Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Orzo
Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Orzo
Ingredients:
- 15 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast (about 2 large breast)
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1½ cups White Mushrooms sliced, (about 120 grams)
- ¼ Yellow Onion diced, (about 50 grams, or ¼ an onion)
- 2 cloves Fresh Garlic diced, (about 7.5 grams)
- 1¼ cups Water (about 10 oz)
- ½ cup Orzo (about 108 grams)
- 1 dash Sea Salt
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- 1½ cups Baby Spinach torn, (about 50 grams)
- ¼ cup Dubliner Cheese any white cheddar cheese, freshly shredded (about 20 grams)
Instructions:
- Heat a large deep pan to medium heat. While waiting for the pan to heat up season the chicken with pepper and garlic powder. Once the pan is hot, add the extra virgin olive oil to the pan.
- Place the chicken immediately into the pan, leave it there for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Both sides should start to become golden brown, but the center will still look uncooked…if not golden, give each side another minute…your pan wasn’t hot enough. Turn the heat to low and cover the chicken with a lid. Let it cook for about 7 minutes, then flip and cover again for another 7 minutes.
- After 7 minutes on each side covered, the chicken should be done. But this does depend on the size of the chicken breast…these times are based on 7½ oz breasts.It is always best to check the internal temperature of chicken before serving. My rule of thumb is, once covered, cook the chicken for 1 minute per ounce per side, I find that this delivers a perfect juicy chicken breast every time.
- Once the chicken is done remove from the pan, leaving the juices in the pan.
- Keeping the heat at medium add the mushrooms, diced onions and garlic to the pan with the juices. The chicken juice is going to add a ton of flavor to this dish. Cook the mushrooms and onions, stirring regularly for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften and become aromatic.
- After 5 minutes add the water and orzo to the pan. Season with additional salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Bring the water to a simmer and cook down until most of the water has evaporated/soaked into the orzo. Stir often to prevent the orzo from burning on the bottom of the pan. Cooking the orzo typically takes about 8-10 minutes. At this point the orzo should be done.
- While the orzo is cooking us a fork and knife to shred the chicken.
- Add the torn spinach, shredded chicken, and cheese to the pan. Cook for an additional 2 minutes, until the spinach has wilted and the cheese is incorporated into the orzo.
- Serve and enjoy, or portion out into your meal prep containers to enjoy later.
Nutrition
I don’t know about you but the word “Creamy” makes my mouth start to water! It also tells me that the recipe would be a good meal prep dish! Typically anything creamy or with a sauce will reheat really well. This creamy chicken and mushroom orzo was on my meal plan this past week and it was wonderful reheated. But something else pretty wonderful about this recipe…it’s a one-pot meal! That’s right, almost effortless clean-up! And if you are counting macros like I do, this is a super easy recipe to adjust to fit your macro goals!
Macro Adjustments:
Below outlines the Items In each macro group that are easily adjustable to meet your specific macros.
Fat:
The majority of fat In this recipe comes from the cheese and oil. I do not recommend adding any more oil or you will have an oily mess. However you can easily adjust the cheese in this recipe.
Carbohydrates:
Orzo, easily adjust the amount of orzo to adjust the amount of carbs.
Protein:
Chicken Is a great lean cut of meat, providing most of the protein In this recipe. You could adjust the amount of chicken used.
Meal Prep:
Yes. This recipe can be meal prepped. This recipe will last up to 6 days In the fridge.
Freezer Friendly:
Yes. This Is an outstanding freezer friendly recipe! It reheats so well after being defrosted.