Lemon chicken orzo soup
Cozy but bright, with tender chicken, little pasta and lots of lemon, it’s the soup you’ll want on every gray day.
- 55 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.90 a serving
- 420 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1¼ lb chicken breasts
- ¾ cup orzo
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 2 lemons, zested and juiced
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 420 calories, 40 g protein, 38 g carbs and 12 g fat, and costs about $3.90 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, carrots and celery and the garlic before you start.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook, now and then, for 6 to 8 minutes until .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Add the garlic and thyme and for 30 seconds, .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Pour in the broth, add the bay leaves, salt and pepper, and .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Lower in the chicken breasts, so the soup barely bubbles, cover and for 15 to 18 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165°F in the thickest part.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Poach. Poaching means cooking food gently in liquid that’s hot but barely bubbling. It keeps delicate things like eggs, fish or chicken moist and tender.
How you’ll know: The liquid just shivers, with an occasional small bubble and never a rolling boil.
Low heatTimer: 17 min
Dolly’s tip: Gentle bubbles keep the chicken tender. A hard boil makes it tough.Food safety: Chicken is done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Lift the chicken onto a board and it with two forks. Fish out the bay leaves.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
Bring the soup back , add the orzo and cook uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes, now and then, until tender.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Orzo loves to settle and stick. A stir every couple of minutes stops it.in the chicken, spinach, lemon and juice, and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Zest. Zest is the thin, colored outer layer of citrus peel, rubbed off on the smallest holes of a grater. It holds the fruit’s fragrant oils, so it adds bright flavor without the sourness of juice.
How you’ll know: You see bright flecks and smell citrus right away; stop when you reach the white layer, which is bitter.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Taste, add more salt or lemon if it needs it, and serve with dill on top.
Dolly’s tip: Orzo keeps drinking the broth in the fridge. Add a splash of water or broth when you reheat.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Chicken and rice soup
55 min
Chicken tortilla soup
45 min
Chicken pot pie soup
45 min
Chicken cacciatore
55 min
One-pan dinners ›High-protein dinners ›What to make with chicken and carrots ›