Lemon Rooster Orzo Soup

May 17, 2025

9

Craving a comfy however not too heavy meal? Do that hen lemon orzo soup! It is mild and vibrant due to the lemon and spinach, making it an excellent alternative not only for cooler months however for spring and summer season, too.

Recipe Highlights

This easy soup makes use of orzo (tiny, rice-shaped pasta), not rice or noodles like most hen soups — it makes each spoonful tender and hearty with out being heavy. Love orzo in soups? Attempt my Italian sausage orzo soup subsequent.
Recent lemon juice makes all of the distinction! I add lemon on the finish to brighten every thing up and actually set this home made hen lemon orzo soup other than common hen noodle. I additionally stir within the spinach proper on the finish—it is my little trick for conserving it vibrant, inexperienced, and vibrant as an alternative of lifeless and overcooked.
This one-pot meal takes simply 35 minutes to make and requires minimal cleanup—excellent for busy weeknights, meal prep, or making forward!
In the event you’re a fan of the lemon and hen combo like I’m, you’ll love a few of my different dinner favorites too—like my creamy lemon pepper hen thighs and lemon garlic butter hen spaghetti.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup with Spinach on top in a soup pot.

Make Lemon Rooster Orzo Soup (Step-by-Step Pictures)

That is only a fast overview (with photographs)—discover the complete recipe with precise measurements within the recipe card under. You will love this cozy soup!
First up: collect all of your substances. Right here’s a photograph with every thing you’ll want:

This photo shows the ingredients you need to make Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup.

Warmth olive oil in a big inventory pot or Dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, celery, garlic powder, and onion powder; season with salt and pepper.
Cook dinner over medium-high warmth for five minutes till softened, including recent garlic over the last 2 minutes.

Pour in hen inventory, scraping up any browned bits, and add thyme. Convey to a boil, then simmer briefly. Put aside ⅓ cup of the inventory to chill.
Stir in orzo and shredded hen, cooking for 8–10 minutes till orzo is sort of executed, stirring usually to forestall sticking.

Adding chicken stock, uncooked orzo, and shredded chicken to the pot; stirring and cooking the soup.

Whisk the cooled inventory with cornstarch to kind a slurry, then stir it into the soup. Simmer for five minutes.

Whisking the cornstarch with reserved chicken stock in a bowl to make a slurry; then adding this slurry into the soup pot.

Add spinach and half the lemon juice; prepare dinner for two–3 minutes till wilted. Take away from warmth, regulate seasoning, and add extra lemon juice to style.
Serve heat, topped with parsley, recent thyme, and a lemon slice in every bowl.

Adding spinach and lemon juice to the soup pot; cooking until the spinach wilts and adding fresh herbs.

Serve with

Suggestions for Success

Spice it up! Be happy so as to add additional seasonings like pink pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, Italian seasoning, or smoked paprika to regulate the flavour to your liking.
Toppings make it additional particular. High lemon orzo hen soup with grated Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, or Asiago, together with recent herbs, inexperienced onions, pink pepper flakes, or cracked black pepper.
Make it gluten-free by swapping out the orzo for long-grain rice.
No orzo? Use small-cut pasta like ditalini, bow tie, orecchiette, fusilli, and even gnocchi.
Greens galore! This soup works nice with a wide range of greens like spinach, arugula, kale, Swiss chard, or collard greens—use your favourite!

Storage Directions

Refrigerate: Retailer leftovers in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
To reheat, heat gently on the stovetop over medium warmth, including additional hen inventory or broth if wanted. It’s also possible to microwave in 30-second bursts.
I’m not a fan of freezing the soup, as orzo absorbs liquid and may grow to be dense and mushy.

Extra Rooster Soup Recipes

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Lemon Rooster Orzo Soup

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Craving a comfy however not too heavy meal? Do that hen lemon orzo soup! It is mild and vibrant due to the lemon and spinach, making it an excellent alternative not only for cooler months however for spring and summer season, too.

Course Soup

Delicacies American

Key phrase Lemon Rooster Orzo Soup

Prep Time 10

Cook dinner Time 25

Complete Time 35

Servings

Energy 287kcal

Creator Julia

Substances

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion diced
3 medium carrots peeled and thinly diced
2 small celery stalks chopped
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
4 cloves garlic minced
7 cups hen inventory or broth
1 teaspoon recent thyme
1 cups dry orzo
3 cups cooked, rotisserie hen no skins, no bones, shredded (preferrably legs and thighs) – about 1.5 lb
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 cups child spinach
1 giant lemon juiced
Salt and pepper to style

Garnish

Chopped recent parsley
2 sprigs recent thyme
1 small lemon sliced

US Customary – Metric

Directions

Warmth olive oil in a big inventory pot or Dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, chopped celery, garlic powder, and onion powder. Season to style with salt and pepper. Cook dinner, stirring for five minutes over medium-high warmth, till softened and barely caramelized. Add recent minced garlic over the last 2 minutes of cooking the veggies.
Pour in hen inventory and stir to scrape any browned bits. Add thyme. Convey the inventory to a boil and simmer for a pair minutes. Take away ⅓ cup of the inventory and put aside to chill.
Sti rin orzo and shredded hen. Cook dinner for 8-10 minutes (or in keeping with bundle instructions) till the orzo is nearly cooked. Stir the orzo often to maintain it from stucking to the underside of the pot.
Whisk cornstarch with cooled hen inventory (or water) till you might have a slurry.
Pour the cornstarch combination into the soup and stir to mix.
Simmer for five minutes, then stir within the spinach. Squeeze in half the lemon. Cook dinner till the spinach is wilted, for 2-3 minutes.
Take away the soup from the warmth. Style the soup and squeeze the remaining lemon juice into the soup, regularly (if desired) and stir to mix. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve soup heat, garnished with chopped parsley, recent thyme. Add a slice of lemon to every particular person soup bowl.

Notes

Rooster choices: For the hen, I used shredded rotisserie legs and thighs, no bones, pores and skin eliminated. Leftover cooked hen works simply as effectively, too. If beginning with uncooked hen, simmer it within the broth for about quarter-hour till it is fully cooked, then shred and return it to the pot earlier than including the orzo.
To shred hen simply, I both pull it aside with two forks or pulse it a couple of occasions in a meals processor.
Pasta choices. In the event you can’t discover orzo, you need to use small-cut pasta like ditalini or mini elbows. It’s additionally nice with leftover cooked rice.
To stop orzo from sticking, I at all times use a heavy-bottomed pot like a Dutch oven and stir often. In the event you’re nervous about sticking, it’s also possible to prepare dinner the orzo individually, rinse it, after which add it to the soup.
Lemon tip: Add the lemon juice regularly. When you’ve got an additional massive or juicy lemon, and add it suddenly, it may overpower the soup.
Want extra taste? Add ½ teaspoon or extra of Higher Than Bouillon hen base.
Don’t have hen inventory or broth? Substitute with 7 cups scorching water and about 2 or 3 teaspoons of Higher Than Bouillon hen base.
Time-saving tip: In case your retailer sells recent mirepoix (pre-chopped onion, carrot, and celery), it may actually reduce down on prep time.
Scrumptious add-ins. I’ve tried including only a contact of dried ginger and mushrooms – so good!
Toppings: I really like sprinkling my hen lemon orzo soup with vibrant chopped inexperienced onion and grated or shredded Parmesan cheese. It is also nice with some pink pepper flakes!
Meal prep tip: In the event you’re serving the soup instantly, it is fantastic to prepare dinner the orzo immediately within the pot. However for meal prep, I like to recommend cooking the orzo individually and including it simply earlier than serving to maintain it from absorbing an excessive amount of broth and getting soggy.