Home > Soups & Stews > Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup December 5, 2019 | 6 Comments SAVE TO RECIPE BOX Jump to Recipe This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy. This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is packed with great flavors and good-for-you ingredients. With a few shortcuts, you can have this soup on the table in 30 minutes or less! Pair this Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup with homemade Dinner Rolls and a green salad like this Italian Salad! Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup We’ve been sick a bit more than usual this fall and winter, and I swear by this soup. Not only does it make everyone feel better while eating it, but I’m also convinced it clears up some of the sickness as well. All those old wives’ tales often have a nugget of truth in them! It turns out that it’s not just in my mind; research has shown that chicken soup with veggies can help you stay hydrated when you’re sick and reduce cold symptoms. This soup features lots of lemon, which happens to be loaded with vitamin C. And when you’re sick, or on the verge of being sick, Vitamin C boosts the immune system. So I think it’s safe to say, this soup is one of the best things to eat when you’re feeling a scratchy throat coming on. I know it has been in our home! But it’s not just a soup for the cold season. It’s truly good whenever you’re craving some warm comfort food and something a bit different than a regular chicken noodle soup. How to make Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup The descriptions below correlate to the pictures above. Add olive oil, diced carrots, diced celery, and diced onion to a large pot. Saute the veggies until crisp-tender, about 8-10 minutes. The veggies will look like this when they’re ready! Here are all the spices we’ll add to the soup. Add those spices to the veggies and stir around to get fragrant. Add in the broth and bring to a boil; once boiling, add in the orzo pasta and cook until tender. Stir in the shredded rotisserie chicken to warm through, and then add the spinach to wilt. Stir in the lemon zest and juice. The soup is ready! Garnish individual bowls with Parmesan cheese and fresh herbs as desired. What’s in orzo soup? Olive oil Mirepoix (a French phrase for diced onion, carrot, and celery) Garlic Seasonings: dried parsley, dried oregano, dried thyme, chicken bouillon powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper of course, and a bay leaf Orzo pasta if you can’t find orzo, any tiny pasta will work, such as pastina, acini di pepi, or ditalini. Rotisserie chicken, shredded Lemon juice and zest Fresh baby spinach And make sure to serve it with some crusty bread or sturdy rolls! QUICK TIP What is orzo? It’s rice-shaped pasta. In Italian, “orzo” actually means barley, but here in the US, we’re more familiar with rice. You can substitute any other small pasta in the recipe; we want something tiny so that it will cook in time for serving, and also so that it is easier to fit onto the spoon for eating. Soup shortcuts Using rotisserie chicken in this soup is already saving us loads of time, but did you know you can buy pre-shredded rotisserie chicken? (I’ve seen it at Costco, Smith’s (Kroger), Trader Joes, and Walmart.) Most stores have several different seasoned rotisserie chickens, and I love using a lemon-herb seasoned rotisserie chicken for this soup — So good! To save yourself chopping time, grab mirepoix (sometimes labeled as soup starter). Lots of stores sell pre-chopped mirepoix in the produce section of the store. If you’re in a hurry, grab that fresh-chopped mirepoix or you can even use frozen mirepoix in this recipe. Use a lemon juicer and microplane to make zesting and juicing the lemon a breeze. If you’re a big lemon fan, you might even want more juice or zest than the recipe indicates! Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup storage This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is best eaten the same day it’s made. When stored, the orzo pasta continues to absorb liquid, so it bloats and becomes overly soft. If you aren’t planning on enjoying this soup the same day it’s made, I recommend either cooking the orzo separately (and reducing the amount of liquid in the soup) or halving the recipe. If cooking the orzo separately, simply add a few spoonfuls to individual soup bowls. Because the orzo pasta continues to take on liquid, this soup isn’t a great candidate for freezing or thawing. Besides the pasta, this soup doesn’t freeze and thaw well because of the spinach and other veggies in it. How many calories are in a cup of chicken orzo soup? Take a look at the nutrition information panel below the recipe card. This soup has less than 175 calories per bowl. That’s a dieter’s dream! More delicious soup recipes: Chicken Gnocchi Soup The best-ever Vegetable Soup CrockPot White Chicken Chili Pasta Soup with Italian sausage Creamy Chicken Chili reader favorite! FOLLOW ALONG! Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates, recipes and content. Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup 5 from 3 votes - Review this recipe This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is packed with great flavors and good-for-you ingredients. With a few shortcuts, you can have this soup on the table in 30 minutes or less! SAVE TO RECIPE BOX Print Recipe Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup 5 from 3 votes - Review this recipe SAVE TO RECIPE BOX Print Recipe This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is packed with great flavors and good-for-you ingredients. With a few shortcuts, you can have this soup on the table in 30 minutes or less! Course Dinner, Soup Cuisine American Keyword lemon chicken orzo soup Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 20 minutes Total Time 30 minutes Servings 6 -8 servings Calories 161kcal Author Chelsea Lords Ingredients▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil▢ 1 cup diced yellow onion ~1/2 large onion▢ 1 cup diced celery ~3-4 stalks▢ 1 cup diced carrot ~3 carrots▢ 2 teaspoons minced garlic▢ 1 teaspoon chicken boullion powder▢ 1/2 teaspoon EACH: fine sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, dried parsley, dried oregano, dried thyme▢ 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning▢ 8 cups low sodium chicken broth▢ 1 bay leaf▢ 3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta Note 1▢ 2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded/chopped Note 2▢ 2 cups coarsely chopped baby spinach▢ 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest Note 3▢ 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice ▢ Optional: fresh thyme, Parmesan cheese, and crusty bread for servingUS - Metric USMetric InstructionsMIREPOIX: Add olive oil to a large pot over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add in onion, celery, and carrots. Cook until the onion is translucent and veggies are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally, for about 7-9 minutes (Reduce heat if veggies are browning too quickly) Add in the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. While veggies are cooking, measure out all the spices.SEASON: Add in the spices (chicken bouillon powder, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, thyme, and Italian seasoning) and stir for 30 seconds. Add the chicken broth and bay leaf and increase heat to a boil. Once boiling, add in the orzo pasta. Cook according to package directions, subtracting 2 minutes from what the package cooking time says.CHICKEN/SPINACH: Stir in the shredded rotisserie chicken and then spinach. Gently stir to warm through chicken and allow spinach to wilt, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the lemon zest and juice. Season to taste if any additional salt/pepper is needed.SERVE: Ladle into bowls and garnish, if desired, with fresh thyme. Add optional Parmesan cheese to individual bowls. Serve with crusty bread. Recipe NotesNote 1: Leftovers: If you want to have leftovers of this soup, I recommend cooking the orzo pasta separately and then adding a few spoonfuls into individual soup bowls. When storing this soup, the pasta continues to absorb the liquid. Note 2: Rotisserie chicken: If your grocery store sells it, grab a lemon herb seasoned rotisserie chicken for extra lemon and herby flavor. Note 3: Lemon: Add lemon juice and zest gradually, to personal taste preferences. This recipe is written the way we love it, but you may like slightly less or slightly more. If you're a big lemon fan, you can also add some lemon herb seasoning (such as Mrs. Dash) or lemon pepper instead of regular pepper to the soup. Nutrition FactsServing: 8servings | Calories: 161kcal | Carbohydrates: 14.2g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 6.5g | Cholesterol: 30.1mg | Sodium: 131mg | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 2.6g We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed. DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? I love hearing from you when you've made one of my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @ChelseasMessyApron or leave me a comment below.
I loved this soup. I couldn’t find orzo and I needed to make it gluten free anyway so I used green lentils. It worked well. Thank you! Reply
I made this exactly as indicated and it was absolute perfection. Making another pot tomorrow as at 10 PM my husband was in the kitchen heating up the remainder (I also made the orzo separately). Thank you for the great recipe -this is a huge win to find this. Reply
