One Pot Caprese Chicken Orzo
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This easy one pot Chicken Caprese Orzo is a high protein dinner everyone will love! Packed with flavor and quick to make!
Fresh mozzarella, sweet tomatoes and yummy basil are truly the best combination, and it’s even better when they’re in a high protein, one pot dinner.
Our Caprese Chicken and Caprese Pasta Salad are two of our favorite things to make during the summer months when our garden is teeming with fresh cherry tomatoes and basil. We took those yummy flavors and paired them with orzo and chicken for the perfect one pot dinner.
The cherry tomatoes meld with the orzo and chicken stock to combine the most delicious chicken caprese pasta recipe you just have to try!
Tyler’s Tips for the Best Chicken Caprese Pasta
- Toast the orzo! Adding dry orzo to the pan and cooking in olive oil for one minute before adding your liquid helps brown the orzo and add flavor to your dish.
- Use fresh basil. Use fresh chopped basil and add this to the recipe right at the end to make sure the basil does not wilt too much and lose its flavor!
Ingredients:
substitutions
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: You could use avocado oil or beef tallow, but we really recommend extra virgin olive oil for this recipe.
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with cubed boneless chicken thighs or cubed chicken tenders, but we like the texture of the chicken breasts the best. We have not tried this with cubed pork tenderloin or cubed pork chops, but that may also work.
Onions and Garlic: We don’t recommend substituting for the onions and garlic, but you can use an extra 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1 teaspoon onion powder in place of fresh onion and garlic if necessary.
Cherry Tomatoes: Fresh chopped cherry tomatoes are ideal for this recipe. If you only have whole large tomatoes or grape tomatoes on hand, you can dice them into small pieces to try and replicate the size and texture of cherry tomatoes.
Orzo: We love the texture of the orzo in this recipe, but most small pasta shapes will work great, like orecchiette, rotini, ditalini, and bowties. You may need to adjust the cook time if the pasta instructions call for longer than 10 minutes. We have not tested this with rice, but it could be a good option and may require a few more minutes of cook time.
Spices: The garlic powder and onion powder help build upon the flavors of the fresh onion and garlic used. Easily add dried oregano, rosemary, and thyme for some other unique flavors if interested! The fresh basil is best used in this recipe to help give us that caprese salad flavor! You could add a tablespoon of pesto in place of the fresh basil, or try this Pesto Chicken Orzo.
Chicken Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Mozzarella: We love using fresh mozzarella pearls to save time chopping! The mozzarella cheese gives this recipe the real caprese feel and flavor, but if needed, you can swap the mozzarella cheese for asiago cheese, fontina cheese, or parmesan.
Balsamic Glaze: Balsamic vinegar can be substituted, but please note it will be a bit more acidic and pungent in flavor compared to the slightly sweeter and thickened balsamic glaze. We recommend adding a little bit at a time based on your preference.
How to Make One Pot Caprese Chicken Orzo Recipe
- In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat and saute seasoned chicken pieces for 10 minutes, until browned. Set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Cook onions and garlic for 3 minutes. Then, add the cherry tomatoes and uncooked orzo to the pot, cooking for one minute.
- Stir in chicken, stock, garlic powder, and onion powder into the pot.
- Cover and cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
- Stir in the mozzarella and fresh basil. Drizzle with balsamic glaze, serve, and enjoy!
What to Serve with this Recipe:
This recipe is a complete meal with protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates, and is delicious served with a drizzle of balsamic glaze and fresh chopped basil, but if you are looking for some other healthy sides and options, it would be delicious with: a Kale Salad or Homemade Bruschetta on the side!
storage
Storing: This recipe is great for meal prepping and storing for the days to come. Pack away in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheat this in the microwave, on the stovetop, or in the oven.
We don’t recommend freezing this recipe as the orzo will get very mushy upon reheating.
other Easy healthy Orzo recipes:
Here are some of our other favorite orzo recipes
One Pot Caprese Chicken Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in ½ inch cubes
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 3 cups halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup dry orzo
- 1 ¾ cups low sodium chicken stock
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup cubed fresh mozzarella
- ¼ cup diced fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic glaze for drizzling
Instructions
- Cube chicken into ¼ inch square bite size pieces. Season with ¼ teaspoon salt and black pepper, set aside.
- In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat.
- Add your chicken to the pan, let it cook for 10 minutes or until you get a nice golden brown color on the exterior. Make sure to stir occasionally to brown all sides.
- Note: If there is some excess liquid released while the chicken cooks, remove some of the liquid by placing a few paper towels in the bottom of the pan and discarding. Removing some of the liquid will allow for a nice golden brown exterior on the chicken.
- While the chicken is cooking, chop your onions, garlic, and tomatoes.
- Once your chicken has browned, remove it from the pot and set aside in a large bowl. Reduce the heat to medium. Add onions, and garlic to the pot and cook for 3 minutes. If you need to add a splash of oil to the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking, go for it!
- Once the onions and garlic have cooked, add the cherry tomatoes and uncooked orzo to the pot. Cook for one minute.
- Add cooked chicken, chicken stock and garlic powder and onion powder to the pot. Stir to combine
- Cover the pot and cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes to make sure the orzo does not stick to the bottom.
- After 10 minutes, the orzo should be fully cooked.
- Add the mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. Stir to combine.
- Drizzle with balsamic glaze, serve and enjoy!
I wanted to love this recipe, but the directions are way off. I’m not sure why you cook the orzo for a minute with no liquid… Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I tried to have faith. I followed the directions to a T, and it took forever for the orzo to cook. Everything was mushy. Not good at all. I’m really sorry.
I’m confused by your comment. You said it took forever for the orzo to cook, but then everything was mushy. It sounds like you over cooked it! Sorry you didn’t enjoy it. You cook the orzo for a minute with no liquid to toast it- it helps add flavor!
Delicious! Easy to make. Perfect time of year to use garden or farm stand tomatoes.
So good! Fresh tasing and easy to throw together!
This was delicious, quick and easy. Will definitely be making again!
This was so delicious!! I thought it was restaurant quality. As always, easy to make. Loved it.
This was delicious and easy! I added a few more veggies cause I had them. (Cauliflower, zucchini) Rave reviews from the family. Nice being one-pot meal. 😉
SO delicious! Will definitely be adding to our meal rotation.