This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our privacy policy for additional information.
Why You’ll Love My Recipe
Looking for a salad that is somehow light and filling at the same time? Try this zesty and nutritious pasta salad! Full of protein-rich chickpeas and colourful vegetables, this salad is a great way to load up on flavour and vitamins.
Looking for a fresh twist on your usual pasta salad? If you love dill pickles, give this recipe a try. Mix up a batch of this easy salad to serve alongside a Dill Pickle Pot Roast & Pickle Gravy or next to a tray of Dill Pickle Deviled Eggs.
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This is a very easy salad to make.
- Total Time: Making this salad will take you 30 minutes or less.
- Variations: This is the type of recipe that allows you to play with exact amounts. Change the combination of vegetables that you use, add more, use less, etc. Amp up the amount of dill pickle flavour by adding more pickle juice, more pickles, or extra dill. Add some heat with spicy or extra zesty dill pickles. Pickled hot peppers would also be a great addition.
- Tools Needed: For this recipe, you’ll need a large pot, a colander, a cutting board, a sharp knife, a can opener, a small mason jar with a lid or a small bowl and a whisk, a large bowl, and a nice big serving spoon.
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Orzo: This tiny pasta, barely bigger than grains of rice, works beautifully for pasta salad. You could also try a large size of couscous or a different type of pasta that is tiny like orzo. Mini shells, alphabet noodles, etc.
Chickpeas: This recipe will work best with canned chickpeas, since they’ve already been cooked. If you would rather soak and cook your own chickpeas that’s fine, but it will add a lot of extra time to this process.
Pickles: For this salad, we want the sharpness and zestiness of dill pickles, so sweet pickles won’t quite do the trick. Pick your favourite dill pickles, whether homemade or storebought, for this salad. Maybe even grab some spicy ones.
Vegetables: A combination of crunchy and juicy, hard and soft, is best for this salad, but you can play around with exactly how much of each thing you add. For example, if you don’t like radishes, skip them.
How To Make Dill Pickle Chickpea Orzo Salad
This is a brief overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Cook orzo to al dente according to the package instructions.
- Put the salad ingredients into a large bowl.
- Combine the dressing ingredients in a mason jar or a small bowl. Shake (closed jar) or whisk (bowl) until fully mixed.
- Pour the dressing into the salad and toss it all together.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Dill Pickle Chickpea Orzo Salad
Add More Flavour: You can easily boost the pickle flavour in this salad by adding more pickle brine, increasing the amount of chopped up pickles, or mixing in some chopped up fresh dill. Use fresh garlic in the vinaigrette if you can, or increase the amount of granulated garlic. If you’d like a bit of heat in this salad, add some fresh or pickled hot peppers or a splash of chili sauce.
Make it in Advance: This is a salad that will get even better with a bit of time. Mix everything together the day before you plan to serve it, so that the salad can sit in the fridge overnight and marinate in the vinaigrette.
Other Ideas: Try tossing some baby corn, bean sprouts, or chopped bell peppers with the other vegetables. Depending on the season, you may be able to find some fun and colourful cucumber varieties to experiment with–maybe even from your own garden. You can also do this with the tomatoes. If plain feta isn’t your favourite, you can grab a seasoned variety to try instead.
Storage Instructions
Store the prepared salad in a closed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If you kept the cooked pasta separate, the dressing and vegetables would be fine together in the fridge for closer to 5 days. Just watch for the pasta to start getting mushy. This is unlikely to freeze well.
More Delicious Pasta Salad Recipes
If this salad isn’t quite for you, try some of these reader favorites!
This BLT Pasta Salad tastes like a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich in salad form.
For all of the dill pickle taste with a creamy dressing, make this Dill Pickle Pasta Salad.
Try this delicious retro Picnic Macaroni Salad or Greek Pasta Salad.
There you go, everyone. A quick, fresh, and filling salad. Play around with all the ratios in this salad, and let me know what you think.
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Dill Pickle Chickpea Orzo Salad
Video
Ingredients
Dill Pickle Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¾ cup dill pickle juice
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- salt & pepper, to taste
Orzo Salad Ingredients
- 1½ cups orzo pasta, dry, uncooked
- 19 ounces chickpeas, canned, drained and rinsed
- 1 large English Cucumber, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 4 ounces feta cheese, diced
- 1 cup dill pickles, diced
- ½ cup fresh dill, chopped
- 3 medium radishes, sliced
- ⅓ cup green onion, sliced
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients for the dill pickle vinaigrette in a lidded mason jar and shake to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare the pasta according to the package directions until it is slightly past al dente. Drain the orzo, rinse with cold water to cool, then toss it with a little olive oil to prevent sticking then place in a large salad bowl.
- Add the chickpeas, cucumber, carrots, feta cheese, dill pickles, dill, and radishes to the salad bowl.
- Shake the vinaigrette again in the mason jar, then drizzle all over the salad ingredients in the bowl.
- Toss the salad ingredients with the vinaigrette, making sure to coat everything completely.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Add more dill pickles if you want a stronger dill pickle flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sharalyn says
YUM! It’s excellent without the feta too, I initially forgot to add it in but it does add another element of flavour. Great recipe!
Jane Burns says
Can SWEET PICKLES / BREAD N BUTTER TYPE,, BE USED instead of dill…. if ok- do iI use sweet pickle juice & all the rest of ingredients the same ? … I’m always looking for something different… I love to rtry different things. Thanks, jane