One Pot Tomato Basil Chicken Orzo
This One-Pot Tomato Basil Chicken With Orzo is creamy and loaded with flavor. A quick and easy dinner that everyone will love.
Chicken orzo pasta with lots of fresh basil is creamy and absolutely delicious to eat. Aren’t one-pan recipes best?? When there is a time crunch or too tired to cook an elaborate meal, all you need is a one-pan recipe. I usually end up making one-pot flavored rice a lot.
With only a few ingredients, this one-pot meal is very satisfying. The best thing is you can go as creative as you can in this case. Chicken, shrimp or mushroom, It is up to you what you pair with Orzo. I was planning to add some parmesan, but it was already creamy enough, so skipped the parmesan. But I am sure parmesan will make it even more delicious.
How To Make Chicken Orzo?
There are a couple of things you need to take care of while cooking Orzo. First, cook it just until it is done and the second one is the amount of stock you add while cooking. Anyone one of these goes wrong and you will end with a pot of mushy Orzo. When there is still little liquid in the pan switch off the flame. It might look saucy but once it slightly cools down Orzo will soak up all the liquid.
Can we reheat chicken Orzo?
It is best to serve orzo immediately after cooking. But in the case of any leftovers, it can be refrigerated. Orzo soaks up all the liquids once it has cooled down. So while reheating add little warm stock to it and heat. Then using a fork loosen it up.
More Favourite Orzo Recipes…
Chicken Orzo Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Orzo
- 500 grams boneless skinless chicken breast Cut to cubes
- 2 tbsp Oil
- ½ cup Onion chopped
- 1 tbsp Minced garlic
- 4 tbsp tomato paste (increase or decrease as per taste)
- salt & pepper to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Red chili flakes
- 1 cup Fresh Basil
- 4 cups chicken stock warm
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shreded (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet. Add chopped onion and minced garlic to the skillet.
- Saute until Onion is soft and looks transparent, garlic doesn't smell raw
- Add cubed chicken. Saute for 2 minutes on medium-high heat.
- Add tomato paste, chili flakes, salt & pepper . mix everything well.
- Add Orzo and warm 3.5 cups chicken stock (hold back half of cup of stock to use later). Stir well. Check the seasoning and adjust. (ref note 1)
- Once it starts to boil, lower the flame and let it cook slowly. (ref note 2)
- When almost all the water has been evaporated but still it looks little sauce and Orzo is cooked through. switch-off the flame.
- Stir in fresh basil leaf.
- While serving sprinkle
Video
Notes
- From a total of 4 cups of stock add only 3.5 cups of water. If all the liquid has evaporated and still the orzo is not cooked, then towards the end add rest of the stock.
- While cooking Orzo tends to settle at the bottom, so keep stirring in between to prevent it from sticking.
- Try to serve this immediately after cooking. Keeping it for too long, Orzo would soak all the sauce.
Looks great! What can be used if you don’t have fresh basil?
This was absolutely amazing! It sure looked like a winner to me with chicken, orzo and basil. Three ingredients that I love dearly. I’ll without doubt be making this again and again. Easy to make and delicious , it doesn’t get better than that. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!
Delicious and simple recipe! I will definitely be making this one again 🙂
Can you use chicken broth instead of chicken stock
Yes!!
What can be used in place of the tomato puree
You can use crushed tomato but in that case, you need to reduce the amount of stock.
Can this be frozen? 🙂
Yes, you can freeze in a freezer-safe container.
My family enjoyed this recipe and I enjoyed how quick and simple it was to make!
Glad that you liked it, Kathy. Thanks for the feedback.