Gimme Some Oven

Basil, Chicken and Orzo Soup

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Any of my friends, family, or coworkers will tell you that I’m kind of a ridiculous fan of soup. Love it. Love ordering it at restaurants. Love making it at home. Love cozying up with a warm bowl in the cold of winter. And alas…even on brutally hot summer days like we’ve had this past week (when the rest of the world is dining on popsicles), I can be found in the kitchen….making soup. :)

(And then I have a popsicle for dessert!!)

Really, though, I just love, love soup. So in order to use up some more of my still-growing (yay!) fresh basil crop, decided to give this “basil, chicken and orzo soup” recipe a go. I’m always a fan of chicken noodle, and loved the idea of the orzo (a little easier to spoon up than noodles!) and all of the delicious, fresh basil.

To be honest, the first night I tried it, I realized I didn’t use nearly enough basil. Just tasted like a pretty classic chicken noodle soup. But the second day when I reheated it (and some of the other flavors had probably had a chance to meld more too!), I added in another handful of basil and it totally rocked! Wonderfully herb-a-licious.

So if you’re a fan of chicken soup, grab some fresh basil and give this variation a go! I will definitely be making this again soon! :-)

 

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Basil, Chicken & Orzo Soup

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  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4-6 servings 1x

Description

A fun variation to your favorite comfort food! Grab some fresh basil and give this delicious Basil, Chicken & Orzo Soup recipe a try today!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
  • 2 stalks of celery, diced
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 8 cups good-quality chicken stock
  • 2 cups cooked chicken, diced into bite sized chunks
  • 2 bay leaves
  • sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste (I used lots!)
  • 56 fresh basil leaves, chopped (chiffonnade)
  • 1 cup dried orzo pasta

Instructions

  1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large cooking pot over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated (if you add a drop of water, it will sizzle!), add onion and stir for 1-2 minutes. Then add carrots, celery and garlic then stir for 60 seconds. Stir in chicken stock, diced chicken, and bay leaves, then season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for an hour (or 30 minutes if you’re rushed).
  2. Raise heat to medium-high and bring the soup back to a boil. Then add basil and dried orzo pasta and cook per instructions until the pasta is al dente. Taste and re-season with additional salt and pepper (or more basil) if needed. Serve warm.

Notes

Recipe adapted from For The Love Of Cooking

 

Ali’s Tip:

If you like a super-brothy soup and are concerned about the orzo soaking up too much of the broth, just cook the orzo separately in another saucepan. Then drain and add to the soup!

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13 comments on “Basil, Chicken and Orzo Soup”

  1. Mmmmm looks wonderful, I just love Orzo. I think Orzo would hold up better in a soup than rice.
    Thank you for such a wonderful idea! I’ll try this soup with the addition of a can of diced tomatoes in it to get more veggies in it.

  2. Indeed, a delicious soup.
    Thank you for your post.
    To use orzo and to use basil is interesting.

  3. I made this tonight for dinner and it is SO GOOD. Thank you for feeding me and my family :)

  4. This look delicious! I have some chicken stock in the freezer that I really need to use up. Maybe I’ll try it this weekend. Thanks!

  5. 8) Thank you this is just great! Its simmering as I speak. Its going with grilled cheeses for dinner. This is my first time making soup thats not from a can! :) Thanks so much for this. I am always looking for ways to do things that aren’t prepackaged (:

  6. Love this recipe. I used Italian parsley rather then Basil because that is what my family prefers. Other than that, the recipe was easy to follow and yummy! Thanks for sharing!

  7. I’m a huge fan of soup myself! I don’t care if it’s 100 degrees outside. I’ll put on the AC and slurp on a nice bowl of soup :)

    This soup looks incredibly soothing and comforting, and I love the addition of orzo and basil. Yum!

  8. I have only been cooking for 3 1/2 years or so but I make some pretty darned good soups! This is one that I have added to my list of soups to make regularly! My mouth is already watering just thinking about making it. The only thing that I suggest to change is to double it because you will want many left overs :)

  9. Made this soup today. Tastes wonderful. Can’t wait to see if it will taste better (although I don’t know how) tomorrow. Thanks

  10. FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!  Used skinless chicken thighs and put in raw, cooked a little bit longer and then put in veggies. I also added two tomatoes for color. De-boned chicken before serving and used A LOT of basil.  It was delish!!!!!  Next time I will add more chicken stock and water to make a little bit juicier, but have NO complaints!  Thank you for sharing!

  11. Everything looked great until we added the orzo- then it soaked up all the broth. So we ended up with chicken and pasta not soup, lol. I followed the directions exactly so not sure what happened. The flavor was great though!

  12. It was a huge hit, so very good. I will definitely be making this again