This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is one of the most simple soup recipes I know – but you would never believe that, because it’s just so good! Juicy chicken and perfectly cooked orzo simmer together in a flavorful broth, and I have an AMAZING trick to make it extra lemony!
I wasn’t excited about Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup until I made it like this!
Sometimes, there are recipes that surprise you – right? For me, Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup was one of these meals I never really found all that exciting until I realized there’s just not enough flavor going on for me in most recipes.
But when I tried the same trick I use in my Lemon Chicken Thighs and Pasta recipe – using a vegetable peeler to peel strips of lemon zest into the broth to simmer with – it was a game-changer! I also started searing my chicken before sautéing my vegetables, which added so much more depth to the final soup. Plus – bone-in chicken thighs will be the juiciest and most flavorful, although I often use boneless thighs (like I did when I took the pictures for this post) and the difference is acceptable.
This is a recipe with a more delicate flavor profile, so we really need to do all the things right in order to get it to come out tasting amazing! And I very humbly hope I have achieved this here. For a long time I’ve said that it takes work to make a really good soup, and this recipe is proof of that – it’s incredibly easy, but it does require some time (about 45-60 minutes in this case) and effort. However, you will be rewarded with a meal that convinced even my pickiest kid to finish an entire bowl of soup!
Ingredients I like to use, plus notes
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!
- Chicken: Chicken thighs stay juicier, but you can use chicken breast instead. My favorite is to use bone-in chicken thighs with the skin removed, but boneless is absolutely fine.
- Vegetables: I really like the classic mix of onion/carrot/celery here. However, if you want to skip one of these, feel free. I do not recommend to use only carrot though – too sweet.
- Lemon: I HIGHLY recommend using an actual lemon, not bottled lemon juice! For the best flavor, we need zest and juice.
- Parsley: Also highly recommend to have fresh parsley here. Parsley is often relegated to be a garnish, but here it’s an ingredient that makes a difference.
- Orzo: Kind of strange to offer a substitution for the ingredient that’s in the name of the recipe 🤣 but if you can’t find Orzo or don’t have any on hand, you can use a different pasta shape. I have tried this with Ditalini and with the tiny soup shells and it was different, but absolutely delicious. You could even do rice if you don’t want pasta, but you will need to add it at the same time as the chicken because it takes longer to cook than pasta.
- Bay leaves: Optional, but they make a difference. Highly recommend! I always have these on hand.
How to make Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Let’s walk through the recipe together, so I can share all my tips to make sure your soup turns out as flavorful as possible!
tl;dr – if you don’t have time to read
Here is the gist of my wall of text below:
- Do not cook the chicken through in the first step, only lightly sear.
- Give the vegetables enough time to soften.
- Keep the heat at medium-low when you make the roux.
- Time the soup simmering according to the size of your chicken pieces.
- Stir frequently after adding the orzo, so it doesn’t stick. Different orzo brands will require different cooking times.
- Shred the chicken into juicy chunks, not into stringy meat spaghetti.
- Add as much or as little lemon juice as you like – I keep it light in the soup for the kids, and add more to my bowl at the table.
Searing the chicken:
When you sear the chicken, make sure you don’t do so for more than 1-2 minutes per side! We are not looking for deep browning, we are just looking to get a light sear on the chicken and to get some fond going on in the pot to flavor our soup. If you overcook the chicken here, it will be dry later.
Sautéing the vegetables:
We remove the chicken from the pot and then we sauté the vegetables. Make sure to give them adequate time over medium heat! It will take around 8 minutes for the onion to soften, the celery and carrot will still be firmer but they will cook in the soup later.
This step is important because it add SO much flavor to the final soup, so don’t rush it!
Starting the roux:
I know, a roux always sounds so intimidating. But it just means you stir some flour into the hot fat in your pot and then add a liquid. Stir the flour over medium-low heat for about a minute, that’s it!
First simmer:
Once your flour has cooked off the raw taste, you need to stir in your chicken broth. Just keep stirring until the flour has dissolved into the liquid, and your roux soup base is ready! It really is that easy! Just keep the heat to medium-low and it won’t ever get too hot, so you won’t mess it up.
Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, ADD LEMON ZEST and bay leaves for max flavor!!! Then add the chicken back in and cook, covered.
Adding the orzo:
After 12-15 minutes of simmering (time this according to the size of your chicken pieces – if they are smaller, move on with the recipe after 12 minutes of your soup simmering so they don’t overcook), open the pot and give the soup a good stir.
Stir in the orzo and continue simmering for 8-12 minutes, depending on your exact brand of orzo used. Stir frequently now so the orzo doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot!
Orzo cooking time
When I use orzo from a store brand or just a brand that makes smaller orzo, it cooks in around 8 minutes. But orzo from a brand like Rummo is large and thick and takes longer to cook, so I usually remove the chicken after the orzo has been in the pot for 10 minutes, because the pasta can take almost 14 minutes to cook even though the package says 7 minutes!
Shredding the chicken:
Even if your orzo isn’t fully done, you can remove the chicken from the soup and shred it while the orzo finishes cooking.
If you used bone-in chicken, it should be so tender that it just falls off the bones! Make sure you catch all of the bones so there are no unpleasant surprises later.
How do you shred chicken for soup?
If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know that I don’t like stringy chicken! I shred my chicken with two forks, and I leave it pretty chunky so it doesn’t turn into chicken spaghetti! I highly recommend this, because it makes the soup heartier, it’s juicier and it looks nicer, too 😅
Finishing the soup:
I love a lot of lemon juice in my soup, but look, I have children and I’m trying not to be a mother who unnecessarily traumatizes said children. I add 1 to 1.5 tablespoons, and then serve lemon wedges at the table for anyone who wants more lemon. But I would easily do 3 tablespoons if it was just me!
Also, highly recommend stirring in chopped parsley now, and not just sprinkling it on top! And that’s concludes my seventy-hundred words about Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup, thanks for coming to my Ted Lasso talk 😅
All that’s left now is to serve your soup, and your cozy meal is done!
Make-ahead/leftovers?
As-is, this soup is NOT make-ahead or freezer friendly. Reason for that being the orzo cooked in the soup.
If you want to make this as a freezer meal, or to make it ahead a couple of days on purpose, leave out the orzo, the lemon juice and the parsley; and stop the cooking process once the chicken is RIGHT at 165°F. Shred it, put it in the soup and then let the soup cool down.
- For freezing, I recommend reducing the liquid to 4 cups to use up less freezer space. Freeze the cooled soup in freezer bags or containers for up to 2 months.
To defrost, place in the fridge overnight to thaw. Add it to a Dutch oven or soup pot with 2-3 cups of broth, bring to a boil, then add the orzo and simmer until the orzo is done. Stir in lemon juice and parsley and serve.
- To make ahead, follow the same steps as for freezing, but place the soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. You can choose to use 4 cups of broth here, too, if you’re short on fridge space, or don’t have a large enough container to refrigerate the full recipe.
To reheat, add the soup to a Dutch oven or soup pot, add more broth if you reduced it for refrigerating, then bring to a boil. Add the orzo, simmer until done. Stir in lemon juice and parsley and serve!
- If you have leftovers, you can refrigerate them for up to a day. Just know that the orzo will soak up a lot of the liquid. Reheat in a pot on the stove to an even 165°F before serving. You can add a little extra water or broth, and refresh it with more parsley if you like.
Serving ideas
In full transparency, my house is a “soup is not dinner” kind of house. Or, at least not a brothy soup like this one 😅
If we’re talking an Italian Sausage Gnocchi Soup or a Chicken Tortellini Soup – yes, they are accepted as a full meal. A brothy Chicken Orzo Soup? My fam will be hungry 🤣
So, here is how I serve it to make sure everyone is happy after dinner:
- definitely some bread – dinner rolls, homemade bread or a crusty grocery store loaf
- if the kids are very hungry, I will make some ham and cheese sliders or grilled cheese
- a dense bean salad works VERY well with this soup, I make Greek Chickpea Salad a lot to go with it
- if I need a zero zero zero effort option, I add a rinsed can each chickpeas and navy beans to the soup – great to bulk it up and make it more satisfying!
And that’s it. A really comforting, cozy and flavorful bowl of soup! It’s perfect for lunch, or round it out to make it a light and warming dinner.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Ingredients
- 1 to 1.5 pounds skinless chicken thighs (bone-in or boneless)
- salt & cracked black pepper (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium-large onion (finely diced (about 1 heaping cup))
- 2 sticks celery (diced small (about 1 cup))
- 3 medium-large carrots (peeled and diced small (about 1.5 cups))
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 6-7 cups chicken broth (OR water + chicken bouillon)
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- lemon zest (to taste (I do 2-3 strips of lemon zest, peeled with a vegetable peeler))
- 1 cup uncooked orzo
- lemon juice and chopped parsley (to taste (I add 1 tablespoon lemon juice when kids are eating, more for just adults))
Instructions
- Sear chicken: Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add oil, then sear the chicken 1-2 minutes per side, until lightly colored on the outside (it doesn't have to cook through yet). Remove and set aside.1 to 1.5 pounds skinless chicken thighs, salt & cracked black pepper, 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Sauté vegetables: Reduce heat to medium. Add butter to pot and allow to melt. Add onion, celery and carrots and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic.1 tablespoon butter, 1 medium-large onion, 2 sticks celery, 3 medium-large carrots, 3 cloves garlic
- Bring to a boil: Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir flour and Italian seasoning through vegetables in pot. Stir in 6 cups chicken broth, then add bay leaves and lemon zest, if desired. Bring to a boil.1 tablespoon flour, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 6-7 cups chicken broth, 2 bay leaves, lemon zest
- Simmer: Reduce heat to a good simmer, add chicken back to soup and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
- Cook orzo: Stir in uncooked orzo pasta and continue simmering, uncovered, for another 10-12 minutes, until chicken and orzo are done.1 cup uncooked orzo
- Finish: Remove chicken from pot, shred and add back to soup. Add more broth if you prefer a brothier soup. Season with lemon juice and chopped parsley to taste, then serve immediately.lemon juice and chopped parsley
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