One Pot Chicken Orzo
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An Easy One Pot Chicken Orzo Recipe that is quick to make! this Creamy orzo with chicken is rich and delicious while still being healthy!
This Chicken Orzo is a quick, one pot meal and is perfect for those busy weeknights.
Tender asparagus, spinach, and juicy bites of chicken are combined with orzo in a light and creamy parmesan sauce for a healthy meal that can be on the table in 30 minutes!
If you love orzo, try our Mediterranean Chicken Orzo, Lemon Chicken Orzo, Caprese Orzo, French Onion Orzo, or Greek Orzo Salad!
Why you should make this:
- Easy to Make: This orzo chicken dinner is simple to make and only needs one pan, which means less cleaning up afterward. (We love that!!) Any time you can have dinnon the table in under an hour with minimal dishes = a win in my book!
- Delicious Flavors: The creamy sauce, tender chicken, and veggies = perfect combo! Even picky eaters will love it because the flavors are simple and delicious.
- Healthy Ingredients: Chicken Orzo is made with wholesome ingredients like lean chicken and fresh vegetables, making it a healthy dinner choice!
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Ingredients
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
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.
Asparagus: Other vegetables that would be good in this would be zucchini, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. If you want a veggie loaded orzo dish check out our Broccoli Cheddar Orzo or Red Pepper Orzo.
Orzo: I have only tried this recipe with orzo pasta. I have not tried substituting rice for orzo and I think you would need a different cook time/broth ratio. You can try this Chicken Broccoli Rice and add cheese/asparagus instead.
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. Others have made this recipe with gluten free orzo and said it worked well, but I haven’t personally tried it.
Half & Half: You can substitute half and half with whole milk but it will not be as creamy. You can also substitute heavy cream. I haven’t tried this with dairy free milk and I don’t know how it would come out.
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.
Spinach: I haven’t tried it, but I think you could sub spinach with arugula and it would be just as delicious! I’ve also doubled the spinach in this recipe and it came out great. You can use frozen spinach, just thaw it and drain as much water as you can before adding to the pot. You can try our Broccoli Cheddar Orzo with Chicken or Chicken Red Pepper Orzo if you want more veggies.
Dairy Free: While I personally have not made this recipe, multiple readers have used dairy free milk + cheese with success!
How to make Creamy Chicken Orzo
- In a small bowl, combine chicken chunks, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, and toss to coat.
- Heat olive oil and brown the chicken. Set aside. Add the remaining oil to the pan and saute asparagus for another 2 minutes.
- Saute the onion until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the orzo and garlic and cook until the orzo starts to toast slightly.
- Add in the broth and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover and cook for 7 minutes.
- Stir in the chicken, asparagus, half and half, parmesan, and spinach.
- Heat for one to two minutes more until heated through.
How to serve Orzo Chicken
This Orzo Chicken should be served immediately and is best garnished with chopped parsley and extra grated parmesan. You could also add some freshly ground black pepper.
It’s delicious paired with these side dishes:
- Even though there are lots of veggies in this dish, I like it paired with Kale Salad or Kale Quinoa Salad
- Crusty Baguette or Artisan Bread
- Asparagus in the Oven for more veggies
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan
- A Glass of White Wine
Liz’s Tip:
There are different sizes of orzo pasta, and they may have different cooking times. The size most commonly found in supermarkets cooks in about 8 minutes. Check the packaging of the orzo for cook times and choose one with a 7-9 minute cook time.
Storage
This dish is best when fresh. Leftovers tend to be drier, less creamy, and can clump together.
Storing: This will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: We don’t recommend freezing this recipe. Frozen pasta can get really mushy when frozen!
Reheating: Reheat in a covered pot on the stove, over low heat, adding some extra broth to loosen it back up.
Other healthy dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy one pot meals? Check our our favorite’s below! Grab our free one pot dinners cookbook.
One Pot Chicken Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders cubed into 1” pieces
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- ½ cup diced yellow onion about 1/2 a medium onion
- 2 cups chopped fresh asparagus spears cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic about 3 garlic cloves
- 8 ounces dry orzo
- 2 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme can sub 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- ⅓ cup half and half can sub milk
- ⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- Chopped fresh parsley and extra Parmesan for garnish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine chicken chunks, garlic powder, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, toss to coat.
- In a large high sided pan over medium high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the chicken. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until brown on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl.
- In the same pan, (no need to clean it!) add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the asparagus and sauté for 2 minutes, until tender but still crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside to the plate with the cooked chicken.
- Add the onion to the pan and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the orzo and garlic and cook until the orzo starts to toast slightly, another 3 minutes.
- Add in the broth and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan. (Tip: You can microwave your broth before adding to the pan to speed up cook time) Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 7 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed, stirring halfway.
- Stir in the cooked chicken, asparagus, half and half, parmesan, spinach and thyme. Heat for one to two minutes more until heated through and spinach is wilted.
- Serve immediately garnished with chopped parsley and extra grated parmesan.
Video
Notes
- This dish is best when fresh. Leftovers tend to be drier, less creamy, and can clump together. For best quality, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheat in a covered pot on the stove, over low heat, adding some extra broth to loosen it back up.
- There are different sizes of orzo pasta, and they may have different cooking times.The size most commonly found in the supermarkets around me cook in about 8 minutes. This recipe was made using Barilla orzo. Check the packaging of orzo for cook times and choose one with an 7-9 minute cook time.
- This orzo can be made with chunks of boneless skinless thighs, but you may need to adjust the cooking time for the chicken. 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.
- Other vegetables that would be good in this would be zucchini, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms.
- Chicken broth can be substituted with vegetable broth.
This is quite good, but I would not consider it “easy”.
Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. Feel free to elaborate on what you found difficult about this recipe! Without sharing what you found to be so complex, I’m not sure how I can help!
Can I use frozen spinach ?
Yes you can use frozen spinach, just thaw it and drain as much water as you can before adding to the pot.