Philly cheesesteak usually means beef, peppers, onions, and melted cheese packed into a hoagie roll. Then I came across a version that skips the sandwich and puts those flavors into a skillet with orzo.
The pasta cooks in beef broth with seasoned ground beef, peppers, and onions, then provolone melts across the top. Instead of building individual sandwiches, the whole meal comes out of one skillet.
Start With Peppers and Onions
Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add one diced onion and one diced bell pepper, then cook for two to three minutes until they soften.
Two minced garlic cloves go in for another minute. Remove the vegetables and set them aside before adding the beef.
Taking the vegetables out gives the ground beef room to cook against the skillet instead of crowding everything together from the start.
Ground Beef Replaces the Shaved Steak
Traditional Philly cheesesteak uses thin slices or shavings of beef, but the skillet version uses one pound of lean ground beef.
Crumble the beef into the same pan and cook until no pink remains. Season it with one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, one teaspoon of salt, and one teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning, then return the peppers and onions.
Ground beef also makes it easier to distribute meat throughout the orzo rather than trying to recreate a sandwich filling on top of pasta.
Dry Orzo Goes Straight Into the Skillet
Two cups of dry orzo go into the beef and vegetables without being boiled in another pot first.
Add four cups of beef broth, cover the skillet, and reduce the heat. The orzo cooks for about 20 minutes, absorbing the broth as it softens. It’s ready when the liquid has been absorbed and the pasta reaches an al dente texture.
This is the part that makes the swap work for me. The hoagie roll is gone, but another starch takes its place while picking up the beef broth and everything already in the skillet.
Provolone Still Goes on Top
Changing the bread doesn’t mean losing the melted cheese.
Once the orzo has cooked, shredded provolone goes across the top. Cover the skillet and let the trapped heat melt the cheese, or put it under a low broiler until the top becomes melted and bubbly.
Mozzarella or Monterey Jack can also replace the provolone, though provolone keeps the skillet closer to the cheesesteak flavor that inspired it.
A Cheesesteak Doesn’t Have to Stay a Sandwich
A traditional cheesesteak gets its structure from the hoagie roll. Here, orzo turns the same general combination of beef, peppers, onions, and cheese into a fork-and-bowl dinner.
The recipe also stays in one pan from the vegetables through the melted cheese, so there’s no separate pasta pot to clean afterward.
I still want a cheesesteak sandwich when I’m craving the bread and shaved beef, but orzo gives those flavors another place to go. It absorbs the beef broth, mixes into every bite of meat and peppers, and gives the melted provolone something to settle into.
Would you replace the hoagie roll with orzo, or does a Philly cheesesteak need the bread?
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