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.
Did you make this recipe?
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It was pretty good, although a little bland. Not sure what to do to change, but my son liked it. Thanks for the recipe!
You are missing out. if you don’t
make this soup. Don’t change a thing. It is perfect as is.
This soup is amazing! Exactly what I wanted it to taste like. Full disclosure, I used the DD homemade chicken stock in the instant pot recipe for the stock and then I also used the zest of the lemon I later juiced because I personally love lemon. To me, it was not overpowering at all. I also used a bunch of fresh thyme and then dried rosemary because that’s what I had. Overall, this hits all the comfort marks of soup, but still light enough for our long southern summers.
Do you know if I can use rice instead of orzo pasta? And if yes would you cook the rice before adding to the soup recipe?
Who doesn’t like Chicken & Rice soup? I bet you could definitely substitute, however, the rice might be a bit heavier. The orzo is so light and lovely.
This is an amazing recipe. I followed it to the T and the husband couldn’t get enough. Thank you so much for sharing
This soup was perfect dinner dish in this transition between summer and fall. Still light and refreshing, but warm and comforting on a rainy night like last night. We ate it on the screened in porch with french bread, and it was a big hit!
We were out of bay leaves so I just went without. We used a full sprig of rosemary, freshly picked from our neighbor’s bush, and took it out after it was done cooking. It came out tasting *perfectly* spiced. We’re definitely going to put this one on rotation!
Th is was the best soup yet…… I put it in the crockpot.had to work. Walked in the door an oh my so good thanks.
How long did you cook it in the crockpot
And did you dump all the ingredients in at once
How did you make this with a crockpot?
Something was missing from this and I can’t put my finger on it. And I used homemade stock! I wasn’t fond of the thighs in this soup. Looked too gnarly. Next time I’ll maybe use fresh thyme and rotisserie chicken breasts. Maybe a tsp of jarred chicken Better Than Bouillon to kick up the flavor?
Great recipe! I used a grilled chicken breast instead of thighs. Came out delicious!!!
Just made this and it turned out great. Warm, comforting, and filling, and the fresh parsley and lemon juice really brightened and elevated the flavor. This recipe is very forgiving…the carrots and celery I used were far from fresh since I was just trying to clean out the fridge, but the finished product is still delicious. Very simple and I will definitely make this one again (with fresher ingredients!).
need to add little more spice
Delicious soup! I accompanied it with a panini. My mom is not a fan of carrots and I heard some commentary while I was serving about carrots in the soup. Yet not a peep during the meal and raved about it at the end. Wanted to make sure I put away leftovers. Big hit -thank you!!
Fantastic! Followed recipe pretty much, but started with four skin on bone-in thighs and brown them well and then took them out and started sauteing the veggies. Made a double batch and ended up putting lots of lemon zest in it because my girlfriend said it didn’t taste like lemon….IT DUE NOW!!
Sounds delicious. Would like to make it before my knee surgery. Can it be frozen?
Also wondering about freezing, need to make some meals pre-baby!
I freeze this all the time. Just be sure to freeze without the orzo as it gets too mushy if you do.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It was absolutely delicious! A keeper and can’t wait to make it for my son and daughter in law! I did make my own chicken stock from the Kosher Palette cookbook.
I’ve made this soup multiple times! I love it! I have also used chicken stock with white wine and substituted the chicken for vegan chicken to make it vegetarian. This is the absolute best recipe I’ve tried for this particular soup. Thanks so much for this!
This soup is light but still hearty with tons of flavor! I can not recommend this recipe enough! I can’t wait to make this again!
I’ve just made a batch up to compliment my intermittent fasting. 6 generous and balanced meals packed with flavour and nutrients. Absolutely delish and perfect for those days when you aren’t feeling great or you are feeling sluggish and need a reset to the diet. I added some chilli flakes for an extra bang!
I can’t thank you enough for this soup recipe! Chemo makes food taste like paste. A month or so ago I wanted chicken noodle soup as a comfort thing. When I feel awful, that’s what I want to eat. I made regular chicken noodle and couldn’t taste anything. I hunted up something different and found this recipe and thought…lemon that’s what I need. I added lemon to my soup and was able to eat it. Then I made this recipe and I’m so happy I did. I double batch it, store it in portion sizes in my freezer including separate containers of the orzo. For the 10 days after chemo that my taste buds are gone, I eat a bowl of this soup every day. It’s easy to make with staples most homes have and most grocery stores have available even during COVID challenging times. Thanks again for the recipe, it’s really appreciated!
I followed the directions but it was kind of bland. I’m thinking maybe cooking the chicken with olive oil and some red wine might help. And maybe another seasoning or two. Not sure what they would be but the taste needs to be elevated some. Maybe a quarter stick of butter would help as well?
❤❤❤ this soup! I used fresh herbs ( rosemary and thyme) just cuz I had both on hand. The rosemary leaves broke off and i didnt care for floating leaves in my soup…so i took the time to strain them out. Great flavor, easy prep! The lemon gives it a bright note but not overpowering! I had leftover orzo in my fridge which was the reason i tried this recipe. Added orzo at end just to reheat. Perfection!