Chicken Orzo Bake
This Chicken Orzo bake is a delicious Mediterranean comfort food for the whole family.
Servings 8 people
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken thighs if using a different chicken type, please adjust cooking time accordingly
- 3-4 celery stalks
- 2 small shallots
- 16 oz orzo
- 12 oz baby carrots I ended up using almost 16 ozs of carrots because my kids love them baked, but in order not to change the dish's balance i believe 12 oz is a bit better.
- 1 red bell pepper
- 5 tbsps butter 2 tbsps to fry the chicken and 3 tbsps to be used on the tray before baking
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 2 rosemary twigs
- 3 tbsps chopped parsley
- 0.5 cup chopped seedless olives
- pinch paprika
- salt/pepper to taste depends on the chicken stock and type of butter you used.
Instructions
Prepare Chicken Stock
- Boil chicken thighs with celery, shallots, oregano in water for 30 minutes. Put chicken aside. Add rosemary twigs just for a minute.
- Pour stock through a colander and set it aside.
Prepping Chicken Orzo Bake
- Add 2 tbsps of butter in a skillet, fry chicken thighs on both side for about 2 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle with paprika while frying for better coloring and flavor.
- Set orzo in a baking dish. Add the baby carrots whole or feel free to cut them to desired shape.
- Add chicken to tray, insert it in the midst of orzo by pushing the grains aside a little bit.
- Chop the bell pepper to desired shape, add it over the chicken and orzo. Sprinkle with parsley.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour 5 cups of the broth you prepared earlier to the tray.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Let it cool for few minutes before serving (orzo will absorb all the chicken stock during baking and during this cooling period). Decorate with olives and more parsley before serving.
Notes
- Please note that in the recipe I'm including time to prepare the chicken and chicken stock. If you have chicken stock beforehand, then feel free to adjust the recipe accordingly.
- You can interchange between red pepper or green pepper.