Need a quick, hearty supper? This filling one-pan spinach orzo chicken is bursting with flavor that your whole family will enjoy!

As much as I am in my kitchen all day, ironically I often find myself scrambling for supper. I try very hard to incorporate some sort of supper dish in my recipe testing and prep, but it doesn’t always work…

When it comes to coming up with a quick supper, I love filling, hearty meals that are made all in one pan and can easily be prepped in advance and popped into the oven an hour before supper. My most popular one-pan supper is my easy one-pan no-fail chicken and rice supper.

I’m a huge fan of 9×13 suppers and I used to get annoyed when I came across recipes that need sauteing on the stovetop and then transferring to a pan for baking. But then I got a beautiful Dutch oven casserole for my birthday one year and I’ve been smitten ever since. I love how it can go from stovetop to oven to table — no transferring necessary!

This dish was inspired by my very popular spinach-garlic oven-baked orzo. I love the creaminess of the orzo, but you can feel free to swap it for rice. You may need to adjust the baking time, though, so keep an eye on it.

Oddly, my children like bone-in chicken (or stick chicken, as my little one likes to call it), even though I know a lot of people prefer cutlets. You can definitely use cutlets in this recipe instead, but the cooking time will be shorter.

If you don’t have cherry or grape tomatoes, you can chop up a Roma or beefsteak tomato and use that instead.

I sauteed the vegetables in this one-pan spinach orzo chicken. You can easily do this the night before or earlier in the day. However, if you’re short on time, you can skip the sauteing altogether, though it won’t have the same depth of flavor.

raw orzo being poured into the spinach mixture — Screenshot

One-Pan Spinach Orzo Chicken with Garlic and Parsley

Need a quick, hearty supper? This filling one-pan spinach orzo chicken is bursting with flavor that your whole family will enjoy!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

2 Tbsp oil
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1½ cups frozen spinach, thawed
1½ cups uncooked orzo
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups chicken stock (or 2 tsp chicken soup mix dissolved in 2 cups hot water)
2 tsp parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
Juice of half a lemon (about 1 Tbsp)
4 chicken leg quarters, cut up

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In an oven-safe pot, heat oil over medium flame. Add garlic and tomatoes and sauté for about 5 minutes, until garlic is beginning to brown and become fragrant. Add spinach (no need to strain it first) and mix well.
Add orzo, salt and pepper and sauté for 1-2 minutes more while stirring.
Add chicken stock, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder and lemon juice. Mix to combine.
Nestle the chicken pieces into the chicken stock. Cover tightly and transfer to the oven. Bake for one hour. Uncover and bake 15 minutes more.