Chicken and Orzo with Goat Cheese

in Chicken & Turkey, Goat cheese, Pasta

Chicken and Orzo with Goat Cheese

There are some things you just have to make work. Being married, you get plenty of practice!

I don’t like dill. He doesn’t care for very much lemon. Neither of us are overly crazy about feta. Normally, a recipe built around those would get vetoed quickly but with such a simple foundation of other Ingredients like pasta and chicken, I’d make this one work. Really, the bonus was that it gets almost no dishes dirty. And since I hate doing dishes, I’d definitely make it work.

Chicken and Orzo with Goat Cheese

It’s a two-cooking dish meal. Solids go in a baking dish, hot liquids are poured over it. Give it a stir and throw it in the oven. The end product is a tangy, creamy, and hearty one-bowl dinner that we both enjoyed. And it’s completely adaptable to any miscellaneous ingredients that you have hanging around.

And can I just say that even after 5 or 6 years and a new baby, it still makes me swoon to hear things like, “I really like how you added sun-dried tomatoes and the panko topping,” coming from my former-Stouffer’s-and-Red-Baron connoisseur. And they say men don’t change.

Creamy Orzo with Chicken and Goat Cheese

A creamy, comforting, low-maintenance dish perfect for cooler weather.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb orzo
  • 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 6oz log chevre, broken up and crumbled with two forks
  • 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
  • Juice from half a lemon (~2 tsp)
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground pepper
  • 3/4 cup Parmesan, grated
  • 3/4 cup Panko

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400. Add orzo, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, chevre, thyme, and lemon juice to a 2.5-3qt baking dish.
  2. Bring chicken broth, water, 1 Tbsp butter, salt, and pepper to a boil.
  3. Pour into the baking dish, stirring slightly to mix. Bake for 30 minutes.
  4. Mix Parmesan and Panko together.
  5. Melt remaining butter in a small dish and add to panko mixture.
  6. Stir the butter into the bread crumbs until well incorporated. Give the dish a quick stir and sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top.
  7. Bake for another 7-10 minutes, until bubbly and browned. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

Adapted from Everyday Food

Estimated time: 1 hour

17 comments… add one
  • This looks great! I’m all for anything with goat cheese…yum!

  • I am not a feta or goat cheese fan, do you think anything else would work? It looks like such an easy and hearty recipe.

  • The fact that your husband changed gives me hope for my father. I’ve been working on him for the past 23 years…but I refuse to give up.

    This pasta dish looks delicious! I’m not such a fan of dill either but I do love feta. Chevre is delicious also.

  • This looks delicious, can’t wait to try it!

  • Katie – I’m not sure what other kind of cheese could be substituted. It would have to be a cheese that melts and incorporates into the broth easily. The recipe could be revamped to be more of a mac & cheese style dish (pre-cooked pasta baked with roux-cheese mixture) and then you could use gruyere and cheddar… but it becomes much more involved at that point.

  • Sheryl

    Looks wonderfu!! I love one dish meals. Was making my list of ingredients. But then I realized I couldn’t find the oven temp. Am I missing it? Blessings!!

  • We love orzo, lemon, feta & dill. So needless to say, this looks absolutely amazing!

  • Sheryl – Oops! The baking temp is 400.

  • The ingredient list is fantastic; it’s no wonder it’s a great dish! Hope you guys are doing well!

  • Ok, making this! Husband doesn’t like dill but I don’t care!

  • I love such simple recipes that have as much flavor as this!

  • Lisa

    Not sure if this question is stupid or not, but do you cook the chicken beforehand??

  • I’ve made the original version of this w/the feta, dill, etc. I also used salmon instead of chicken once. I love these flavors so much though, so I’m definitely going to try your version – probably next week!

  • Arianne

    Would salmon work instead of chicken? This looks delicious, and we have some salmon I’d like to use up.

    • Salmon would probably be okay, you can expect the salmon to cook a little faster than the chicken.

  • Lindsay C

    Made this the other night and it was great! Creamy, flavorful, and warming. Thanks for sharing!

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