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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I made this last night. Delicious!
Can this be made ahead of time and then reheated?
OMG. So damn delicious! Thanks for your emails. I’ve made several of your dinner recipes! This was so much fun. And the recipes are very easy to follow. The chicken took a while for me to cook, but then everything went together quickly after that. I lined up & measured all the ingredients as I was letting the chicken cook. SO flipping good! This recipe just ticked all the boxes for me. Relatively healthy (not a canned soup), savory, flavorful, lots of protein (I work out & so I doubled the chicken) and veggies! I added a salad. Now I have leftovers that I am so excited about. LOL. Love your recipes & your website!
My whole family licked their plates. This was delicious! I used chicken breasts split lengthwise. Thankful I made enough to have leftovers.
Quick and easy. Needs more orzo. Not enough for a side dish. Used chicken breast and split them to cut down cook time. A simple recipe that you can add whatever vegetables you like. I added chopped tomatoes and basil.
Hey,
I love to cook and try something new always in my dishes. I was excited to cook after going through your recipe. I’ve followed your instructions and the result was that I finished with a delicious dish.
Thanks for sharing this
I made this with chicken breasts and it was amazing. So easy and I love that it was a one pot meal.
Haven’t tried yet, but this recipe Sounds & looks delicious, what could you suggest to sub for the mushrooms? We both aren’t mushroom eaters.
I live in a small condo and tend not to keep a lot of less common ingredients, like orzo.
Would it be possible to substitute rice? If so, would you recommend Arborio, long grain white, or medium grain brown? Those are the ones I routinely have.
Orzo and rice are not the same thing at all. Orzo is pasta, usually made from wheat. You can make something similar with rice but the liquid requirements and the timing are different. Look up Chix and rice or arroz can pollo recipes for comparison.
Kelly Am, you can easily use fettuccini or linguini noodles as a substitute. Just cut them down into ¼ inch – ½ inch pieces. Good luck if you try it. I’ll be making the recipe tonight.
Thank you so much for this recipe!! I’m making this for dinner tonight! My family loves chicken and I have all of these ingredients on hand. I love all of your recipes and share them with family and friends. Would love to get your new book. I follow you on IG too.
Thanks for sharin the love!!
Keep up Chix thigh recipes! They are delicious, affordable, easy to find and healthy! Thank you for all the great ideas. I for one, greatly appreciate your creativity, costs concerns and use of easily found, healthy choice ingredients.
Could you stop with the chicken thighs already. I hate them. You use them too often.
Hi Pj. Next time you feel the need to spread rudeness and entitlement, please keep in mind that we are a team of 4 amazing women working hard to provide these professionally-tested recipes for all of our awesome home cooks out there. We ask that you do not hesitate to receive your recipes elsewhere and maybe try it with some kindness. Have a great day!
You Go Girl!!!
OH WOW…..the need to be this rude over chicken! Excellent reply..and ps WE LOVE THIGHS
Excellent and professional reply.
Hi!! This recipe looks AMAZING!!! We are planning on trying it either tmoro or for Sunday Dinner. We both are little lactose challenged. If we omitted the heavy cream, would that significantly alter the flavor of the dish? If so, might you Be able to recommend something to replace the heavy cream? Thank you in advance for the reply!
Well said.
PS – I love chicken thighs!!!
PJ, if you are a regular here, then you would know that ANY recipe can easily have substitutions…chicken thighs can, for the most part, be swapped for breasts but you would just need to consider the meat wouldn’t be as tender as the thighs but easily substituted OR, try another protein of your choice! To Jana’s point, you are not the only one on this blog…we all enjoy different things, hence, substitutions and experimentation are a great way to make a recipe our own!
To the 4 amazing women that are taking the time to test, experiment, re-test and publish these recipes, THANK YOU! 🙂
This looks absolutely delicious and easy and we’ll be adding it to our dinner line-up come the very next grocery shop. Thank you for the free recipes that you put so much effort into.
If they were out of chicken thighs – or if for some reason I was suddenly overwhelmed with hatred for them – I guess any half-decent cook wouldn’t be hard pressed to replace them with chicken breasts or drumsticks or steaks or duck or salmon with just a little thought/experimentation. 😉
i have to say i am not a fan of thighs either. i just sub breasts.
PJ , You are a jerk!!Go elsewhere if you don’t like what we all like on this site
Omg….there are so many recipes on this fantastic site. Ever thought of being thankful and appreciative during a time like this? Just spreading some kindness will make this place a better world.
Love your recipes! This sounds really great but my husband is gluten free. Do you think I could substitute rice for pasta?
This is for Elaine – I’m also gluten free. I found GF orzo that works well in place of regular orzo. It’s Delallo brand and so far I haven’t found an orzo recipe it hasn’t worked with. Although I haven’t tried this one, I will very soon.
Laura,
Thank you very much for answering my question. I will begin a search for this product!! Excited to know it exists
Elaine
This is easy and yummy. I used unsalted chicken stock and would not use any additional salt except for seasoning the chicken before cooking. End result was about too salty for my taste. I would also use milk instead of heavy cream….it’s creamy enough. I’ll be sharing this and will make it again. This is definitely a recipe that you can play around with to suit your palette.
Can you make this with chicken breasts instead?
It literally says that you can. Read before you comment!
Looks amazing and has all my fav ingredients. One question, I am lactose sensitive so can I substitute yoghurt for the heavy cream?
You can buy lactose free whipping cream!!! (or at least you can in Canada)
I would love to make this yummy looking dish, but first, I do need to approximately how many calories per serving? Thanks so much for your recipes. Carol
Hi Carol! Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”). Hope that helps!