One Pan Lemon Pepper Chicken Orzo
This one pan lemon pepper chicken orzo is so flavorful, packed with protein, and made all in the same pan for easy cooking and clean up.
If you love my one pan white Tuscan turkey orzo, this is a must try. It calls for many of the same ingredients, and made basically the same way! You could even sub ground chicken so you don’t have to handle any raw chicken breasts. Here are all the details!
What You’ll Need
Equipment
- Large pan with lid
- Glass meal prep containers optional, for meal prepping
Ingredients
- Boneless, skinless chicken breast: I love these antibiotic-free Marketside ones.
- Lemon pepper seasoning (see notes below)
- White onion
- Minced garlic
- Orzo: Should be able to find this right by all the other dry pasta. It’s in a very small box, kinda looks like rice.
- Chicken broth: I use reduced sodium. Can sub bone broth for extra protein.
- Half & half: Lighter than heavy cream but adds so much creaminess.
- Mustard
- Spinach
- Lemon juice
How To Make It
- Cook the chicken: Cut off any weird pieces on the chicken and dice up into bite sized pieces. Grab a large deep skillet and set it to medium high heat. Spray the bottom of the pan with cooking spray and add in the chicken. Add in the lemon pepper seasoning and cook chicken, stirring occasionally, until fully cooked (about 5-7 minutes depending on how big your pieces are). Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Cook the garlic and onion: In the same pan, spray a little more cooking spray and add chopped onion and minced garlic. Let it cook for just a minute until it becomes soft and fragrant (the onion should become translucent).
- Toast and boil the orzo: Add in the dry orzo pasta and toast it for just a minute. This helps give it a rich, toasty flavor! Add in the chicken broth and stir the orzo around. Wait until it’s simmering, then reduce heat to medium and cover with a lid. Cook according to box directions, stirring occasionally so nothing burns.
- Prep the add-ins: While the orzo is cooking, roughly chop the spinach, measure the half & half, and grab the mustard and lemon so it’s all ready to go.
- Add it all together: After the orzo is done cooking, turn off the heat and add in the half & half, mustard, spinach, and the juice of 1/2 lemon – I use a lemon squeezer. Stir together until the spinach becomes wilted. Add the cooked chicken, season with more salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy with some fresh parm!
Lemon Pepper Notes
Not all lemon pepper seasonings are created equal! Some have a higher salt content than others, which affects taste. Just check the ingredient list – they’re listed in descending order by weight, so if salt is towards the beginning, you might not need to add any extra salt. Just make sure to give it a taste at the end and add more salt and pepper if needed.
To Store
After cooling, store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days (I love these Amazon containers for meal prepping). Reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments until desired warmth, or on the stove with a splash of broth or water to bring it back to life.
Similar Recipes
- One pan white Tuscan turkey orzo
- Greek turkey meatballs with orzo salad
- One pan cheesy chicken and broccoli pasta
- One pan lower-carb taco rice
Lastly, be sure to leave a rating and review down below if you make this lemon pepper chicken orzo! And don’t forget to tag me on IG – always love to hear from you and see what you’re cooking up. ♡
One Pan Lemon Pepper Chicken Orzo
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (16 oz) diced
- 1 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning
- 1/2 small white onion (100 g) chopped
- 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
- 8 oz orzo pasta (224 g)
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (600 ml)
- 1 cup half & half (240 ml)
- 1/2 tbsp yellow mustard (7 g)
- 2 1/2 cups fresh spinach (75 g) roughly chopped
- 1/2 lemon juiced
Instructions
- Heat a large deep skillet on medium high heat and spray with cooking spray. Fully cook the diced chicken with lemon pepper seasoning (5-7 minutes). Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, spray again with a little more cooking spray, and cook onions and garlic until soft and fragrant (2-3 minutes). Add the dry orzo and toast for another minute.
- Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and let simmer for 9-10 minutes (or according to box directions) stirring occasionally so nothing burns.
- Remove from heat and add half & half, mustard, spinach, lemon juice, and stir until the spinach has wilted. Add the cooked chicken and season with more salt and pepper to taste. Serve with fresh parm if desired and enjoy!
Notes
- Check your lemon pepper seasoning for salt and adjust salt levels as needed.
Nutrition
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I really enjoyed this Lemon Pepper Orzo as part of my weekly meal prep, I made no change except to add some zucchini and only cause I had in frig. Will definitely make again, thanks for sharing :)
Hi Lynelle,
Love that you added some extra veg you already had on hand! Glad it turned out well ❤️
Absolutely delicious! I used salmon instead of chicken and probably twice as much spinach. I think next time I’ll put less mustard in, but I will definitely be making this regularly!
Hi Elisabeth,
Sounds delicious! Happy to hear it turned out well.
I tried this and its awesome. Id never had orzo before and wow we eat this one up ! So happy i found this blog. You post super great recipes:)!
Hi Ciara,
You’ve never had orzo?! I’m honored I could provide your first orzo recipe! I bet you’d LOVE the white tuscan turkey orzo ;)
This recipe is a staple for my husband & I now! We love it so much.
Hi Jess,
Love this! Staple recipes can’t be beat.
This is my second recipe from the site and it was another hit, My husband loved it as well! Super easy to make, minimal prep and ingredients, and makes enough for leftovers. I definitely will be trying more recipes!!
Hey Maddie,
Love it! So glad you enjoyed, thanks for sharing. ♡
First time fixing orzo and lemon pepper both. So glad I found your recipe.
Thank you
Hi Baylley,
So glad you enjoyed this one! ♡
The recipe was great but the mustard was a bit much. I used yellow but maybe I should have done Dijon. I would make it again without the mustard!
Thanks so much for this feedback. I would omit the mustard rather than use dijon since dijon is even sharper!
I really hated this recipe. It did not taste good or flavorful at all. It was rather bland. And the flavors did not mix well. It’s my second recipe from this website that I did not like..
Hi Karlie,
Thanks for sharing your honest feedback and I’m sorry this one wasn’t a hit for you. Flavor can be impacted by ingredient brands, seasoning levels, and personal preference, so I always encourage adjusting to taste. I appreciate you giving this recipe a try. ♡
Please nail down what type of mustard. Many thanks
Hi Sue,
I just update the recipe card to read “yellow mustard”. The link will also take you to the ingredients I use! ☺️
Really tasty and easy to make. I will definitely make again, and the only change will be a little less mustard.
Hi Jessica,
Glad you enjoyed it! I do tend to like a good amount of mustard haha should be an easy tweak though! ♡
Loved this one! Easy to cook and so good. Definitely one I’m putting in my rotation.
Hi Disney,
Love it! Thanks for sharing. ♡
This is so delicious & so easy! I’ve made it 3 times in the last month & kept to the original recipe. I would highly recommend trying this. :)
Hi Sam,
Thanks for making this one! ♡
Deliciou! I upped the protein by using chickpea orzo and chicken bone broth.
Hi Michelle,
Such a great protein hack! ♡
Found this recipe today. I had some of the ingredients but exchanged a few for what I had on hand. Followed it mostly according to directions. I substituted asparagus that i steamed first for the spinach and added sautéed mushrooms I had with the onion and garlic. I used my own chicken stock that I keep on hand. Used heavy cream in place of half and half and added sun dried tomatoes chopped up. I did leave out the yellow mustard after reading comments but did add a fourth to half teaspoon of Dijon mustard which was a nice touch. A little more pepper to taste. It was very tasty and well received by family. Definitely adding this recipe to make in future.
Hi Linda,
So glad you enjoyed and were able to adjust using what you had! ♡
So delicious, and easy to make! I will be keeping this in my recipe rotations. Re: the other reviews about the mustard being too much…I absolutely disagree! It adds just the right amount of depth to this dish. That being said, I do love mustard! Like others, I added a few things that I had on hand to bulk it up – including peas and zucchini. I also substituted the chicken stock for bone broth and used ground chicken instead of diced chicken breast. Can’t wait to try another one of your recipes, Jaycee!
Hey Sonja,
Oh good, I’m glad you like the mustard! I tend to like a little more too. Love that you were able to make some other changes as needed. Thanks for sharing! ♡
This was delicious and easy!
Hi Meredith,
So glad you loved it! ♡
I thought this was pretty good and easy but the amount of half and half was way too much for my liking—it made the recipe too watered down/liquidy. Would probably use half the amount next time.
Hey Cerena,
Shoot, I’m sorry to hear that. Every stovetop and pan cooks a little different and some chicken releases more moisture than others, which could make it a bit thinner. If that happens, letting it simmer and reduce for a few extra minutes can help thicken it up! Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback. ♡