This Lemony Broccoli Chicken Orzo Pasta Bake is simple and easy to make and full of delicious flavor! Cooked and baked in one pot or skillet, it’s comforting, healthy, and ready in just 45 minutes! A simple tasty weeknight dinner recipe.
There is a beautiful harmony of flavors in this skillet meal created from just a few basic ingredients. Comforting, AND easy! It really feels so gratifying when dinner is simple to prepare, as well as healthy, and most importantly, so satisfyingly good. Hopefully, you will have leftovers because they are just as delicious, if not more so.
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.
The chicken is seared first and after that, the ingredients are sautéed in the same skillet, absorbing all the flavorful seared bits. The oven finishes the cooking process.
Rinse and pat chicken dry.
Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Sear chicken breast in a skillet.
While chicken is searing prep garlic, lemon zest and juice and broccoli.
Lots of garlic is a good thing. It keeps our immune systems strong! We definitely need this in spades right now.
Saute’ garlic quickly with chili flakes.
Throw broccoli in with garlic and chili flakes, sautéing for just for a minute.
Add all remaining ingredients to the skillet and mix.
Pour in hot chicken broth and place seared chicken on top.
Top chicken breasts with lemon slices. Cover pan with foil and bake.
When it is done baking, the orzo will soak up the lovely flavors.
Slice the chicken and serve it over the orzo, scattering with fresh dill.
More recipes you may like:
- Chicken Marsala
- Chicken Katsu (or Tofu Katsu!)
- Baked Chicken Breasts!
- Rosemary Chicken with Roasted Grapes and Shallots
Stay warm and cozy out there.
💛 Tonia
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Chicken Broccoli Orzo Bake with Lemon and Feta
- 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 comforting easy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole is loaded with broccoli and tender chicken. A fast and healthy skillet dinner that is flavorful and satisfying. Perfect for a weeknight dinner.
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
Keywords: broccoli chicken bake, broccoli Chicken casserole, broccoli chicken orzo bake, Baked orzo with chicken,
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!