One-pan lemon chicken orzo
Golden chicken and orzo simmer in one pan with lemon, garlic and spinach until it turns creamy all on its own.
- 40 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.96 a serving
- 480 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1¼ lb chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1¼ cups orzo
- 2¾ cups chicken broth
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 3 cups baby spinach
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Each serving has about 480 calories, 43 g protein, 46 g carbs and 13 g fat, and costs about $2.96 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces, them with ½ teaspoon of salt, the pepper and the oregano, and wash your hands and board.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large, deep with a lid over medium-high. the chicken 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until on most sides, then move it to a plate.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: It won’t be cooked through yet. It finishes in the orzo.Turn the heat to medium, add the butter and onion, and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until the onion is .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Add the garlic and orzo and for 1 to 2 minutes, until the orzo smells toasty.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Pour in the broth with the lemon and ½ teaspoon of salt, , and bring it .
Zest. Zest is the thin, colored outer layer of citrus peel, rubbed off on the smallest holes of a grater. It holds the fruit’s fragrant oils, so it adds bright flavor without the sourness of juice.
How you’ll know: You see bright flecks and smell citrus right away; stop when you reach the white layer, which is bitter.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium-high heat
Return the chicken, cover, turn the heat to low and 10 to 12 minutes, twice, until the orzo is tender and the chicken reads 165°F.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Low heatTimer: 11 min
Dolly’s tip: Orzo likes to settle and stick. A quick stir halfway is all it needs.Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
in the spinach, lemon juice and parmesan until the spinach .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Low heat
Scatter the parsley over the top and serve from the pan.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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