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Just For Fun

One Skillet Butter Chicken and Orzo — A Kid-Friendly Dinner Recipe for Families

by Tieghan Gerard

Background image credit: DiViArt/Shutterstock

This One Skillet Lemon Butter Chicken and Orzo is not only delicious, it’s also super easy … one skillet, under an hour, and uses mostly pantry staple ingredients. It even comes out of the oven looking rather pretty, making it great a great dish to serve both for entertaining and simply as an easy weeknight dinner.

I love making this for my family — chicken and pasta is our kind of comfort food. I have some rather picky eaters in my family, but with this recipe, there’s no complaining. Everybody loves it. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser.

What I also love about this dish, I mean, other than the fact that it’s delicious and super quick cooking, is that it’s also fun to make with young kids. Whenever I get the chance, I’ll get my little sister Asher to come down and help me cook. She’s so much fun to have in the kitchen. For this dish, she loves juicing the lemons, tearing the kale into pieces, and throwing on some fresh dill for color.

See, this is a great family style meal in more ways than one. You can even serve the chicken and orzo up right out of the skillet. No need to dirty up a platter — no one wants to wait anyway!

ONE SKILLET LEMON BUTTER CHICKEN AND ORZO

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound chicken breasts or small thighs
  • kosher salt and pepper
  • 1 Meyer lemon, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 clove garlic, minced or grated
  • 1 cup orzo pasta
  • 1/3 cup white wine
  • 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2 a bunch kale, roughly torn
  • zest + juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper. When the oil is shimmering, add the chicken and sear on both sides until golden, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the skillet.
  1. To the same skillet, add the butter and lemon slices. Sear the lemon until golden on each side, about 1 minute. Remove the lemon from the pan and add to the plate with the chicken.
  1. To the same skillet, add the garlic and orzo. Cook until the garlic is fragrant and the orzo toasted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the wine to the skillet and de-glaze the pan. Add the chicken broth, kale, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over high heat and stir. Slide the chicken, lemon slices, and any juices left on the pan back into the skillet. Transfer to the oven and roast for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
  2. Serve the chicken topped with fresh dill and lemon zest. EAT!