One-Pot Lemon Chicken Orzo with Spinach
- 37 mintotal time
- $2.22£1.76a serving
- 534495calories
- 37 gprotein
Serves 4; price is an estimate. Dinner Plan is a paid weekly plan for your household and budget. You see your week before you pay.
Chicken and orzo simmered together in a lemony oregano stock, with spinach stirred through at the end.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- 11 oz orzo
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 lemon
- 5 oz baby spinach
- ½ bunch parsley, chopped
- 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Contains: wheat (gluten), celery. Check the label: milk, soy, sulfites. Always read the labels if you cook for someone with an allergy.
Method
- Boil a full kettle. Season the chicken with the dried oregano, salt and black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan or casserole on medium-high heat and brown the chicken for 5 minutes, turning, then lift onto a plate. Wash your hands, board and knife before preparing anything eaten raw.
- Add the yellow onion and cook for 3 minutes, then the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the orzo and stir for 1 minute until coated.
- Pour in 4 cups (960 ml) of the boiling water, crumble in the bouillon cube, add the grated zest of the lemon and return the chicken. Simmer for 10–12 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't stick, until the orzo is tender, most of the liquid has been absorbed and the chicken is cooked through with no pink inside (165°F).
- Stir in the spinach until wilted, then the juice of the lemon and the parsley. Season to taste; it should be loose and creamy, so add a splash of hot water if it has thickened too much.
Leftovers: Keeps in the fridge for 2 days; reheat with a splash of water until piping hot.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 500 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
- 300 g orzo
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 lemon
- 150 g spinach
- ½ bunch parsley, chopped
- 2 vegetable stock cubes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Contains: gluten, celery. Check the label: milk, soya, sulphites. Always read the labels if you cook for someone with an allergy.
Method
- Boil a full kettle. Season the chicken with the dried oregano, salt and black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan or casserole on medium-high heat and brown the chicken for 5 minutes, turning, then lift onto a plate. Wash your hands, board and knife before preparing anything eaten raw.
- Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, then the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the orzo and stir for 1 minute until coated.
- Pour in 960 ml of the boiling water, crumble in the stock cube, add the grated zest of the lemon and return the chicken. Simmer for 10–12 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't stick, until the orzo is tender, most of the liquid has been absorbed and the chicken is cooked through with no pink inside (74°C).
- Stir in the spinach until wilted, then the juice of the lemon and the parsley. Season to taste; it should be loose and creamy, so add a splash of hot water if it has thickened too much.
Leftovers: Keeps in the fridge for 2 days; reheat with a splash of water until piping hot.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 534 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 37 g |
| Carbohydrate | 65 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Fiber | 5 g |
| Sodium | 1359 mg |
| Calories | 495 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 37 g |
| Carbohydrate | 63 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Fibre | 5 g |
| Sodium | 1011 mg |
Worked out from the ingredients, 312 g a serving; optional extras and salt to taste aren't counted. US and UK values differ a little because each uses that country's food data and products. US values from USDA FoodData Central.UK values from McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset 2021, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it costs
About $2.22 a serving in the US (range $1.70–$2.94) and £1.76 in the UK (range £1.35–£2.33). That's the share of each ingredient this recipe uses; basics like oil, salt and spices aren't counted.
Prices are estimates. Item prices come from public price data where available (US: Bureau of Labor Statistics and USDA; UK: Office for National Statistics). Where that data has no match, we use our own estimate. Ranges set using Open Prices data (Open Food Facts, ODbL). Prices as of October 2026. How we estimate
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