Welcome to another episode of “How can so few ingredients make such a delicious meal?!” One-pot meals are a miracle, my friends, and this Lemon Pepper Chicken with Orzo is the perfect example. This dish is packed with flavor thanks to a hefty dose of lemon pepper, chicken broth, juicy chicken thighs, and a pop of feta at the end. Plus, it’s fast, easy, and barely anything to clean up afterward. :)
What’s in Lemon Pepper Chicken with Orzo
For this skillet meal, I liberally seasoned some bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs with lemon pepper, then combined it with some orzo, chicken broth, and parsley. Everything gets cooked together in one pot so that orzo soaks up all the flavor from both the chicken thighs and the broth, and not a drop of flavor is lost. It’s so simple, yet so good. Add a quick little side salad with fresh greens and you’ve got a five-star dinner (and very few dishes to clean). Victory!
Can I Use Boneless Chicken?
I used bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe, but you can use boneless thighs or breasts if you prefer. The chicken will cook a little faster if you use boneless and you might miss out on a little bit of the flavor that comes with bone-in chicken. Also, be aware that chicken breasts do tend to dry out faster than chicken thighs, so the end product won’t be quite as juicy.
Tips for Cooking One Pot Pasta
Getting one pot pasta meals to cook just right can take a little practice, but here are a few tips to make sure your pasta cooks evenly and all the way through without leaving too much liquid behind:
- Use a heavy or thick-bottomed piece of cookware. Thin cookware doesn’t cook evenly and can leave some pasta undercooked and some pasta overcooked. A deep skillet or Dutch Oven will work well for this recipe.
- Use a burner that is close in size to the bottom of your pot or pan. If the burner is a lot smaller than the width of the pan, you may have trouble getting the outside edges to cook evenly.
- Make sure the broth is simmering the whole time. Heat settings on ranges can vary, so you may need to adjust the heat up or down slightly to maintain a simmer in the broth.
One Pot Lemon Pepper Chicken with Orzo
Servings 4Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs* ($3.74)
- 2 Tbsp lemon pepper seasoning ($0.60)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 2 cups chicken broth ($0.26)
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley ($0.20)
- 1.5 cups orzo ($1.29)
- 2 oz. feta, crumbled ($1.25)
Instructions
- Blot the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel, then season both sides liberally with lemon pepper seasoning (about 2 Tbsp lemon pepper total).
- Heat a large deep skillet over medium. Once hot, add the cooking oil. Add the seasoned chicken thighs, skin side down, and let them cook undisturbed until browned (about 6-8 minutes for bone-in skin-on thighs). Flip the chicken thighs and cook until browned on the second side. The chicken will be cooked most of the way through at this point but will finish cooking when simmered with the orzo. Remove the chicken to a clean plate.
- While the chicken is browning, roughly chop about 1/4 bunch of parsley and mince two cloves of garlic. After removing the chicken from the skillet, turn the heat down to low, add the minced garlic, and sauté the garlic in the residual fat for about a minute.
- Add 2 cups of chicken broth to the skillet and stir to dissolve the crispy browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add the orzo and half of the chopped parsley. Stir to combine. Finally, return the chicken to the skillet, skin side up.
- Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to high, and let the broth come to a full boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low. Let the skillet simmer on low for about 15 minutes, or until most of the broth has been absorbed. Make sure it’s simmering the whole time. If it stops simmering, increase the heat slightly until it just starts to simmer again.
- After about 15 minutes the orzo should be tender and most of the broth absorbed but there will still be a little sauce in the skillet.
- Fluff the orzo around the chicken a bit with a fork, then top with the remaining parsley and the crumbled feta. Serve and enjoy!
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make One Pot Chicken and Orzo – Step by Step Photos
Start by blotting four chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Drying them helps the seasoning stick and helps them brown better in the skillet. I used bone-in thighs with skin, but you could use boneless, skinless if desired. Just keep in mind that boneless and skinless thighs are usually a bit more expensive and will cook faster. Season both sides of each thigh liberally with lemon pepper seasoning (about 2 Tbsp total).
Heat a large deep skillet over medium. Once hot, add 1 Tbsp cooking oil. Add the seasoned chicken thighs, skin side down, and let them cook undisturbed until browned (about 6-8 minutes for bone-in skin-on thighs). Flip the chicken thighs and cook until browned on the second side. The chicken will be cooked most of the way through at this point but will finish cooking when simmered with the orzo. Remove the chicken to a clean plate.
While the chicken is browning, roughly chop about 1/4 bunch of parsley and mince two cloves of garlic. Turn the heat down to low, add the minced garlic, and sauté the garlic in the residual fat for about a minute.
Add 2 cups of chicken broth to the skillet and stir to dissolve the crispy browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
The broth will turn a deep brown color as the drippings are dissolved into the mixture.
Add about half of the chopped parsley and 1.5 cups of orzo. Stir to combine.
Finally, return the chicken to the skillet, skin side up. Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to high, and let the broth come to a full boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low. Let the skillet simmer on low for about 15 minutes, or until most of the broth has been absorbed. Make sure it’s simmering the whole time. If it stops simmering, increase the heat slightly until it just starts to simmer again.
After about 15 minutes the orzo should be tender and most of the broth absorbed but there will still be a little sauce in the skillet.
Fluff the orzo around the chicken a bit with a fork, then top with the remaining parsley and the crumbled feta. And that’s all it takes to make this simple Lemon Pepper Chicken with Orzo. I could seriously eat this orzo all day long. ALL. DAY. LONG.
This looks fantastic! I’m going to up the garlic amount and try it.
Has anybody tried a chicken breast instead of a thigh?
Yes – I prefer white meat (lower fat content) and have made this recipe with chicken breasts. Turned out great!
Do you think this would work with other small pasta? I have other tiny pasta on hand, just not orzo!
I think it would, but depending on their shape they may need more or less liquid.
This was delicious!!! For people who eat a lot I upped the amount of food by doing the following:
-28 oz boneless skinless chicken thighs
-1 lb orzo
-chopped onion (added with the garlic)
I used 2 cups chicken brown and added about 1.5 cups water (maybe just under) with a little salt for this amount of food. I also prefer to bake chicken because then I don’t have to watch it, so I generously rubbed the chicken with olive oil and spices and cooked at 425 for 20 minutes. Added the chicken to the pot before simmering. Cooked perfectly! Definitely will make again and am considering upping the ingredient amounts again!
Tried this last night, and was really pleased with the outcome! Hubs was originally skeptical about it, but gave it an (unheard of for him) 9-out-of-10 rating, and my toddler chowed down too! We will definitely be making this again, likely without the feta as we all liked it without anyways and that saves a little cash (since we don’t really use feta much otherwise, it’s a bit of a waste to but a tub just for a sprinkle.)
I’m curious – have you tried this with other seasonings that lemon pepper? We were thinking to try with a Montreal seasoning or maybe a curry to mix things up, since the meal was filling and easy and we can see using this method a ton. Just curious if you’ve already tried other seasoning versions we should give a shot before experimenting in our own!
I haven’t yet, but I plan to! This was one of my favorites and there is a lot of room for changing out ingredients and flavors.
This one is now the favorite in our house. So tasty. So I have a silly question about doubling the recipe. If I needed to double or even triple this (large extended family) for a dinner party do I just double or triple the ingredients exactly and use a much bigger skillet? I know sometimes when increasing proportions it’s not always as simple as multiplying everything by 2 or 3.
Yes, this one you should be able to just double or triple the ingredients. The simmering time might change a little if the size or shape of your pan changes, though, so you’ll just have to keep an eye on it.
I made this for dinner tonight and our two VERY picky young kids loved it and asked for seconds!
I’ve made this twice in the last two weeks, it’s so easy to make and taste incredible. It totally works as lunch leftovers too.
I made this a couple nights ago, it was absolutely divine. Any suggestions on how I could make this in my slow cooker?
I’m not sure this one would work in the slow cooker. I don’t find that pasta does very well with that cooking method because it gets too mushy. Plus, you’d need to still use the skillet for the browning step, because that adds a lot of the flavor.
Yum! I made this last night and added 1/2 bag of spinach and mushrooms. So delicious, can’t wait to eat it the rest of the week!
Thanks for this yummy recipe.I tried it last night it came really so yummy and delicious.I must say the way you explain and the images are really help me lot to prepare.
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Lemon chicken recipes
This was really good. The pasta-simmering-with-everything-else trick has changed my world. The feta is genius.
The lemon pepper makes the fond really thick and sticky and burn-prone. That made me not toss as much fat after the chicken was browned, which made it turn out kind of greasy, in a way that a more grease-averse person wouldn’t like. I also got a layer of super tasty crusty pasta on the bottom.
Next time I’m going to toss in a bunch of spinach, one-pot being the grail.
Hi Beth,
Thanks for this delicious recipe, I’ve made it twice now. Today I added spinach during the end boiling step. This recipe is perfect without the spinach but it added an extra oomph. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes, I stalk your site waiting for new recipes to pop up!
Thanks!
Tiffani
So if I want to double the chicken (for lunches later in the week), but not the orzo… Any suggestions as to method? (I could get another skillet dirty, but I’d prefer not to. ;) ) thx.
If your skillet is not big enough to cook eight pieces, then I think the only option is to use two skillets. :( I thinking about browning one batch, removing them and then browning the second batch, but they don’t completely cook through during the browning stage, so they’d both still need to simmer.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe!! I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and cooked the chicken in some butter for more flavor. Since I couldn’t find orzo, I substituted rice. Since my sister and I LOVE spinach, I added that to the chicken and rice (I HATE parsley, since it’s such a royal pain in the rear to chop up!). I absolutely LOVE your blog, Beth, and thank you for this fantastic recipe!! :-)