Last updated on June 29th, 2018 at 06:11 pm
This One Pot Greek Chicken Orzo is a perfect midweek meal. It’s quick, delicious and loaded with Greek flavors. Less stress, more flavor!
I feel like I haven’t shared a recipe with you in ages, and really it has only been a few days, but it felt good to be back in my kitchen today, cooking up one of my favorite type of meals, a one pot dish. Today’s recipe is my version of a one pot Greek chicken orzo, which I think is the perfect midweek meal. It’s quick, simple, no stress, and before you know it, dinner is served.
Orzo is perfect for these types of quick meals because it really does cook pretty fast, we’re talking 10 minutes or less. Orzo is really quite versatile and it’s great in soups, dishes like this Greek chicken orzo and believe it or not, it’s great in salads.
For this dish, I decided to crisp up the chicken a bit first by dredging it through some flour that’s been combined with smoked paprika and garlic powder, then lightly searing it in a pan with a bit of olive oil. You don’t have to worry about cooking the chicken completely because we will cook it again with the orzo, but you do want to make sure you get a nice crisp on the outside. In the same pan you continue to cook the orzo in white wine and chicken broth with some onion, garlic and lots of herbs such as oregano and thyme, and for some heat I added a bit of red pepper flakes.
To really get those Greek flavors I finished the dish with some pitted Kalamata olives, some crumbled feta cheese, fresh parsley and some lemon wedges. The great thing about a dish like this is that you could add some veggies if you wanted to. Some zucchini and cherry tomatoes would probably be perfect here.
I hope you give this dish a try, it’s really delicious, Greek flavors and best of all it’s in one pot!
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
One Pot Greek Chicken Orzo
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
- 8 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1 1/2 cups orzo dry
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 3/4 cup kalamata olives pitted
- 1/4 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 1/2 lemon cut into wedges
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Dredge the chicken thighs through the flour mixture.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs and cook for about 4 minutes per side or until crispy. Don't worry if the chicken isn't cooked through completely. We'll continue cooking it later. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add the remaining tbsp of olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme and stir. Cook for about 1 minute, just until the garlic gets aromatic and the onion begins to soften a bit. At this point you can season with a bit of salt and pepper.
- Add the orzo to the skillet, pour in the wine, chicken broth and stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a medium. Add the chicken back to the skillet, cover with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes or until the orzo is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
- Garnish with kalamata olives, feta cheese, parsley and lemon wedges.
- Serve while warm.
Video
Notes
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Nutrition
Wonderfully adaptive to different herbs and veg! Fabulous xx
Would you make this with shrimp
Definitely, that would be amazing. I would wait until the last 10 minutes to add the shrimp so they don’t get over cooked.
sorry about the typos!
this was spectacular! i took some libertywith a few things, but the foundation of the recipe stayed the same. i did used 6 thighs & 3 breasts…i dumped an entire bag of orzo in–not sure how much it was, but i think i used 4 cups of chicken broth…i also added lemon juice, zest, and lemon slices, as well as artichoke hearts (quartered), and a mix of pitted kalamata & fancy green olives. i swear i died & went to heaven! can’t wait to make this again!!!
My husband was seriously impressed with this one. I’m not a fan of thighs so next time I have to use breast as well as thighs. I did make one mistake. Because I don’t use wine I just substituted more broth forgetting it wouldn’t burn off the same and so there really was too much liquid. It was totally edible though. Very very tasty!
this didn’t work out for me. The orzo stuck to the bottom of the pan and the liquid was gone… Not sure what happened, it seemed so promising
Perhaps your heat was too high, and to be safe and depending on the skillet you were using, you might have to stir occasionally.
HI Jo, I was thinking of adding fresh spinach. I love it with orzo & lemon. Thoughts?
That’s a great idea, spinach would be great here!
Hi Jo! We are not a fan of chicken thighs so can we use chicken breasts instead and how many pounds since this only calls for 8 thighs and does not state pounds. Thanks.
It’s about 1 1/2 lbs, so I’d go with about same for breasts, you might want to cut them in half to cook them faster.
Hey Joanna , what do u think of using rice instead of orzo ? Also is white cooking wine okay?
Rice should be just fine. White cooking wine is ok, but I always recommend cooking with the wine you drink, it will just taste better.
I started making this several months ago, and its in our regular dinner rotation. This is the recipe that has made me a true believer in cooking with chicken thighs. And smoked paprika has become a very important part of my life. Delicious and EXCELLENT for leftovers (you can’t say that about everything.) Love!
That’s great Allison, thanks for posting your comments. We like the smoked paprika too as it adds such a nice flavor to the dishes. So great to have you as part of our Jo Cooks community.
Is there a substitute for wine in this recipe? It looks delicious, but i don’t cook with alcoholic beverages.
You could skip the wine and don’t really need to substitute anything. You could use chicken stock if you would like which would also work.
This was a hit! My husband asked me to put this in frequent rotation. 🙂
Made this today, and we love it! Definitely a keeper.
So glad to hear it, Connie!
Made this last night,it was so good! I had all ingredients on hand except fresh thyme,so used dry.we both agreed it was best recipe ever,so simple and flavorful!!Having rest tonight with salad,so thanks for another great recipe.
That’s great Linda, so glad you liked it! Dry thyme is fine too, I would have used fresh oregano but I didn’t have any, so that’s why I used dry. 🙂
Recipe looks wonderful but….What kind of wine? I see white wine but that doesn’t help those of us who don’t like to drink wine but do like to cook with it. I know next to nothing about wine. I drink cocktails but have never found a wine I like to drink, except dessert wines and I’m thinking they would not be what you used here.
Thanks
Donna
We used a white blend, a mix between a chardonnay and a pinot grigio, but it doesn’t really matter, whatever white wine you can find should work.
Thanks for the response. I will pass this on to my husband. He does all the cooking but he travels so before he leaves he makes something with leftovers for me and this looks like just the ticket
Thanks
Donna
Yum! This is just beautiful and looks delish