FREE 5 Ingredients or Less Recipes!
I won’t send you any spam, ever. Promise!
If you love the taste of lemon in a soup, do not miss this Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup. It’s so easy to make for dinner and divine!
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup – SO MUCH FLAVOR!
I’m not the biggest fan of soup in the warmer weather, but this Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is a great one to serve all year long. This is a soup that’s full of flavor and definitely one you’ll want on your menu plan.
I’ll admit, my hubby was a bit skeptical when I told him I was making a soup that had lemon juice in it AND had lemon in the main title. But, if you’ve ever had the Panera Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup, then you’ll be sooooo happy you’ve found this jewel of a Chicken Orzo Soup recipe.
By the way, my whole family loved this one and gobbled it right down – Even the hubby! 🙂
You can find this Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup as well as 59 more AMAZING recipes in our Slow Cooker Meal Plans!
prep time 20 minutes | cook time 6-7 hours | serves 12 | 175 calories per serving
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb pkg carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 32 oz cartons low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 8 oz orzo pasta
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 lemon, zested
- 5 oz pkg baby spinach leaves
- shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)
Here’s how to make Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup:
To start, heat up your olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Next, sauté your carrots, celery, and onions in the oil until the vegetables begin to soften. Add in your garlic, and cook until fragrant. Stir frequently, about 1 minute. Then, transfer your vegetable mixture to the slow cooker.
Add in your seasonings – thyme, oregano, salt, pepper, bay leaf, as well as your chicken broth and your chicken breasts. Stir everything together and cook on low for 6 – 7 hours or high for 3 – 4 hours.
Remove the chicken and bay leaf – shred the chicken and return to the slow cooker.
Cook your orzo pasta according to the package directions. While pasta is cooking, squeeze lemons for juice and zest.
Add cooked pasta, lemon juice, zest and baby spinach to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low about 5 minutes or until spinach wilts into the broth. Ladle the Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup into bowls and top with Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb carrots chopped
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 1 whole onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 32 oz low-sodium chicken broth
- 8 oz orzo pasta
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 lemon zested
- 5 oz baby spinach leaves
- shredded parmesan cheese optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté carrots, celery and onions in hot oil until vegetables begin to soften. Add garlic; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to slow cooker.
- Add thyme, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, bay leaf, chicken broth, and chicken to slow cooker; stir.
- Cover and cook on low 6 - 7 hours or on high 3 - 4 hours.
- Remove bay leaf and chicken. Shred chicken and return to slow cooker.
- Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, squeeze lemons for juice and zest.
- Add cooked pasta, lemon juice, zest and baby spinach to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low about 5 minutes or until spinach wilts into the broth.
- Ladle into bowls and top with Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Nutrition
If you’re looking for a deal on chicken for this recipe, you can get this Perdue Chicken Breast delivered right to your door!
If you love using your slow cooker and are looking for fun, easy, family friendly meals – check out our Slow Cooker Menu Planning Made Easy set! It’s got 72 team tested recipes and comes with a weekly grocery list. I think you’ll love the meals!
The recipe calls for three stalks of celery. Is it really three stalks or does it mean 3 ribs?
Hi Amanda, the recipe calls for 3 stalks, but you can customize that to your liking!
Three whole bunches of celery?
Hi Michelle, for this recipe the term “stalk” refers to a single rib of celery. I know some use the two terms interchangeably and others do not, so thanks for clarifying! 🙂
Going to make this week for sure!! But want to confirm is it 3 boxes of 32 oz chicken broth (96oz total) or just one box of 32 oz?
Yes, that’s correct Sarah ~ you’ll want to add three 32 oz boxes of broth for a total of 96 oz! 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Can you make all of this in a Dutch oven type and cook it all together on the stove??
Yes you can. I made this on the stove last night. I sautéd the onions, celery and carrots first until the onions were soft and then added the garlic and sautéed for less than a minutes. I then added the seasonings, broth and chicken and cooked for 20 minutes.Then added the orzo and lemon juice and lemon zest and cooked for another 10 minutes. I added the spinach at the end and removed the bay leaf and served when the spinach had wilted (it wilts almost immediately) and topped each bowl with the parmesan cheese. It was delicious!
Only myself in my household. Made this delicious soup today. I froze 7 jars for upcoming lunch when I return to work. The underlying hint of lemon is perfect!! Garlic bread was the perfect accompaniment!
So glad you enjoyed it Joan! 🙂
Turned out great! Hubby is eating his third bowl now! Love the flavor of the lemon it. Gives it a brightness without being overwhelmingly citrus.
Thank you for sharing!
Yayyy ~ so glad to hear that Julie! 🙂
The one picture has bacon cooking in a skillet. I don’t see bacon in this recipe. Wrong pic?
Yes, thank you for letting us know!