When I’m in a rut with vegan dinner ideas, orzo is always there for me. It cooks quickly, it’s endlessly versatile, and it usually tastes kinda fancy for the level of effort involved, which makes it ideal for a weeknight when you still want something cozy. This tomato orzo leans into a late-summer garden glut: shallots, garlic, thyme, and cherry tomatoes built into a creamy, stove-top base, all topped with balsamic-roasted broccolini. Most of it comes together in one pot in about 30 minutes. I like finishing mine with vegan parmesan.
As one reader put it: “Perfect end of summer cozy recipe to use up all those tomatoes.”
I used fresh tomatoes here since my garden tends to be overflowing with them by late summer. Two cups of canned crushed tomatoes work as a substitute. When subbing canned for fresh, I’d use a little less, since the flavor is more concentrated.
I like to serve this tomato orzo dish next to a simple green salad with red wine vinegar dressing, or something like sautéed green beans. It’s also excellent on its own, the orzo and roasted broccolini honestly don’t need anything else.
An important note when you’re making this one: One-pot orzo risotto-style recipes like this love to stick to the bottom of the pan. The starch is like a magnet. Stir often, scraping the bottom of the pan with your spoon to catch any sticky orzo pieces. I don’t recommend walking away for too long!
Consider this your go-to next time cherry tomatoes take over the counter!
30-Minute Tomato Orzo with Balsamic Broccolini
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 bunches broccolini, tough ends trimmed
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 large shallot, finely diced (about ¾ cup diced shallot)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
- 1 tablespoon capers, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes, or more to taste
- 4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup heaped dry orzo pasta
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup unsweetened non-dairy cream (see notes)
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, torn
- vegan “parmesan”, for serving (optional)
- balsamic glaze, for serving (optional)
Notes
- In terms of unsweetened, dairy-free cream, I like the original unsweetened nutpods creamer as well as Califia’s Better Half product. You can also make your own by blending ⅓ cup cashews and ⅔ cup water in a high speed blender.
- Once you’ve added the liquid, I recommend stirring the orzo pretty much constantly as it tends to stick to the bottom of the pot.
- This orzo is meant to be creamy and spoonable, not soupy. If yours comes out looser than you’d like, let it rest off the heat for a few minutes before serving, it thickens as it cools.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°F. If your broccolini stems are thick, cut them down the middle lengthwise. Transfer all trimmed broccolini to a baking sheet and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Spread the broccolini out into a single layer and roast for about 10-15 minutes, or until tender.
- Start on the tomato orzo. In a deep skillet or braiser-style pot over medium heat, add the remaining olive oil. Add the shallot to the skillet and sauté until very soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the thyme, capers, garlic, nutritional yeast, and chili flakes to the skillet and stir. Sauté until very fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add the cherry tomatoes to the skillet and stir. Sauté until they start releasing juice and softening (you can speed this up by pressing down on them a bit with your stirring spoon), about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the orzo and stir.
- Pour in the vegetable stock and non-dairy cream and stir. Bring the orzo to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook until the orzo is plumped up and a lot of the liquid is absorbed, about 10-11 minutes. I recommend stirring pretty much constantly as the orzo does tend to stick to the bottom of the pot. Add more splashes of stock (or water) if necessary.
- Check the orzo for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Stir in the fresh basil and serve with the broccolini on top and some vegan “parmesan” and balsamic glaze as garnish.
Followed the recipe exactly. It was very enjoyable and made the house smell amazing but fell a little flat in the end. We still enjoyed it, but I probably won’t make again since there’s many other recipes here that are so much more impactful! I WOULD however make some balsamic broccolini as a side dish again! That was lovely with the balsamic glaze too!
This was an amazing way to use up some of the smaller tomatoes from my garden. I used a combination of yellow and red. Super delicious!
This was SO good. I used coconut milk in place of heavy cream and omitted capers and it turned out amazing. So rich, and I loved the touch of balsamic.
So flavorful! I used puréed roasted tomatoes from the garden since I harvested every ripe tomato already. Cozy, rich, delicious. A little soupier than I expected. Yum!
Absolutely delicious! Very easy to make and tons of flavours, thank you!
Made this tonight. It was delicious! I just used broccoli and canned tomatoes. I didn’t have capers so threw in some roasted red pepper. I’ll definitely be making this regularly.
Hi, I’m pretty sure it’s not just me, but I haven’t been able to get up the little photo when I print your recipes for a long time. The box is there to tick, but nothing happens…
I’m obsessed with this recipe. It’s so creamy and delicious with cashew cream. I’m excited to make something similar this summer once corn is in season!
Just wanted to say that we made this for dinner and it was delicious! Got some of the last tomatoes from the farmer’s market, added a can of white beans, and used broccoli instead of broccolini based on what we could find. Such a lovely end of summer meal.
This was so delicious. If I didn’t have to feed my family i would have eaten the entire pot myself. Perfect end of summer cozy recipe to use up all those tomatoes. I ended up using half fresh tomatoes and a can of cherry tomatoes and it was delicious. I also used the silk brand whipped cream. It was rich and luscious! Thanks for another amazing recipe Laura!
This did not take me 30 min as advertised. With prep, I am still not done and its 50 min in. Plus the orzo gets really liquidy. Either need to add more orzo or use less liquid, unless it’s supposed to be soup like? Anyway, I am sure it will taste great as always, I am just late to class now!
I made this tonight and your red pepper pasta with charred corn last night and let me just say…WOW. Both were phenomenal. I doubled this recipe, used regular broccoli, and left out the balsamic vinegar because I didn’t have any. A million thanks for two exceptional recipes that I know will be requested by my family again and again.
Just about to make this! Store was out of broccolini, so I’m doing asparagus. Your website is gorgeous!
That looks delicious! I think I’ll try it with halved Brussels sprouts instead of broccolini.