One Pot Chicken and Mushroom Orzo
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Amazingly creamy orzo with juicy chicken, mushrooms and baby spinach. All made in one skillet, even the uncooked pasta!
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The creamiest orzo with all the fix-ins and the juiciest, golden brown chicken thighs all made in one. single. pot.
It’s quite possibly the easiest dinner one can ask for, and you can easily substitute chicken breasts if dark meat is not your jam. (You know we love our boneless, skinless thighs!) Kale and/or arugula can also be substituted for the spinach. And if you hate mushrooms, you can omit them altogether. IT IS ALL GOOD.
Side note: I throw in extra mushrooms + spinach for myself to make sure I get in ALL my veggies because that creamy orzo goodness is just too good to pass up.
tips and tricks for success
- Use a heavy pot. A heavy bottom pot, such as a Dutch oven, is ideal here for even heat distribution and a better sear.
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your dish. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety. Homemade stock is even better.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options.
- Add the cream slowly. Always add the heavy cream at the very end, pouring very slowly to prevent curdling.
what to serve with chicken and mushroom orzo
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
One Pot Chicken and Mushroom Orzo: 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.
Mushrooms can be omitted completely if it’s not your thing. Eggplant, zucchini, or tofu can be substituted, if desired, as it can absorb all the good flavors and mimic the texture of mushrooms.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Kale, cabbage, swiss chard and collard greens are all great subs.
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
One Pot Chicken and Mushroom Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved
- 2 large shallots, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 cup orzo pasta
- 4 cups baby spinach
- ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Equipment
Instructions
- Season chicken with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches, add chicken to the Dutch oven in a single layer and cook until golden brown and cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 4-5 minutes per side; set aside.
- Add mushrooms and shallots, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chicken stock and Dijon, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven. Stir in orzo; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in spinach, Parmesan and heavy cream until the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes. Return chicken to the Dutch oven.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley.
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Delicious! I doubled the mushrooms and halved the spinach for my tastes.
Just tried this for dinner last night and it was a huge success! Directions very easy and straightforward. Use chicken breasts instead of thighs because that’s what I had on hand. I just cut them in half. I agree with your note to double the mushrooms and spinach, but not sure I have a pan big enough for all that spinach! Husband and son LOVED it. The orzo takes on an amazingly deep flavor. I think the shallots make all the difference! Thanks for a great recipe. (My husband said “Please put this one on repeat”!
First time, won’t be the last, husband loved it !
This was amazing! I used broccoli instead of spinach as that’s what I had. Took a little longer to cook the broccoli but the crunch was a nice contrast to the creaminess of the rest of the dish.
Delicious! Substituted kale for the spinach. Company loved it! Plenty for leftovers.
This dish is very tasty. I used a large stainless steel skillet and my chicken thighs stuck to the pan, even with the butter, and didn’t brown very well, Not sure what happened.
This was really delicious and easy. Mine ended up almost like a risotto, except without the extra effort of a half hour of continuous stirring 😉 Only changes was chopping the mushrooms a bit more and substituting chicken breast. Thanks for a great recipe!
It is a wonderful delicious meal. Great for company or to enjoy with your family.
Absolutely delicious! This went together easily, and got rave reviews from all. Thanks for the great recipe!
excellent! Just made this but I needed to add a bit more chicken stock to make orzo done to my licking. Teenage son was able to pick out mushrooms as he’s not a fan of them.Will def make again
Wow, winner winner chicken dinner! Made this for the hubs this weekend and we both loved it! Plenty of sauce and orzo and the chicken was nice and moist. Damn Delicious!!! Keeper recipe for sure!
Absolutely delicious! Only a couple of minor changes here. Mushrooms were very large so I thickly sliced. Covered the pan while sautéing mushrooms and shallots. Deglazed the pan with a touch of Sherry before adding flour. Added a few sliced black mushrooms with the Parmesan cheese and spinach. Finally sliced the sautéed chicken thighs thickly on the bias before returning to the skillet. Yes, do pay attention while orzo is cooking. I actually ran a spatula upside down along the pan several times during time the orzo was cooking. Low simmer for cooking the orzo please, no boiling.
CORRECTION : Black OLIVES, not black mushrooms
Wow! This is quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever made. Thank you thank you thank you for this recipe! I am not the best cook and even I did not screw this up 😀 Will be making this again and again!
I have the pickiest wife in the world and she commented several times during dinner how good this is. She made sure I saved it!! Comfort food
Absolutely fabulous! Rich and creamy and so easy to make. Will definitely have again!
O-M-G I have been wanting to make this for a while and so glad I did. I did use thighs instead of breasts. My husband always watches his portions and he had seconds! The orzo mix is good enough to eat just as a side. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes.
Just made this tonight with a bunch of changes based on allergies and product availability, and it was still so, so, SO GOOD. Those asking about the cream and parm, I’m allergic to dairy to I used non-dairy butter and omitted the cream and parmesan altogether and it was still an extremely decadent and creamy dish. I used 1.5 cups orzo like others suggested but ended up adding more chicken broth to get the orzo to the tenderness we like, so next time I will use the 1c as specified in the recipe. I used chicken breasts because that’s what I had, cut them to half the thickness so ended up with 6 cutlets that were easy and quick to brown. I put them in a small baking dish in the toaster oven on the “warm” setting to keep warm while the rest cooked. I subbed yellow onions for shallots and dried thyme (from fresh, not the powdered kind, although I’m sure that’d work fine in a smaller quantity) for fresh based on what I had on hand. Lastly, I used white button mushrooms quartered because they were each the size of my hand. This was still an amazing dish, easy, and came together fairly quickly. My ONLY complaint is about the orzo sticking to the bottom. I scraped the bottom with a wooden spoon as it cooked, but it still stuck, and that was on pretty low heat (just at a low simmer). My husband asked for a kiss after and said “That was soooo good!” in a kind of sing-songy voice, so yeah. Make this, even if you can’t make it to the letter 🙂 I think I might even sub 1/4 or 1/2 cup of white wine for part of the chicken broth next time, just to really kick up the decadence 😀
OMG! This looks so delish! I will make this yummy recipe next Friday co my kids are inviting their friends over, I know that my babies will be rockstars because of this dish! will let you know how it turns out, thank you so much for sharing this!
This was amazing. The orzo was so rich and creamy and I loved having the spinach in there. Will be making again!
My goodness-I made this for the first time and it was AMAZING