Baked Chicken Alfredo Orzo
Baked Chicken Alfredo Orzo is the perfect weeknight meal. It's savory, creamy and full of parmesan flavor. Everything is baked in one pan!
Ingredients
- 1 tspolive oil
- 4chicken breasts, cut in half (or chicken thighs)
- ½ tspsea salt
- ½ tspblack pepper
- 1 tspdried italian seasoning
- 2 tbspbutter
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- ⅓ cuponion, diced
- 1 ⅓ cuporzo, uncooked
- 2 ½ cupchicken broth, low sodium
- 1 cupbroccoli, diced (optional)
- ½ cupcream cheese, cut into pieces
- 1 cupmilk (more as needed )
- ¼ cupparmesan (more for garnish )
- fresh parsley chopped (for garnish)
Directions
- 1
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Season chicken. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron or oven safe skillet on medium-high heat.
- 2
Once hot, sear the seasoned chicken until lightly golden, about 3 minutes per side. Remove chicken from the pan and place on a plate, and lower the heat to medium.
- 3
Add butter to skillet, once hot add in onions, garlic and cook until starting to soften, stir often. As the onions cook, begin to scrap up any browned bits from the chicken off the skillet (this is flavor!)
- 4
Add the orzo to the onions and let it brown for 2 minutes. Add the broth in slowly and stir. Add the cream cheese all around the pan in blobs. Add in the chopped broccoli and bring the liquid to a simmer. Stir in half the parmesan cheese and milk. Return the chicken to the skillet, nestling it around the orzo.
- 5
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the chicken reaches a temperature of 165ºF and the pasta is cooked through* You may need to add 1/3 cup more of milk halfway through the cooking process if the pasta dries it up most of the liquid.
- 6
Let the chicken and orzo cool for a few minutes before serving. The sauce will thicken up during this time period. Garnish with extra parmesan and chopped parsley.