Broccoli Cheddar Orzo with Chicken
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Broccoli Cheddar Orzo with Chicken is an easy one pot meal that your whole family will love. Secretly healthy, high protein and super cheesy!
This broccoli cheddar chicken orzo is an easy weeknight dinner that we absolutely love. Made in one pan, it’s quick to make, healthy and delicious!
We love one pot chicken orzo, and love our healthy broccoli soup so we figured.. why not combine the two? The result is a cheesy, creamy dinner that is absolutely delicious!
If you love broccoli cheddar soup, you’re going to love this recipe!
It’s simple to make with basic ingredients, is a one pot meal (easy clean up!), and has over 55g of protein per serving and 1.5 cups of vegetables per serving!
liz’s top tip for broccoli cheddar orzo
- To save time, you can heat your chicken broth in the microwave before adding it to the pot!
Ingredients
You’ll also need a large skillet for making this recipe. This is our favorite pan for one pot meals. You could also make this in a dutch oven!
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil or melted butter
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders. To make this an even faster dish, you can skip the first 2 steps and use pulled or chopped cooked chicken folded in at the end.
Broth: Broth and stock are the same thing! You can use any broth or stock interchangeably. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Orzo: I have only tried this recipe with orzo pasta. I’m not sure how gluten free pasta will work in this recipe. You can’t omit the orzo completely, because you need something to absorb the chicken broth. You can usually find orzo in the pasta isle or near the rice.
Milk: You can use whole milk, skim milk, or dairy free milk in this recipe.
Parmesan Cheese: We haven’t tried this with any other cheese and wouldn’t recommend swapping anything for the parmesan! It wouldn’t have the same flavor. Feta can be sprinkled on top of this dish but would give it a totally different flavor. If you like cheesy orzo, this Pesto Chicken Orzo is also delicious
Gluten Free: We only tested this recipe with regular pasta. Gluten free pasta cooks very differently, and we find that it can get very gummy/mushy. It’s hard to know if it will work in this recipe without trying it. Because the orzo cooks in the pan with everything else, the ratios in the recipe would need to change. You could try reducing the broth and cooking it in a separate pot, but I really don’t know how it would come out. If you try it, let me know.
Dairy Free: While I personally have not made this recipe, readers have made our other One Pot Chicken Orzo dish and used dairy free milk + cheese with success!
Veggies: I used precut fresh broccoli florets in this recipe that I roughly chopped. I think frozen chopped broccoli might be too mushy in this recipe. For the carrots – you can use the precut matchstick ones or grate them with a cheese grater. We also love Lemon Chicken Orzo with Peas.
How to Make Broccoli Cheddar Orzo
- Brown chicken in oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add onions and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes.
- Add the spices, orzo, broccoli, carrots and chicken broth. Stir to combine and cover with a lid. Simmer for 6 minutes covered, then remove cover and cook for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the milk and both kinds of cheese. Stir over low heat for one to two minutes more until heated through. Serve immediately.
Serving Suggestions:
This is a complete meal as is, it’s got protein, veggies and carbs! But if you’re looking for a side dish to make you could try one of these salads:
- Peach Salad with Goat Cheese
- Quick Marinated Vegetable Salad
- Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad
- Apple Walnut Salad
It would also be yummy with some bread on the side – we love this bread brand!
Storage
Storing: This cheesy broccoli orzo makes for great leftovers and high protein meal prep! It will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: We don’t recommend freezing this recipe. Pasta does not freeze well, and can often get mushy when thawed/reheated.
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave or on the stove. I recommend adding a splash of chicken broth to the pot when reheating.
Other one pot dinner recipes:
If you like one pot meals, check out these Healthy One Pot Dinner Recipes. Or click here to get our free one pot dinners cookbook.
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Broccoli Cheddar Orzo with Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in ½ inch square pieces
- 1 cup yellow onion chopped about ½ a medium onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic about 3 garlic cloves
- 4 cups fresh broccoli spears cut into 1 inch pieces 10 oz bag
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 ¼ cup dry orzo 8 oz
- 3 teaspoons garlic powder
- 3 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoon dried parsley
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 bay leaf
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large high sided pan over medium high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the chicken. Brown the chicken and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
- After the chicken has browned for 10 minutes, add the onions and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes, until they start to soften.
- Add the broccoli, carrots, chicken broth, orzo, and spices. Stir to combine.
- Cover the pan with a lid and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent the orzo from sticking to the bottom of the pan. (Tip: You can microwave your broth before adding it to the pan to speed up cooking time) Cook for 6 minutes covered, then remove cover and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Stir in the milk and cheeses. Stir over low heat for one to two minutes more until heated through.
- Serve immediately.
Video
I used whole wheat orzo because that’s all I had and it still turned out delicious and comforting!
Seasoned the chicken before cooking and added a Tbsp of Paprika and a 1/4 spoon of Turmeric and it was still bland. The potentially is there for a really great recipe. I’ll need to tinker with it some more.
Sorry you felt that way. There are over 8 teaspoons of dried seasonings in this recipe so I genuinely don’t know how you could find it to be bland but everyones taste buds are different!
I agree! I made it last night and with all the seasonings and chicken broth it had plenty of flavor
We love this. Saw it on tic tok and had to try.
Super easy and very tasty. I served by itself since it had some veggies in it r, but you could really stretch this dish if you served with a salad.
We made this and it was SO easy and delicious! We might try and add white mushrooms next time. So good!
Delicious! Easy to make, 9 month old friendly (she loved it). Will make again
Seriously!! This recipe was SO good! I substituted baby spinach for the broccoli, but it was so good. And it makes a lot. Easy to put together. I ate so much, haha. And I ate as is, but next time I think I’ll try it over some rice? YummmmO!! 🙌🙌
I’m so glad you like dit! I wouldn’t serve it over rice, it has orzo in it!
This was delish! Hubby and the kids agree— this will be a new staple!!
I admit I wasn’t excited to make it, but they weren’t lying about how fast it is to make, so no need to be intimidated by how many ingredients there are. It was very fast and only one pan made it even easier for cleanup.
Tried this out for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! I made a few tweaks but most of the original recipe was followed and I’ll definitely make it again
Looks absolutely delicious!! Going to try next week. Thank you!
So yum! I will definitely be putting this on the dinner rotation.
This recipe was so good! It was so easy to make and it made enough to feed my whole family!
This recipe is sooooo good! Made it for the second time in a week! Easy to follow, one pan (so easy cleanup) and delicious! Definitely adding to our rotation of favorites.
This was delicious! The only thing I did differently is I tossed extra seasoning in with the chicken while it cooked. Definitely going on our rotation.
Can you substitute rice for orzo? It’s the only thing I’m missing 🙃
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried that. Rice and orzo have different cooktimes. I would check out the instructions for this Broccoli Chicken Rice and add the seasonings from the orzo/cheese to it. Hope that helps!
Can you make this without the cheese too?
I wouldn’t skip the cheese unless you really want to.
Love this recipe, I’ve added it to my rotation of meals for my husband and I + our two toddlers who enjoy it too!
One of my all time favorite dinners!! Quick, easy, and so delicious. Everyone in my family is obsessed. And it’s great the next day (even cold)
Made this and served it as is. It was perfect for our cold nights and made a big batch if it for meal prepping.
This has become mine and my husbands new favorite one pot meal to have. Made it once before and just switched up the spices to add more of what we like and it was amazing! Making it again tonight and adding cauliflower for extra veggies! So delicious! Loving these easy healthy dinner ideas! Thanks so much!!
Another family favorite! We love this! I love how simple it is to make!
Great, easy recipe! Just watch to make sure it doesn’t get hotter than a simmer, I realized mine was boiling and it ended up making the orzo a little soft, but was still delicious. I didn’t have Parmesan and it was good without!
Love this recipe! Great for weeknight dinner.
Iadr this for my family a few nights ago and it was a huge hit! Tons of flavor and I loved the protein and veggies for my toddlers! It also made for perfect leftovers! We’ll definitely be adding this to our rotation. I love a simple healthy one pan meal!
This recipe was very easy and delicious! It’s easy to modify (I added bacon) and perfect for one of those nights that you dont feel like putting a lot of effort into cooking.
I made this and we both loved it! I am making it again! It is definitely not bland as I seen on one review.
I would give this recipe a 10 if I could. I make this on repeat, everyone in my family of 5 loves it – it’s rare to find a recipe that makes everyone happy. My girls who are 22, 20 and 17 all want this added to their recipe boxes.