Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
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This cozy lemon chicken orzo soup is packed with feel-good veggies and tender chicken in a soothing lemony broth. Made in 30 min or less!
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Why you’ll love lemon chicken orzo soup
- Comforting and light. Say hello to the best kind of vibrant, light, lemony broth, warming you from the inside out. It’s a fun, cozy cross between traditional chicken noodle soup and chicken and rice soup.
- One pot convenience. Believe it or not, this is incredibly easy to whip up and comes together very quickly in one single pot, even the dried orzo, making cleanup an absolute breeze.
- Freezes beautifully. This soup freezes and reheats like a dream, perfect for those busy weeknights and lazy weekends, especially when you’re feeling under the weather.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts (or you can substitute shredded rotisserie chicken, adding towards the end of cooking time until warmed through)
- Aromatics: garlic, onion, carrots, celery, thyme, and bay leaves
- Liquid: low-sodium chicken stock or chicken broth and water
- Pasta: uncooked orzo pasta
- Citrus: freshly squeezed lemon juice
how to make Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
- Cook the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Then cook the chicken in a Dutch oven coated with olive oil over medium heat until golden brown; set aside.
- Sauté the aromatics. Add additional oil, then stir in the garlic, onion, carrots, and celery until tender. Stir in the thyme until fragrant.
- Add the liquids. Stir in the chicken stock, water, and bay leaves.
- Simmer. Stir in the orzo, rosemary, and seared chicken, simmering until the orzo is tender and cooked through.
- Finish. Stir in the freshly squeezed lemon juice, parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Serve. Ladle into bowls and serve warm with crusty bread.
what to serve with lemon chicken orzo soup
Tools For This Recipe
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, chicken breasts can absolutely be used here but chicken thighs have more dark meat and a higher fat content which will yield juicier, more flavorful chicken.
You can use either chicken broth or chicken stock but always season, to taste, as store-bought broth is often saltier than store-bought stock. Broth is made from meat and vegetables while stock is often lower sodium and thicker than broth, and is made from bones and vegetables.
Orzo is a short-cut type pasta, similar in shape to a long grain of rice. Orzo also cooks much faster than traditional rice, making this soup a simple one-pot dinner ready in about 30 minutes.
The orzo is cooked directly in the soup, absorbing all the flavorful broth. But if you are planning for leftovers or freezing, the orzo should be cooked and stored separately.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, adding a splash of water or stock as needed.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the orzo pasta (or else they will get mushy) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight and reheat on the stovetop, adding freshly cooked orzo pasta when serving.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 celery ribs, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup water
- 2 bay leaves
- ¾ cup orzo pasta
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken to the stockpot and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the stockpot. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in chicken stock, water and bay leaves; bring to a boil.
- Stir in orzo, rosemary and chicken; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Equipment
Notes
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your soup. Since many brands love to pack in the salt, always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety. Homemade stock is even better.
- Add freshly squeezed lemon juice. Lemon juice will elevate your chicken soup, adding a fresh, bright flavor and balancing out all the saltiness and richness of the soup.
- Make it vegetarian. Skip the chicken, use vegetable stock, and add 1 can cannellini beans.
- Make it gluten-free. Use gluten-free orzo or swap out the orzo for rice.
- Repurpose leftovers. Save time and add shredded rotisserie chicken towards the end of cooking time.
- Add leafy greens. This is a great soup recipe to sneak in more veggies such as spinach or kale, stirring in just before serving until wilted.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with homemade crusty bread or garlic parmesan knots for dipping, sopping and dunking!
- Store the orzo separately. Cook and store the orzo separately if making this ahead of time as the orzo will continue to soak up the broth.
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Just made this for dinner. Kids loved it. So simple and easy. Really light and fresh! Thanks!
I I just made this. I roasted a chicken and then made my own stock from the carcass. It was wonderful. Thank you so much for the recipe
I am making this today, I have a whole chicken in the crockpot with rosemary, onion, carrot, and celery, I will use the chicken and broth for this. I searched my stores for orzo but for some reason it isn’t carried around here 🙁 I will use either jasmine rice or some tiny ABC noodles that I have.
I’ve made this for my husband before and he just loved it, requested I make it again tonight which I plan on doing, makes our house smell amazing! He requests one strange substitution though: for some reason the idea of orzo pasta freaks him out (don’t ask, lol) so I’ve subbed it out for the small star shaped pasta. Brings you back to your childhood of eating chicken and stars soup… except for the grown up, damn delicious lemon flavor! Thanks for the yummy recipe!
I just made this soup and it’s absolutely delishes. I didn’t add the rosemary, because I didn’t have it on hand, but otherwise I love it! I was looking for recipes for my picky daughter and I think she will love it, too! Thanks!!
I just made this soup and its delish. Just the right blend of aromatics make this a keeper. Thank you so much for the recipe and the great photos on your website!
Have everything here to make this soup – as soon as the chicken thaws out. 🙂 Also love the comment that someone used their rice cooker to make soup in. I’ll try that but not when feeding my crowd since I have a small pot. Any help here would be appreciated. When I make rice in it I just close the lid and it does it’s own wonderful thing! Thank you for your fantastic recipes and insights.
I made this soup. It was great, but looked different from yours. Your chicken stock is really yellow. Do you buy chance use a bullion cube? Or buy a certain type of chicken stock? I used Swanson and it looked very different than your picture.
No, I did not use a bouillon cube. I used standard chicken stock.
This was absolutely delicious, Chungah! Making again tonight for the fam, thanks for sharing
It says cook chicken 3 min & set aside, then add more oil carrots celery etc. and cook 3-4 min… Is this in the same pot together with the chicken? The “set aside” part confused me, don’t want to overcook the chicken.
The chicken should be set aside so that it is not overcooked with the rest of the vegetables.
My family loved this soup! It was easy to make too 🙂
I know it says “serve immediately”, but I would like to bring it to a friend in a tupperware. Can I make it a day earlier than they will eat it, and refrigerate it? Or should I cook the orzo separately and just tell them to add it right before reheating?
The orzo should be cooked separately and kept separate until serving.
Great, thanks! Thanks for the quick reply, too! Thanks, also, for yet another wonderful, delicious recipe!!
Hi, just wondering whether this could be made freezer friendly once it is cooked? Would the chicken/pasta be OK? I am very keen to try this, but since there is only my husband and myself I like to freeze some left over portions for future easy dinners 🙂
Claire, this can be freezer-friendly if you cook the orzo separately and keep it separate until serving. If not, the orzo will soak up all the liquid over time.
This looks really good! Anyone know the calories per serving?
Kirsten, feel free to use online resources at your discretion to obtain nutritional information.
I made this today. My house smelled divine while I was making it. Thank you for such a great recipe. This one is going to my list of “go to” ones.
So yummy. Made this for lunch today. But I’m a vegetarian, so I made a couple of changes. Left out the chicken ( of course) and used homemade veggie broth. So good , so good.
Really just looking for a good reason to make the house smell like rosemary. 🙂
I made this tonight and it was wonderful! Hubby loved it! I used Basmati rice instead of orzo pasta, but everything else was the same. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
I just had a big bowl ok two bowls:) while sitting outside in the evening sun. It had just the right amount of lemon in it.
I’ve never made soup before and tonight I made this for my family – it was great! I made it in a huuuge pot and my little family and I devoured it! Soo good for us taste wise and healthwise, it has become a favourite. Thank you!!! 🙂
I just made this and it tastes delicious, simple fast and healthy..