Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is a comforting and easy meal for any night of the week.
It’s a chicken soup that has carrots, celery, and a lemon flavor that sets this Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup recipe apart from other chicken noodle soup recipes.
LEMON CHICKEN ORZO SOUP
Last week my friend told me she was coming over with Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup. I couldn’t stop thinking about the soup until she came. If you’ve ever been pregnant you know food triggers know no patience.
Even though the same food may sound gross in two hours, all you know is that at THAT moment you want that certain food…and you want it now.
You know I love this Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. But I had to recreate this Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup for my family a couple of days later because I loved all of the flavors so much.
One thing I did learn is that if you don’t plan on eating it right away you should cook the orzo separately and add it later. The picture above is when I first made it and tasted it.
The picture below is what it looked like after piano lessons while I let it simmer for an hour.
The orzo soaks up all of the liquid. So unless you want a stew, eat it right away or add the orzo later. I just added a little more chicken stock to thin it out.
If you love this Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup recipe, you’ll love these soup recipes:
Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is a comforting and easy meal for any night of the week.
Ingredients
- 9 cups chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 1/3 cups carrots, chopped
- 1 1/3 cups onions, chopped finely
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 1/2 teaspoons lemon peel, grated
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 rotisserie-cooked chicken, shredded (about 3 cups)
- 8 ounces orzo pasta, uncooked (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely cracked (optional)
- 1/4 cup romano cheese, grated (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or large pot.
- Add the carrot, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, lemon zest and salt. Saute ingredients over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften.
- Add the chicken stock and lemon juice. Bring to a boil.
- Add the chicken and orzo. Simmer until orzo is cooked through. (see Note not serving soup right away)
- Just before serving add parsley and remove bay leaf. Garnish with salt and black pepper if needed and Romano cheese if desired.
Recipe Notes
If you're serving right away you can add the orzo pasta and chicken at the same time until the orzo is cooked. If you plan on serving later it at a later time you may want to cook the orzo separately and add right before serving. The orzo pasta tends to soak up all the liquid and can become quite thick if you simmer the soup for a long time. You can always add more chicken stock if you want to thin it out a little.
Source: slightly adapted from Food.com
I love easy and quick soups and this one looks amazing. Exactly what I need right now 🙂
Great when you are feeling under the weather.
Wow! I found your recipe and oh my gosh it was so so good!!! My family and I loved it! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
You’re welcome! It’s one of my faves!
I make a Panera copycat version which is similar but it has spinach. A great summer soup!
It’s a great one!
Can you substitute the orzo with other pastas or rice?
Oh for sure. You can use any small pasta or big. Rice works well too.
I make this a lot and I’ve done it with both the rice and Orzo. And yes are both very good. However we typically do freeze some of it but this time forgot. How long does the soup last before it turns? I believe that today would be 1 week since we made it. And w have a large bowl still in the fridge.
It’s good for a while. I’m not sure. I would chuck after a week.
Could you cook this in the crockpot?
I think you could. You would have to add the orzo half way or it would get soggy.
Is lemon zest the same as lemon peel – grated?
YEs. It’s the same.
The sodium is very high; I’ll try to make it vegan.
Yum – thank you.
I just made this tonight – it was magnificent! Thanks a lot for the extra note about making the orzo separately. I’m going to store it separately too so when I take it to work for lunch tomorrow I can wait til the last minute to combine!
I really love the lemon taste so much, so I tossed the juiced lemons into the pot to simmer while the orzo cooked. Scooped them out along with the bay leaf and it really deepened the flavor! I also crumbled a tiny bit of bleu cheese into each serving to add a sharp tang and touch of creaminess.
Thanks again!
Ooh. I love blue cheese. I will have to try that!
I really enjoyed this soup. Even my soup-avoiding husband liked it. I added spinach but otherwise followed the directions. For the leftover soup that turned to stew, I thinned it with chicken broth and it stayed very tasty. Thanks for a great recipe!
I love what you guys are up too. Such clever work and exposure!
Keep up the terrific works guys I’ve added you guys to blogroll.
I made this for lunch today and it was wonderful. I halved the recipe and substituted whole wheat Israeli couscous for the orzo and cooked two chicken breasts in foil pouches with olive oil and lemon. I added dried herbs because I didn’t have fresh. Thanks for an easy recipe to add to my winter go-to list!
I don’t think I have a pot to fit all these ingredients. Can I put it in a slow cooker? If so, how long?
I think it would work great in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours so that the veggies cook. The orzo you may want to add separately. I’m not sure how quickly or slowly it would cook up.
Thanks! nice recipe and even looks easy enough. My mom makes vegetable soups all through winters and i will definitely show her this one. But I was just wondering are those yellow things corns?
Tknx again 🙂
I think what you’re seeing is that looks somewhat yellow might be the orzo. There isn’t any corn in the soup.
We don’t get orzo in our country(India), suggestions on anything more common, or if it could do without ?
You could use any shaped pasta here and it will work great.
I think they were asking about the carrot! This recipe is a variation of the famous Greek “Avgolemono” soup, so if your don’t have orzo pasta, rice is a substitute.
I’ve got this soup sitting on my stove as we speak and I can’t wait to eat it! It is absolutely fantastic! I’ve had lemon chicken orzo soup from Paradise Bakery that I just LOVE and this homemade soup tops it!! Absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
So glad you like it!
Wow its simple. I tried it at home, it was delicious. I used small size chicken breast to marinate for 4 hours in refregerator. Rest of the procedure, i followed you. Thanks for this great Lemon chicken recipe.
This was delicious!! I made your slow cooker chicken quinoa chili last week, this recipe tonight and I am planning on making your cheater Korean beef tomorrow night!! I am a huge fan of your recipes!! Thanks for making my dinner planning a lot easier 🙂
Thanks Lauren!
I made this last night and it is delicious!!!!!!!!! Thank you for posting!
I made this soup last week and it was so good and light! I brought the left overs in for coworkers and they all asked for the recipe! Thanks for making great things!!!
This soup looks so delicious!! LOVE orzo!
I made this soup for dinner last night – FANTASTIC! Everyone agreed that it’s a keeper! There’s something about that lemon that just “makes” this soup.
PS:
I made the orzo separately like you suggested, and everyone could add how much they wanted. So happy there was even enough for lunch today! Thank you!
I made this dish tonight for dinner. It was so simple and DELICIOUS!!!
That looks really good. Perfect for a cold Oregon day.
This sounds just PERFECT!
YUM! I could for some right now!
I’ve Pinned this bowl of beauty to a new board I call “Warmth from a Bowl” – thanks for being one of my first pins on my newly created board!