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Really easy to make and super delicious! Definitely adding this one to my meal rotation.
Betsy
This recipe is sponsored by DeLallo
Chicken and orzo literally never fail. It can do no wrong. And make that chicken and orzo in an almost tomato soup form and you have a foolproof, everybody-likes-it dinner that is practically SOS-level easy. This soup as well as this baked orzo meal have been on my SOS hit list lately.
This soup is a pantry essential with just a few ingredients coming straight out of the cupboards: tomato paste, garlic, broth, and orzo. And this is one of those cases where simplicity just wins.
The Flavor Of This Soup
This chicken orzo tomato soup can be a little bit of a chameleon – you can give it the flavors that you like. You build the base by caramelizing tomato paste and garlic (idea coming from a recipe in a Milkstreet cookbook!) and you can spice to your heart’s delight. I like to stay in the mainstream flavor zone for this one with Italian seasoning (almost has a pizza-like flavor to it with the tomato paste and garlic), but I feel like smoked paprika or other more zippy herbs could also be successful. The version I was inspired by in the Milkstreet cookbook had mint as one of the herbs! I wasn’t quite ready for the mint jump, but I’m just saying, you have options. Let the spirit lead!
In This Post: Everything You Need For Chicken Orzo Soup
- The Best Orzo to Use
- Homemade Pesto and Pesto Bread Dips
- Variations on This Chicken Orzo Soup
- What to Serve with This Soup
- Chicken Orzo Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
My Preferred Orzo
I consistently use DeLallo orzo – it is made IN ITALY and it’s bronze cut, which gives it unparalleled texture. It’s available in both semolina and whole wheat varieties, which is just really wonderful. Whole wheat orzo can be almost impossible to find, so if you’re looking for a stock-up, DeLallo is your place.
We’ve worked with DeLallo forEVER and we love their products.
The Pesto Bread Dip Situation
Let it be known that I am a big fan of homemade pesto here, and I find that the best way to do things is to first dunk your bread in the pesto (it’s thick, flavorful, and delicious) and then dunk your pesto-ed bread into the soup. SO GOOD.
Fresh flavor in every nook and cranny.
I still have a bunch of basil left in my garden that is nearing the end of its life (aka winter is coming), so I am excited to be making a bunch of pesto right now. And the flavor – ugh. It’s so fresh and so good. I was licking the remnants of it right out of the food processor.
This recipe is so easy that I promise this extra step won’t feel like too much.
Variations On This Chicken Orzo Soup
Few ideas if you want to play around with it:
- Get some wilted greens right up in the soup!
- Try white beans in addition to (or instead of) chicken.
- Reduce the broth and use ground Italian sausage for your protein – think Hamburger Helper but Italian style and homemade. Yum.
- Omit any additional protein at all and just serve it like a spaghetti-o’s old school bowl of soup! Truly so magical.
- Use cashew cream instead of heavy cream.
- Add some pureed roasted red peppers for a red pepper flavor.
What To Serve With This
I mean, bread is a given. A take-and-bake loaf is great – but if you want to make your own, you need to try this No-Knead Miracle Bread.
Salad is nice – just something to really make this into a real you-pick-two lunch or dinner situation. And yes, once again, I would recommend the Simple Green Salad that goes with everything.
And if you want to go all-out with your veggies, Liz’s Roasted Broccoli Salad is legitimately exciting every single time.
This soup is cozy and comforting, easy and crowd-pleasing, and kind of just a love letter to all things simple and uncomplicated. Thank you, chicken and orzo!
Chicken Orzo Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Easy! Just sub a can of white beans instead of the chicken and use veggie broth.
Just blitz 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt (more to taste), 1 cup packed basil leaves, and 1 cup packed other greens, like spinach (!), in a food processor until it makes crumbles; drizzle in about 1/4 cup olive oil until it comes together into a sauce. Finish with a bunch of lemon juice and you’re good to go!
The very best (and incredibly easy!) bread recipe can be found here!
Chicken Orzo Tomato Soup
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This soup is the perfect ode to fall! Chicken meets orzo in an almost tomato soup form plus lots of bread dips, of course. Let’s go!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons DeLallo Private Reserve Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or minced
- 1/4 cup DeLallo Tomato Paste
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 4 cups chicken broth
- salt to taste
- 1 cup DeLallo Orzo Pasta
- 2 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken (I use the pulled meat from a rotisserie chicken)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1–2 cups water as desired
- parmesan, herbs, red pepper flakes, and lemon for serving
- bread for serving
- pesto for serving (optional – recipe in notes)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium high heat. (See notes on types of pan to use!) Add the garlic; sauté for 1-2 minutes until soft and fragrant but not browned.
- Add the tomato paste and Italian seasoning; cook until it becomes caramelized and turns a deep red color, about 5 minutes.
- Add the broth gradually until the mixture incorporates into a smooth liquid. This is a good time to add salt; I recommend tasting the liquid to see how much salt it needs depending on how salty your broth was. Otherwise just add 1/2 teaspoon to start, and add from there.
- Add the orzo and bring the whole thing to a simmer for about 10 minutes until the orzo is soft. If needed, add a cup more of water and/or broth to get your desired consistency. Stir in heavy cream.
- Add the chicken and squeeze in a bunch of lemon juice to wake the whole thing up.
- Serve topped with Parmesan, herbs, red pepper flakes, and hot crusty bread. If you want, serve with a little side of pesto for dipping the bread in before dunking in the soup. YUM. So good!
Notes
I recommend using a nonstick pan for this – you can also use a Dutch oven or another type of pan, but you’ll need to stir periodically so that the orzo doesn’t stick. If the only nonstick you have is a large-ish sauté pan, I would use that!
For the pesto, I blitz 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt (more to taste), 1 cup packed basil leaves, and 1 cup packed other greens, like spinach (!), in a food processor until it makes crumbles; then I drizzle in about 1/4 cup olive oil until it comes together into a sauce. Finish with a bunch of lemon juice and you’re good to go! Perfect bread-and-soup dunking companion.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian-Inspired
Keywords: orzo soup, chicken soup, chicken orzo soup
Thanks to DeLallo for sponsoring this recipe!
More Favorites with Orzo
- Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo (fresh, filling, and so vibrant)
- Greek Baked Orzo (all baked in a skillet)
- Chicken Meatballs with Peppers and Orzo (this is the BEST combo)
I hosted a college student from Japan for a month and made this soup for her. She liked it so much that she wanted me to make it again before she left, and we also had to go to Target to buy orzo for her to bring home to make this in Japan! Everyone I have made this for has asked for the recipe. It’s so easy and an obvious crowd pleaser!
Oh, love that story!
This looks so yummy! Do you think I could sub pearl cous cous for the orzo?
That should work!
My new favorite! Cozy and filling.
We love this soup and it’s now a regular in our rotation.
**BONUS–no onions to cut up and sweat. This soup comes together quickly when you have leftover chicken and keeps well in the fridge.
Impressive enough for company.
This is my go-to comfort food recipe. Any time I need something to lift me up, this is where I end up. Thanks for the recipe!
Could you adapt this to make in a crockpot?
Hi Sarah! Yes, I think so. I’d follow steps 1-3, and add that to the crockpot with raw chicken. Then, I’d cook the chicken for 4 hours on high or longer on low. Shred the chicken, add it back to the pot, and add in the orzo. Cook for another 30 minutes until the orzo is tender. Then stir in the lemon juice, heavy cream, etc right before serving. If you give it a try, we’d love to hear back!
This was really good. I used a different brand of orzo so it wasn’t really soupy. Next time I am going to use the brand recommended.
This soup is delicious and easy. Great with some crusty bread. I accidentally doubled the cream but still delicious. Added one half lemons worth of juice. Perfect!!!
This was… interesting. Only thing I did differently was add more liquid and a can of diced tomatoes + some more spices. It was definitely not a soup. The orzo absorbed ALL of the liquid and it ended up being just a creamy tomato chicken pasta dish with no broth leftover at all. This made it have a very thick and unpleasant texture. I would add an onion and more seasonings to the recipe. However household vote was to not make it again. Kind of bummed tbh, but I appreciate the idea behind it!
Don’t skip the pesto and parmesan when serving. It ties the whole dish together.
Holy moly, this soup is delicious! I have never anything quite like it. Absolutely loved it!! My only critique is that I don’t think it would serve 4, more like 2. I like big bowls of soup! Next time I will be doubling or tripling for sure.
I swapped out chicken for mild Italian ground and macaroni noodles instead of orzo because that’s what I had on hand, worked perfectly. Will be making again soon.
This is one of our FAVES!! Anyone I’ve made it for has begged for the recipe! Thanks for such a quick and simple dinner!
Amazing broth! A quick and simple weekday dinner that the whole family will love. As soon as possible, I will be producing it again.
Holy cannoli! This recipe was SO easy and SO delicious. I added kale and white beans and ate it all week for leftovers! This definitely has a permanent spot in the rotation.
We just tried this tonight and absolutely loved it! Even my picky toddler ate her whole bowl and dipped her bread. I was surprised to see other people comment the soup was bland- make sure you use good quality broth/stock, add salt; and don’t skip the lemon! I also used double Italian seasoning.
This soup was delicious! I had chicken thigh fillets on hand, so I cooked them with garlic. The lemon was omitted because the dish tasted wonderful without it.
I couldn’t add lemon because it was only in the ingredient list as “for serving” so I thought it was optional. Anyway, it didn’t need it! I’ll definitely be making this again. I loved that it made a reasonable amount, so we just ate it for dinner with not much leftover. I don’t know how it would be leftover because it seemed the orzo soaked up the broth. Maybe I cooked it too long. Anyway. It was great.
This is so comforting!! I added some mushrooms, zucchini, and spinach and it was delicious 🙂
This recipe is a make again and again and again! So delicious and simple. Subbed the chicken for a can of cannellini beans. You will want to double this recipe!
I followed this recipe exactly and I wish I didn’t add the lemon. It was too acidic and citrusy on top of all the tomato paste base. This is strange because I usually love a good lemon squeeze on everything.
Made this tonight and it was soooo good for a chilly evening! Added diced carrots, zucchini and celery after the orzo had been cooking a few minutes (I’m lazy with vegetable sides so add them in wherever I can) and it was great! Used leftover roast turkey that I had in the freezer too. Really loved how caramelizing the tomato paste made for a really deep savory tomato flavor. Adding to the rotation!
Really easy to make and super delicious! Definitely adding this one to my meal rotation.
This was so quick to make, minimal ingredients and effort, but superrrr tasty! I made shredded chicken breast in the Instant Pot and used that. I didn’t need to add any extra broth and I used 4 tbsp of heavy cream. The soup had such a nice flavour to it. For anyone that said it was bland, they probably just didn’t add enough salt!
Does this soup freeze well?
We probably wouldn’t suggest it with the orzo in there. It might thaw kinda weird.
Fabulous soup! A delicious and easy weeknight meal for the whole family. I will be making it again and soon.
This soup was one of my favorite recipes from your site…and I’ve made a lot of your recipes. SO DELICIOUS!! I used unsweetened soy milk instead of cream and it still was phenomenal.