Garlic Butter Chicken and Orzo
This ultra creamy, one-pan meal boasts nuggets of moist chicken and tender orzo in a buttery, garlicky, parmesan-laced sauce. Quick, easy, and made with just 6 ingredients!
There’s plenty of butter and plenty of garlic in this dish! Imagine coating chicken and pasta with velvety garlic butter, and then enhancing everything with cheese – that’s essentially what we’re doing here. The butter is bubbly, the garlic is toasty, and the cheese pulls everything together.
You need just one pan for this recipe! The pasta cooks in the garlicky butter with the chicken and broth, so it absorbs all that great flavor as it cooks. Bring the skillet to the table and you’ll have one pan to clean after dinner!
I used orzo pasta but you can use any pasta you have. I like the small-shaped orzo for this dish because it creates a risotto-ish meal. That said, you can use any pasta you want, from penne to elbows, to broken-up pieces of spaghetti and linguine. Just note the cooking time on your pasta.
If possible, use freshly grated parmesan cheese. Since there are very few ingredients in this dish, use good-quality products. I prefer freshly grated parmesan cheese (over the shelf-stable, shaker style cheese). You can grate it yourself, or buy the pre-grated cheese sold in the refrigerated, specialty cheese section of the grocery store.
For a gluten-free meal, you can use rice! When using rice, you can use long grain white rice or short grain rice (such as arborio). Short grain rice will create risotto!
I like the heat of crushed red pepper flakes in this dish! While optional, the heat of crushed red pepper flakes provides a nice balance to the sweetness of the butter and nuttiness of the cheese.
Garlic Butter Chicken and Orzo
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, tenders or thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo pasta, or any small pasta shape
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups chicken stock or broth
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, preferably freshly grated, plus more for serving
- Chopped fresh parsley for serving, optional
- Crushed red pepper flakes for serving, optional
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large, high-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and season with salt and black pepper. Cook until the chicken is golden brown on all sides, stirring frequently. Add the orzo and garlic and cook for 1 minute, until the orzo starts to toast and the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, until the orzo is tender and the liquid is mostly absorbed, stirring occasionally. Fold in the parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Top with parsley and red pepper flakes (if using) and serve with extra parmesan cheese on the side.