This lemon chicken orzo soup is a delicious and easy recipe that comes together quickly. Perfect for a week night dinner!
Thank you all for the comments, messages and well-wishes from Mallory’s birth! We are both doing great.
I will admit that we have been in what I call the “newborn cocoon” for this first three weeks. It is as if the outer world does not even exist.
We are in an ever-repeating cycle of eat, sleep, rest. Newborns do sleep a lot, but it is in short bursts. I struggle with how to use those free periods. The essentials – sleep, spending time with my three-year-old, dishes or laundry – seem to win out most of the time.
But I am craving some normalcy. I am ready to get back into some sort of routine and find our new normal! One of the things that makes me fee more normal is to get into the kitchen.
After having lots of SUPER nice friends and family members bring us yummy meals to help out, I finally got back into the kitchen this week to try a new recipe: this lemon chicken orzo soup.
It reminds me of my chicken noodle soup from scratch…but with an Italian twist. Instead of noodles, I use orzo. Plus, it has a few different herbs and a squeeze of lemon for a little pop of flavor. It is SO good! Warm, comforting, filling and delicious!
I also used ALL the shortcuts this time around, y’all! Feel free to do the same. Pre-cut carrots from the grocery store, frozen diced onions (<- I did NOT even know these were a thing!), store-bought rotisserie chicken…basically anything to make cooking dinner a slightly more attainable goal at this stage of life.
This dinner is also pretty healthy, which I love. But it also tastes great. Everything I make has to feed both my husband and three-year-old son as well. And they love this!
Tools Used to Make This Recipe
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- Knife and cutting board
- I am using an enameled cast iron dutch oven. I have also used this pot to make it.
- Ladle for serving
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Lemon Juicer (optional, but it sure helps!)
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup Recipe
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Pin it if it looks good to you.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound cooked chicken shredded or cut into bite-sized chunks (I used leftover rotisserie chicken)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 cups carrots peeled and diced (I used 2 of pre-sliced carrot chips)
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme or half teaspoon of dried
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 leaves bay
- 1 cup uncooked whole wheat orzo pasta
- 1 sprig rosemary
- Juice of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- Optional toppings: fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley & parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook the vegetables, and stir occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in garlic, thyme and bay leaves until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Pour in the chicken stock, and bring to a boil.
- Stir in orzo, rosemary and cooked chicken.
- After re-boil, reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in lemon juice, and add salt and pepper, to taste.
- Remove bay leaves and rosemary sprig.
- Top with parsley and parmesan cheese.
- Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional information is approximate and was calculated using a recipe nutrition label generator.
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