Shredded roast chicken with pesto, crudités bits and orzo summer salad

Came home from work yesterday, had more running around to do and preparing dinner was a little late. This is what I love about freestyle cooking. Open the fridge, see what’s in and go for it, have a dinner ready in a jiffy, how does this sound to you?

Left over meat from the dinner before or getting some ready roasted from the local supermarket on the way home it’s all you need for this recipe, the rest it’s easy and with only 10 min of cooking… ta daaa!! Another dinner is ready, but not any dinner, a super tasty one guaranteed!

I made this shredded roast chicken with pesto, crudités and orzo salad for dinner but it makes a beautiful lunch to box and take away to work, school wherever you need to take. Needless to say, this will make a beautiful choice for a picnic, BBQ or a potluck garden party.

I named it summer salad because of the time I’m posting it but this salad is perfect at any point and time all throughout the year. Whenever you fancy it.

I love throwing in my salads of this type crudités, chopped into little bits for the texture a bit of colour and extra nutrition.

A perfect way to make kids eat some raw vegetables as kids tend to enjoy both pesto and the pasta especially orzo, so if you haven’t tried it before definitely give it a try, it is super tasty and delicious?.

There is definitely something about orzo that goes really well especially with children.

Use the veggies that you like and if you don’t like them crude, use roasted veggies.

This meal can be such a saviour especially time-wise when coming home from work exhausted and the last thing you want on a hot summer day is to hit the kitchen and get stuck there sweating yourself out when run out of meal ideas.

This salad it’s so easy, necessitates no cooking skills, involves no stress and it’s just perfect too, I’m absolutely sure, many tastebuds around. Ticks all boxes.

Other recipes you may like :

Homemade pesto recipe

Another delicious orzo salad

Egg and kofta salad boats

Shredded roast chicken with pesto, crudités bits and orzo summer salad

A delicious shredded chicken pasta salad with pesto, vegetables and fresh herbs. Absolutely to die for.

5 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: Mediterranean, Ramona’s Cuisine

Keyword: chicken, dinner recipe, lunch, orzo pasta, pasta salad, shredded chicken, side dish

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Total Time: 18 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 495kcal

Author: Ramona Sebastian

Equipment

• chopping board
• knife
• pan
• fork

Ingredients

• 250 g orzo dry
• 400 g roast chicken shredded
• 3 tbsp pesto sauce I used my own homemade pesto sauce
• 3 celery stalks
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 med red onion
• 5 sprigs parsley
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• 12 cherry tomatoes
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 pinch black pepper
• 1 red chilli optional for a little kick

Metric – US Imperial

Instructions

• Cook the orzo according to the packet instructions, it normally takes 7 to 9 minutes to get this ready. When finished, drain, rinse in cold water and allow it to drain. Set aside.
• Shred the roast chicken and place in a larger bowl.
• Wash and finely chop the crudités which are the red pepper, celery sticks and the red onion. Add those to the shredded chicken.
• Toast the pine nuts for a few seconds ( don’t do anything else while toasting those as they need tossing to avoid burning them) they burn fast due to the high content of oil.
• Add the orzo, pesto sauce, chopped parsley and the halved cherry tomatoes.
• Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
• Serve with a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts and … Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe is ideal for busy working folks, students or peeps that cannot be asked with too much cooking. It’s healthy, colourful versatile and soo yum. ? 

Perfect, wouldn’t you say?

Replace the crudités here with the ones you like. I have used raw broccoli, broccolini, kohlrabi, shredded swede, garlic (if I don’t go anywhere?), sweet corn whatever you like eating raw, for me it’s easy to enumerate here almost all veggies as I always have half of them whenever I prepare them for cooking. I can eat and I like to eat raw veggies, just as a goat would, haha.

Just to give you a little example, today while cooking dinner and preparing our fish and chips (skinny version).

This makes a perfect work lunch so prepare it the night before, box it and lunch is ready.

Nutrition

Calories: 495kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 204mg | Potassium: 577mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1209IU | Vitamin C: 48mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 3mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @ramonas.cuisine or tag #ramonascuisine!