine and mix everything evenly.
Taste, and adjust the seasoning by adding salt, pepper or lemon juice.
as preferred.
Your summer risoni salad is now ready for serving!
Helpful tips
- Feel free to rinse the green olives if you feel their flavor is too strong.
- Do not add all the lemon juice at once. Start with half the indicated amount, then adjust as to your taste.
- If you have the time, let your risoni salad sit for about fifteen minutes before serving — it allows all the flavors to sink in.
Recipe variation
- Red bell pepper. If you cannot find yellow pepper, using red bell pepper as a substitute is absolutely fine — but raw green bell pepper is too intense for this risoni salad.
- Black olives – whether kalamata or black Spanish olives; both are excellent alternatives for green olives in this recipe.
So how about it? Try this risoni salad one of these days — you will not regret it!
OR YOU CAN GET SOME MORE IDEAS FROM THIS LIST OF SIDE DISHES FROM AROUND THE WORLD!
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📖 Recipe
Summer Risoni Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup risoni pasta
- 1 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced
- 1 cup cucumber, diced
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
- 4 teaspoons capers, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup mozzarella, drained and chopped
- 1 to 1 & 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice
- 15 pieces fresh basil leaves, torn (plus more for garnish)
- salt and pepper, to season
Instructions
- Cook the risoni as per package instructions.
- Then drain, rinse with cold water, and continue draining while preparing the other ingredients.(NOTE: Keep them almost the same size when chopping.)
- Use a medium-sized bowl to combine the following: cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, olives, capers, and mozzarella.
- Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and the drained risoni.
- Use your hands to tear the fresh basil leaves and add them to the bowl.
- Combine and mix everything evenly.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired — add salt, pepper or lemon juice.
- Serve your summer risoni salad, and enjoy!
Notes
- Cook’s Tip #1: Do not immediately add the lemon juice. It’s better to start with half the above amount, then adjust to your taste.
- Cook’s Tip #2: If you have the time, let your summer salad sit for about fifteen minutes before serving — it allows all the flavors to sink in.
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