This one-pan Baked Broccoli Chicken with orzo, feta and lemon is easy and delicious! A comforting weeknight dinner, ready in just 45 minutes!
Why you’ll love this Baked Broccoli Chicken
The best thing about this baked broccoli chicken recipe, besides the fact that it’s healthy and, of course, delicious, is that it’s all made in one pan. Easy enough for weeknight dinners!
Loaded with chopped broccoli and bursting with Mediterranean flavors of lemon, dill, feta, and garlic, the orzo soaks up all the deliciousness.
A skillet meal, created from just a few basic ingredients, creates a beautiful harmony of flavors. It’s comforting and simple! And hopefully, you will have leftovers because they are just as delicious, if not more so.
Baked Broccoli Chicken Ingredients
With just a few basic ingredients, you’ll have a healthy skillet meal perfect for a weeknight dinner. Tender orzo pasta and fresh broccoli cooks while it bakes in a creamy feta sauce that magically creates itself in the oven.
- Chicken breasts
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh broccoli, chopped small
- Whole garlic, minced
- Orzo pasta, uncooked
- Chicken broth, heated
- Lemon zest, fresh lemon juice and lemon slices.
- Feta Cheese
- Salt, black pepper and chili flakes.
- Fresh dill for garnish- or sub flat-leaf parsley.
How to make Baked Broccoli Chicken
In a nutshell, we sear the chicken first, and then the ingredients are sautéed in the same skillet, absorbing all the flavorful seared bits. The oven finishes the cooking process!
Step 1. Rinse and pat the chicken dry. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Step 2. Sear chicken breast in a large skillet with olive oil.
Step 3. While chicken is searing, prep garlic, lemon zest, and juice, and broccoli- chopping it extra fine!
Step 4. Saute the garlic quickly with chili flakes.
Step 5. Throw the chopped broccoli in with garlic and chili flakes, sautéing for just for a minute.
Step 6. Add all remaining ingredients to the skillet- orzo, feta, broth, seasonings and mix until combined.
Step 7. Nestle in the seared chicken and top with lemon slices.
Step 8. Bake. Cover the pan with foil and bake in a 375F oven until the orzo absorbs all the broth.
Serving Suggestions
When it is done baking, the orzo will soak up the lovely flavors. Slice the chicken and serve it over the orzo, scattering it with fresh dill.
Storing Baked Broccoli Chicken
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Do not store in a cast-iron skillet, which can rust in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave or gently on the stovetop- adding a little broth to loosen if necessary.
What to serve with Baked Broccoli Chicken
- Classic Caesar Salad
- Mediterranean Lentil Salad
- Chickpea Salad
- Kale Caesar Salad with Millet Croutons
- Lemony Kale Slaw
More Favorite Baked Chicken Recipes
- Chicken Marsala
- Chicken Cacciatore
- Gorgonzola Chicken with Mushrooms & Sage
- Baked Chicken Breasts!
- Rosemary Chicken with Roasted Grapes and Shallots
Stay warm and cozy out there.
💛 Tonia
Print
Baked Broccoli Chicken
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Chicken, Weeknight Dinner, Casserole
- Method: Saute and Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
This one-pan Baked Broccoli Chicken with orzo, feta and lemon is easy and delicious! A comforting weeknight dinner, ready in just 45 minutes!
Ingredients
- 2–4 chicken breasts (8–10 ounces each)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/8–1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, depending on your spice preference
- 1/2 lb broccoli, chopped small
- 1 cup orzo pasta, uncooked
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest (about 1 lemons worth)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (more for topping if desired)
- 2 cups chicken broth, heated
- 6 thin lemon slices
- fresh dill for garnish
Instructions
- Set oven to 375 F degrees.
- Sear chicken in a preheated cast-iron skillet with 1 teaspoon of oil on medium-high heat for 5 minutes on each side, and beautifully golden.
- Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Let the pan cool for a minute or two. Stir in the minced garlic, remaining olive oil and chili flakes into the pan, saute’ 1-2 minutes on medium heat.
- Add broccoli, stirring just to coat with garlic mixture for about another minute. Remove from heat.
- Add the orzo pasta, lemon zest and juice, salt, pepper and feta to the pan with broccoli mixture, stir to combine.
- Pour hot chicken broth into the pan over the broccoli orzo mixture. Place seared chicken breast on top.
- Cover the pan with foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Test chicken with a thermometer, it should register 165 degrees. If needed put back in the oven for another few minutes.
Garnish with fresh dill, feta cheese, and lemon slices.
Notes
Leftovers keep well in the fridge for 4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
- Calories: 440
- Sugar: 12.3 g
- Sodium: 1014.3 mg
- Fat: 11.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 49.5 g
- Fiber: 3.5 g
- Protein: 41.6 g
- Cholesterol: 122.6 mg
I’m pescatrian so I adjusted this to use shrimp and it was divine. I cooked the shrimp prior and then added them to the pan for the last five minutes of baking. Everything melded really well, great recipe!
Great to hear!
This recipe is genius and so very delicious. The chicken came out so tender and the orzo was creamy from the feta cheese. My whole family loved it!!! Thank you Tonia.
So glad you enjoyed this Amy!
I used sheep milk feta in brine and Greek orzo from our corner market, followed the recipe exactly, placed it in the oven before my guests arrived and it held beautifully until we were ready to eat. It was so good we ate every last bite. Thank you to the FAH team for another delicious and nutritious recipe that I will definitely come back to!
Yum! So glad you are enjoying!
Made this again last night for a pot luck for our gourmet cooking club and everyone asked for the recipe. Just lovely and easy to make.
So happy you enjoyed this Paula!
Delicious, easy to make, one pot and healthy, who could ask for more. Thank you Sylvia, another new dish on the dinner rotation.
Thanks and so happy you enjoyed this one!
Easy and delicious. LOVE these one pot meals you’ve so cleverly created. Made this last night and another winner winner chicken dinner. Orzo & broccoli cooked beautifully in the broth and chicken was done to perfection. Will make again and again.
Thanks Paula, so glad you enjoyed this!
Very yummy! A lot of flavor and healthy. Thank you! Super easy as well.
Forgot to include stars.
Awesome Liga!
Hi, what could I substitute the orzo with. I’m trying to stay away from flour.
Hi Abi! The timing and liquid ratio here is designed specifically for the Orzo. Not an easy substitute here. Sorry about that!
Hi there— could I substitute brown rice for the orzo in this recipe?
Hi Susan, the cooking time and liquid ratio would be too different I’m afraid.
Great recipe. I too jumped the gun and put the garlic in the pan too soon, but we all know better! It never burnt but sure did make the house smell great!
I never changed anything in the recipe, it turned out very tasty! Chicken breasts remained tender.
A ‘repeat’ for sure! Many thanks for all your recipes, you are in my kitchen very often!
Delicious flavors! I love the recipe, however cooking the chicken with the orzo in the oven dried the chicken out because the orzo I had, took much longer to cook than the chicken.
Next time I make this– I’ll just cook the chicken separately. Otherwise– GREAT weeknight dinner.
Same here!
Made this tonight and it was delicious! Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
So glad you liked it!
Enjoyed the dish very much! I was a little afraid that all of the food wouldn’t fit in my cast-iron skillet, but it fit just fine. I could probably have added two more small chicken breasts and have a meal for more, as the orzo and broccoli was definitely enough for several more meals.
Great to hear and noted the recipe!
This was good, but I might make tweaks next time for our personal taste. I am a recipe-follower, so I made a few guesses/mistakes with this one. Based on the pics, I knew to mince garlic, but would be nice if that was part of the ingredient list. This was a bit too much red pepper for me, so I’d back off and let people add to taste. Also, I took the chicken out of the pan after searing and immediately added the garlic and pepper, which promptly burned. I think a note to pause to let the pan cool a bit plus a little more olive oil would have helped. One teaspoon at this stage was not enough especially once I added the broccoli. Luckily everyone likes broccoli, but this would be great with asparagus or spinach, IMO.
I also found that the feta, regular chicken broth plus added salt was a bit too salty. Again, I think I’ll back off the added salt and let people salt to taste and/or use reduced-sodium chicken broth. I love feta, but my son thought it was too tangy, so I might sub Parmesan next time.
Overall, easy and good! Always appreciate a one-pan meal! It has the potential to be a regular family favorite with slight adjustments. Thanks!
Thanks Cristina. Your comments are super helpful. We have adjusted the recipe to be more specific.
I love complete dish or pot! It makes you feel satisfied and healthy. One question about orzo pasta: do you mean pasta made out of orzo flour?
No it’s a type of pasta, that looks a bit like rice, called Orzo. It’s usually made with semolina flour.
Hi Sylvia. I would love to make the this recipe but my kids are not too fond of broccoli. Is there another vegetable that you could recommend that I substitute for it?
Spinach, asparagus, swiss chard, fennel bulb….are a few that come to mind. I think these ingredients will lend themselves to a lot of different vegetables. Let us know what you try!
This looks wonderful, but we are dairy free, and somewhat broccoli intolerant :). Any suggestions for substitutions?
Try it with a green vegetable that you enjoy! You can leave the feta out and sprinkle with minced toasted walnuts to serve.
We’d love to hear what creative combo you try!
The family loves chicken breasts- I get a little bored of them. Needless to say, I bought chicken breast to make the family happy, but didn’t know what I was going to do with them. At lunch break, I was looking for a recipe and found your post- it was amazing and delish! Everyone was happy! Thank you! I’m telling my family that your my new best friend!
Yay, awesome, glad you liked!