Creamy Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

5 from 2 votes

Creamy Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

This creamy lemon chicken orzo soup recipe is such a bright and comforting meal! It's easy to make, and a touch of lemon juice gives this feel-good soup a special quality.

Prep Time15

Cook Time40

Total Time55

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: creamy chicken orzo soup

Servings:

Author: Natasha Bull

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 sticks celery chopped finely
2 medium carrots peeled & chopped finely
1/2 medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy/whipping cream see note
3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta
2 cups cooked/rotisserie chicken
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or more, to taste
2 cups (packed) fresh baby spinach
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Melt the butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven/soup pot over medium-high heat, then add in the celery, carrots, and onions, and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. They should lightly brown. If they're browning too fast, turn the heat down a bit.
Stir in the garlic, Italian seasoning, and flour, and cook for about a minute.
Slowly pour in the chicken broth and stir until the flour has dissolved.
Add in the cream and orzo. Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, uncovered, stirring often so the orzo doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.
Stir in the chicken, lemon juice, spinach, and parsley, and warm through for a few minutes. Season generously with salt & pepper. If you want the soup to be more lemony, squeeze in some more lemon juice as needed.

Notes

This soup feeds 4-6 depending on how much people eat/what else you serve it with.
I do NOT recommend subbing the cream for something lower fat as the acidity from the lemon juice and high heat the soup is cooked at is likely to curdle it. Whipping cream or heavy cream that's at least 33% fat is recommended for this recipe. You could try subbing coconut milk if needed, but that may impact flavor.
If you're planning on having lots of leftovers or freezing this soup, I suggest cooking the orzo separately and adding it in when reheating individual portions vs. all at once as it does soak up the broth.
This soup is the creamy version of my popular lemon chicken orzo soup.

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