Creamy sausage orzo
Orzo cooked right in the pan with browned sausage until it turns creamy like risotto, with none of the fuss.
- 40 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.44 a serving
- 850 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ cups orzo
- 3½ cups chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated parmesan, plus more to serve
- 3 oz baby spinach
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes, to serve (optional)
Each serving has about 850 calories, 31 g protein, 58 g carbs and 54 g fat, and costs about $3.44 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion and the garlic.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat the oil in a large, deep or over medium-high. Add the sausage and break it into small pieces with a spoon.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Dutch oven. A Dutch oven is a heavy pot, usually enameled cast iron, with a tight-fitting lid. It holds heat evenly, so it’s great for soups, stews and anything that simmers a long time.
How you’ll know: Any large, heavy pot with a lid does the same job if you don’t have one.
Medium-high heat
Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until all over with no pink left.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Turn the heat to medium, add the onion, and cook 3 to 4 minutes until soft. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Stir in the dry orzo and toast it for 1 minute, until it smells a little nutty.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Pour in the broth and bring it , then turn the heat to medium-low.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Medium-high heat
uncovered 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until the orzo is tender and most of the broth is soaked up.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 11 min
Dolly’s tip: Scrape the bottom each time you stir. Orzo loves to glue itself to the pan.Turn the heat to low and stir in the cream, parmesan and pepper until the orzo looks glossy and creamy.
Low heat
Stir in the spinach until it , then taste and add a pinch of salt if it needs it.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Low heat
Spoon into bowls with extra parmesan and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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