THIS lemon chicken orzo soup recipe is amazing! This soup is cozy, hearty and SO delicious.
Unsalted butter or extra-virgin olive oil, celery, carrots, yellow onion, all-purpose flour, chicken broth, cooked chicken breast or leftover rotisserie chicken, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, cooked orzo pasta, lemon juice, fresh dill, and fresh parsley
Make your chicken broth and chicken (if you are making that homemade!) If not then move onto the next step.
Toss in your celery, carrots and onions. Stir for 5 to 10 minutes to sweat these out, you don't want to bring on color here. Season with kosher salt and black pepper.
Next, on the same heat, add in your all-purpose flour and sauté and sweat out your vegetables for another 10 minutes, and until the flour has dissolved in.
Add in your chicken broth and simmer on medium-heat until the vegetables are soft, about 20 to 30 minutes. Adjust with kosher salt and black pepper.
While the vegetables are cooking, cook your orzo according to the package instruction and shred your chicken. Strain your orzo in a colander and do a light rinse (helps take out starch from the orzo so the soup doesn't get as thick and clumpy!) and set that aside.
Once your vegetables are soft, adjust the heat to medium low, add in your shredded chicken and cooked orzo. Make sure all is warm and combined, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Turn off the heat, add in fresh lemon juice (up to your preference, I’ll add about juice of 1 lemon) and fresh herbs (chopped parsley and dill). Serve immediately.