Creamy chicken orzo soup. This soup is very straightforward, silky and thick, with a subtle fragrance of herbs plus a nice hit of lemon. It’s super comforting and satisfying, yet light-tasting at the same time. But what really seals the deal is that the whole thing is made in one pot and tastes like can’t-stop-eating-delicious.
How to make chicken orzo soup
To make it, we cook down onion and garlic together with salt and herbs, this way the soup will taste extra flavorful and well-seasoned. So much better than just throwing the the herbs into the broth.
Then we add in carrots and chicken, pour in broth, and bring to a boil. Hang out or drink a coffee for 15 minutes, then transfer the cooked chicken to a plate. Add orzo and cream to the broth, squeeze in some lemon juice and let the pasta cook for 10 minutes. In the meantime, we shred the chicken. Then, stir our chicken back in, add a lot of spinach, and crack some fresh pepper on top. That’s it. This recipe is sure to become a favorite you’ll make over and over again.
Let me guide you through the recipe with this step-by-step VIDEO.
Helpful tips
This recipe is super versatile, make it your own!
- If you want a ‘brothier’ soup, you can cook the orzo in a separate pot and add it to the soup when you stir in the chicken.
- Instead of spinach, you can add veggies like cauliflower, broccoli rabe, escarole, kale or corn kernels.
- If you plan to make a batch of this soup beforehand, don’t add the orzo or the heavy cream yet, add it right before you’re planning to serve the soup.
- You can use rotisserie chicken and skip the 15 minute cooking of the chicken.
- When you reheat the leftovers, the orzo will thicken creating a delicious, creamy risotto-style pasta.
- Instead of orzo, you can use rice if you want to, or other pasta shapes like egg noodles, cavatelli or alphabet noodles.
Try These Next
- White Chicken Chili with Cream Cheese
- Creamy Bean Soup with Sausage
- Creamy Tortellini Soup with Sausage
Creamy Chicken Orzo Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 medium brown onion finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 carrots sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 pound chicken fillets
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- juice from ½ lemon
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 ½ cups cream 20% fat
- 6 ounces orzo
- 3.5 ounces spinach
- freshly ground black pepper for serving
- crushed red pepper flakes for serving
Instructions
- Get all the prep done before you start cooking: mince the garlic, finely chop the onion, peel and thinly slice the carrots.
- Heat oil and butter in a large pot over medium. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes, until soft. Stir in salt, pepper, thyme and oregano. Cook until fragrant, for 1 minute. Add in carrots and the chicken fillets.
- Pour in broth, add soy sauce and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- When ready, remove the chicken fillets and place onto a clean plate. Add cream, lemon juice and orzo. Stir, cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the orzo is al dente.
- In the meantime, shred the chicken using two forks. Hold a fork in each hand, and use them to pull the meat apart.
- When ready, return chicken to the pot. Add spinach, stir and simmer for 2 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted. Taste, and adjust salt. Finish off with freshly ground black pepper and red pepper flakes. Serve!
Video
Nutrition
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This is a great weeknight soup, full of flavor and simple to execute. Wouldn’t change a thing. Going to be a go-to recipe.
Thanks Cathy!
What is a good non-substitute for the cream?
Hi, you can use soy cream or unsweetened coconut cream. Enjoy the recipe!
I have just discovered your page and made the soup. It was super fast and really delicious! Thank you so much, I am looking forward to try other recipes of yours 🙂
Fantastic, that’s really nice to hear! Enjoy the recipes!
I really enjoyed this recope but definitely tweeked it. I used tarragon instead of thyme, 5 cloves of garlic (because i love garlic), 4 cups unsalted chicken broth, 2 1/2 cups regular chicken broth, 2 1/2 cups cream, 2 tblsp low sodiuom soy sauce, chopped the chicken in bite sized cubes (I prefer it that way unless in chicken tortilla soup), and shortened the rime on the orzo so it was a bit undercooked before adding the chicken again, and then the spinach. Loved it!!
Thanks, so glad you enjoyed it! Love your ideas Natascha!
This was delicious and so easy!! Can’t wait to enjoy the leftovers! And for sure will be making this again soon. Thanks!
Yay! So happy you enjoyed it!
I have never commented on or reviewed anything in my life but, I just had to for this soup! It was amazing! I had a ton of leftover shredded chicken from last nights dinner so I just used precooked and added it at the end with the spinach. This is definitely a keeper and will be making it often.
Thank you Bre! That’s so nice to hear this recipe was a hit!
Do you have the nutritional information? If so, Can you please add it. I really like your recipe but this is the first website I’ve seen that doesn’t show detailed nutrition. I don’t need all the details, just basic ones like carbs, fat and protein. I understand that it’s not 100% but It’s hard to pick a recipe without that information.
Now, about the food. I just made it last night.
It was delicious. It’s now printed and placed in our recipe folder so it will be a constant meal in this household. I did make some tweaks to it.
I added a extra cup of liquid but it still ended up thick. It didn’t end up a soup, but it still tasted great. Next time ill add more liquid. The herbs are great but it was lacking seasoning, especially salt, even with the soy. I added salt, onion powder, lemon pepper and garlic salt at the end to flavor it up a bit. I also needed to use a full lemon, half wasn’t enough. I forgot to get chicken broth so I used veggie instead and then added better than Bouillon chicken.
Frozen spinach is better then fresh, it blends into the soup easier so I used that. I bet mushrooms, celery, leeks or county ham would be great in this.
I loved the red pepper flakes topping. It complimented it perfectly!!!
I really want to use this site because the recipes look great but I can’t do it without more nutritional info, so please add that for future ones. Nothing complicated, just basic ones like fat, carbs, protein.thank you!
Hi Meena, glad you enjoyed! The nutritional information is fixed. Happy cooking!