Tuscan Chicken Orzo
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Easy one-pot Tuscan Chicken Orzo is filled with delicious sun dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and tender chicken. The perfect weeknight meal!
If you love a one pot dish that has minimal clean up and is easy to make for dinner and easy to reheat the next day, this Tuscan Chicken Orzo is for you.
Loaded with veggies, cheese and perfectly cooked orzo – it’s a great weekly meal prep and enjoy a protein packed meal!
Tyler’s Tips for the Best Tuscan chicken Orzo
- Allow the milk to come to room temperature before adding it to the pot so it incorporates nicely and doesn’t cool down the rest of the dish.
- Get a good sear on the exterior of the chicken! This helps add flavor to the dish. The brown bits in the bottom of the pan can be scraped off with a wooden spoon, and the chicken stock will do the rest of the work!
Ingredients:
substitutions
Olive Oil: You could use avocado oil, but we really recommend extra virgin olive oil
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless, skinless chicken thighs or chicken tenders, but we like the texture of the chicken breasts the best.
Onions and Garlic: We don’t recommend substituting for the onions and garlic, but you can use 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1 teaspoon onion powder in place of these if necessary.
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. You could check out our Chicken Broccoli Rice recipe and adjust based off of that!
Spices: Dried oregano, rosemary, sage, and thyme work great with this flavor profile, but feel free to substitute dried basil and parsley as needed! Fresh spices work well, too. I would just recommend adding these at the end.
Spinach: Fresh spinach or frozen spinach works great, and kale or arugula are good options also.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes: We use sun dried tomatoes in oil, but you can find them packaged dry as well.
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth. If you prefer a brothy dinner, try this Tuscan Chicken Orzo Soup.
Milk: Whole milk is ideal for this recipe, but low fat or skim can substitute if needed. Heavy cream can be used in place of milk; reduce the amount by half if using heavy cream. We have not tried this with a dairy-free milk like oat or almond milk, but it should work ok.
Parmesan Cheese: Swap the parmesan cheese for asiago cheese or mozzarella if you prefer! Omit the cheese if you are looking for a dairy-free option.
How to Make Tuscan Chicken Orzo
- Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and brown in olive oil over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once golden brown, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium, add onions and garlic, and cook for about 3 minutes until soft and translucent, adding a splash of oil if needed to prevent sticking.
- Stir the orzo, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and spices into the onions for one minute to give the orzo a gentle toast.
- Stir in the cooked chicken, broth, and milk, then cover and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the orzo from sticking, until fully cooked.
- Once the orzo has cooked, stir in parmesan cheese until combined.
What to Serve with Tuscan Chicken Orzo
This is a hearty meal in itself, but if you are looking for some other options on the side, try this pasta fagiola as a starter, or this strawberry arugula salad for something fresh, and an easy fresh fruit salad for dessert!
storage
Storing: These leftovers will last in the fridge for up to 4 days in an airtight container
Freezing: We don’t recommend freezing this recipe. Frozen pasta can get really mushy when thawed.
Reheating: Reheat in a covered pot on the stove, over low heat, adding some extra broth to loosen it back up.
Tuscan Chicken Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup dry orzo
- 1 cup frozen chopped spinach thawed
- ¼ cup chopped sun dried tomatoes regular or in oil
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon dried sage
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 ½ cup low sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cut chicken into ¼ inch square pieces and set aside. Season the chicken with black pepper and salt.
- In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat.
- Add the chicken to the pan and let it cook for 10 minutes until the chicken is brown 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 the onions, garlic and sun dried tomatoes.
- Once the chicken has browned, remove it from the pot and set aside in a bowl.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook for 3 minutes or until soft and translucent. If you need to add a splash of oil to the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking, go for it!
- Add the orzo, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme to the pan. Stir for one minute to give the orzo a gentle toast.
- Add the cooked chicken, chicken broth and milk to the pan. Stir well.
- Cover the pan and cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes to make sure the orzo does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
- After 10 minutes, the orzo should be fully cooked.
- Once the orzo has cooked, stir in parmesan cheese until combined.
This recipe was so simple to make and delicious! My husband said it was restaurant quality!