This creamy orzo pasta dish features chicken breasts, red peppers, shiitake mushrooms, and goat cheese. Flavorful and filling!
This Creamy Orzo Chicken with Red Peppers and Mushrooms recipe is adapted from a Food and Wine recipe that I have loved for years. And who doesn't love a creamy pasta dish? I don't think anyone can resist the siren's song of a good macaroni and cheese, but upgrading elbow noodles to orzo and cheddar cheese powder to goat cheese is adulting at its finest.
Little by little, I've made this recipe my own, and now it is on regular rotation at my house. For me, it's the perfect version of comfort food: creamy without being heavy. And unlike a lot of comfort foods that I reserve for those cold winter months, you can really serve it year-round.
This dish is elegant enough to serve at a dinner party as well, along with a simple green salad. I promise your dinner guests will be happy and full when you send them home, having satiated their mac n' cheese craving without resorting to pulling the box of Kraft out of the pantry.
Recipe Tips for Chicken Orzo
- If you don't have, or don't want to use white wine, feel free to just use more cooking water from the pasta. Or replace with vegetable or chicken broth.
- If you don't have herbes de provence in your pantry, you can replace with most other dried herbs: thyme, basil, oregano, tarragon. Any of those, or a combination, would work well with this dish.
- I often make a vegetarian version of this dish, which is also lovely. Just replace the chicken with firm tofu, or leave it out entirely.
Other Pasta Recipes
If creamy pasta is your jam, you might want to check out my recipe for Creamy Spinach Artichoke Pasta, which has a delicious spinach-artichoke sauce. Another vegetarian option is my easy Black Garlic Pasta. More ideas here:
And if you love pasta recipes featuring chicken, please try this easy Cajun chicken pasta recipe from our friends at Blog Chef.
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to us. And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to our newsletter. We’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
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Creamy Orzo Chicken with Red Peppers and Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 red bell pepper stemmed, seeded, and chopped into 1-inch cubes
- ¼ pound shiitake mushrooms cleaned, stemmed, and quartered
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon herbes de provence
- 1 cup of orzo about 6 oz.
- 2 ounces goat cheese
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- Chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
- Season the chicken breasts with ⅛ teaspoon of kosher salt and black pepper, then put the chicken in the pan and brown on both sides, about 5-7 minutes per side. Continue to turn and cook the chicken breasts until they are cooked through. (They should feel firm and reach 165 degrees on a meat thermometer.) Remove chicken from pan.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat in the same pan you used for the chicken.
- Sauté the bell pepper, mushrooms, and herbes de provence with a pinch of salt. Stir frequently and cook for 5 minutes, or until mushrooms have released their liquid and are lightly browned.
- Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of well-salted water to boil. Cook the orzo until al dente, about 10 minutes, reserving about ⅓ cup of the pasta water at the end. While orzo is cooking, slice chicken breasts crosswise or shred. Drain orzo and set aside.
- Turn heat under the skillet to medium-high.
- Add goat cheese, cream, white wine, ¼ cup pasta water, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper to the pan. Simmer gently and stir until smooth. Add additional reserved pasta water if you think you will need more liquid to incorporate the orzo and chicken.
- Stir in orzo and chicken and top with chopped parsley, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Mimi Rippee says
You made me laugh because my mother, who was a fabulous cook, always made dishes that required last-minute work, whether steaming or baking or a sauce…. And then she’d get mad at us and yell because she was stuck in the kitchen and we were out eating and having fun! Sooooo, as you can imagine, I learned from those experiences. Great orzo recipe!
http://www.chefmimiblog.com
Molly Pisula says
Yes! I learned this lesson for myself early in my entertaining days!