Healthy Homemade Creamy Chicken & Orzo Soup
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: Dinner
Description
Cream of chicken soup with orzo was the first soup I learned to make from scratch waaaayyy back when. It is such the perfect dish for a cool fall evening or a cold winter day. It’s warm and soothing and leaves your belly feeling happy. Strangely though, I realized the other day that I haven’t made this soup in over ten years! God I feel old. I mean, we make soup throughout the fall and winter every year, but for whatever reason, I’ve never thought to make this… maybe because we normally have chicken and dumplings instead?
But chicken and dumplings feels thicker… not really a soup, more like a stew. And although dumplings are delicious, they can also feel heavy. What I love about this soup is the orzo. It compliments the soup without taking away from it. It gives you the texture and pleasure of pasta but because it’s so tiny, it doesn’t take over and disrupt the textures and flavors of all the vegetables… and there are a TON of vegetables!
It seems most recipes call for two carrots, two celery stalks, 1 clove of garlic. I love to pack my soups with vegetables. I want hearty spoonfuls with every bite, and this soup is loaded. I added a little Marsala wine, which, wow, it adds such a nice but subtle flavor. It’s almost sweet, but not like sugar sweet. It doesn’t make any sense, but I want to say savory sweet. It’s a flavor that greatly compliments chicken!
This dish is super easy to make and comes together in one pot! What could be better, right? The vegetables take a while to cook. I don’t like to sauté them until they’re soft because then they’ll be mushy by the time it’s all set to eat. Instead, I like to cook it until they’re still firm but just starting to get tender. That way by the time they sit in the broth boiling as the chicken finishes cooking and the orzo cooks, they get a little softer without turning to mush.
This is a great weeknight meal with super easy clean up! And this makes for a yummy leftover lunch the next day too! This is great with some homemade rustic bread!
Enjoy!
Ingredients
1½ lbs chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
8 oz orzo
4 medium carrots, cut into bite size pieces
6 celery ribs, cut into bite size pieces
1½ cup frozen peas
1 medium sweet onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock
¼ cup Marsala wine
1 cup heavy cream
4 TBs butter
⅓ cup flour
salt and pepper
Instructions
In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter of medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and lightly sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring often, until just starting to tenderize ~ about 12 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the chicken and cook until lightly browned on all sides but not cooked through.
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and chicken and stir to fully saturate the flour. Slowly add in the chicken stock, stirring or whisking constantly, until the flour is fully incorporated into the broth. Add the bay leaf and frozen peas. Bring the broth to a boil and then reduce the temperature to low and simmer 10 minutes.
Raise the temperature to medium-low and add the orzo, stirring often. Cook until tender ~ 10 to 12 minutes. Add the Marsala wine and heavy cream. Remove the bay leaves and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve!
Keywords: Soup, Cream of Chicken Soup, Creamy Chicken Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup, Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
