Instant Pot Shrimp Orzo is ONE POT DISH done in 30 MINUTES! Orzo with Shrimp is the most mouthwatering combination, pressure cooked only for 3 minutes. It’s a traditional Mediterranean recipe made in your pressure cooker!
Instant Pot Shrimp Orzo is simple, healthy and hearty meal, with lots of Mediterranean flavor as well as many health benefits. It’s a saucy dish, fragrant with parsley and dill herbs. It’s easy to make, but incredibly delicious and destined to elicit serious finger licking.
Perfectly cooked Tomato and Shrimp Orzo is just bursting with juicy goodness and is so easy to cook when using your Instant Pot. Only 3 minutes of cooking on high pressure manual mode with quick release method at the end.
What is Orzo?
ORZO is a type of pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice. It’s adaptable in many dishes, and delicious warm or cold.
Why make Instant Pot Shrimp Orzo
- SHRIMP alone here is excellent source of vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, iron, niacin, phosphorus, selenium, vitamins A, D, K and B12.
- FETA. Made of goat’s milk, feta is another good source of calcium and potassium. Feta like every dairy product can improve the bone health significantly.
- PARSLEY can reduce the risk of cancers such as breast, digestive tract, skin and prostate. Parsley contains high levels of a flavonoid called apigenin. Not only does apigenin possesses remarkable anti–cancer properties, it’s also a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.
- DILL is a good source of calcium, manganese and iron, and as an antioxidant food. Its flavonoids provide anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties that can kill fungus and protect against free radicals.
Instant Pot Orzo Troubleshooting Checklist
- Are you preheating the Instant Pot WITHOUT adding oil first? If you add oil from the beginning the oil can burn to the bottom.
- Do you add enough oil once the pot is hot? If not enough oil is added, it can easily burn to the bottom.
- Are you frying your onions and garlic ONLY until translucent, not stuck to the bottom?
- Do you deglaze after sautéing onions and garlic? Deglazing removes brown bits getting stuck to the bottom of the pot which will cause BURN warning.
- Did you take out your chicken stock out of the fridge ahead of time to allow it to come to room temperature? If cold water hits the hot pot more water evaporates immediately after adding.
- Are you bringing your chicken stock and tomatoes to a boiling point? This will allow the IP to come to pressure faster.
- Do you add all ingredients swiftly and immediately put on the lid? Doing things quickly avoids water evaporation, which in turn will cause rice to stick to the bottom and cause BURN warning.
How to make it
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode and add olive oil.
- Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened and translucent, about 3 minutes.
Make sure to deglaze the pan with a splash of water or chicken stock to avoid anything getting stuck to the bottom of the pan as that may cause BURN warning. Now add the tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to a boil.
- It’s important to ensure that the liquid reached boiling point.
- Stir with a wooden spoon to ensure nothing is stuck to the bottom of the pan.
These two steps will ensure that IP will come to pressure fast enough without orzo getting stuck to the bottom of the pan.
ADD ORZO to the tomato mixture.
Next, add all the fresh dill and parsley. Lots of amazing aroma there! Mix them well in to the sauce and orzo.
Now it’s time to add shrimp.
FETA CHEESE. Followed by feta cheese on top of the shrimp. Close the lid, set to Manual, 3 minutes, High Pressure.
Once done, use Quick Release to release pressure.
Instant Pot Shrimp Orzo is done!
How to store leftover Shrimp Orzo
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Keep in mind that the orzo will soak up some of the sauce so it will need extra liquid when reheating. Simply add a little bit of water, or broth. If you get a chance to try this tomato orzo recipe, let me know what you think in the comments.
Delicious instant pot recipes
And if you cook with Instant Pot as much as I do, take a look at these recipes with easy to follow instructions:
- Instant Pot Cajun Chicken and Rice
- Instant Pot Spaghetti in Homemade Meat Sauce
- Instant Pot Spatchcock Chicken with Mustard Crust.
Instant Pot Tomato and Shrimp Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Two 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes, (with their juices, sodium free)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill
- 1 ¼ pounds medium shrimp, (peeled and deveined)
- ¼ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- ⅔ cup feta cheese, (crumbled or cubed)
- 1 ¼ cup chicken stock, (sodium free)
- ¾ cup orzo
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode and preheat before adding any oil. Add olive oil, and then the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, until softened, and translucent, about 3 minutes. Deglaze with a splash of water or stock to prevent anything getting stuck to the bottom and BURN warning.
- Next add the tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Stir to make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom.
- Add orzo, dill and parsley and mix well.
- Next shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Add feta cheese over the top.
- Set Instant Pot on Manual High Pressure for 3 minutes.
- Once done, use Quick Pressure Release to avoid overcooking orzo and shrimp.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
This looks so good, but I do not have an Instant Pot. Is there any other way I can cook it? Thanks,
Yes, you can do it on the stove as well. I’ve made it both ways.
I’m not a real fan of canned tomatoes. But I like orzo and shrimp. Have you done this using a different “sauce”
Yes, I’ve done it without tomatoes right here: Shrimp Orzo in Creamy White Wine Sauce
Is it supposed to be soupy? Just made it and it just seems to liquidy. Any troubleshooting ideas? Thanks!
Yes, it was supposed to be soupy. You can always thicken it with flour right inside the pot.
I made this for the first time tonight and I think it turned out great! I used frozen shrimp and quinoa instead of orzo otherwise I followed the recipe to a T. Even though I used frozen shrimp, I felt like the shrimp was a little over done but still delicious. Thank you for the recipe. I really appreciated the step-by-step tricks as well. Nothing stuck to the bottom of my pan.
Thank you Kami for posting your results. Especially with the frozen shrimp.
I made this and had some of the issues otheres have had. The orzo fell to the bottom and stuck and interfupted the cooking. I ended up finsihing it in sautee mode. The flavor was good and we still had it for supper!