Chicken and Orzo Soup
This chicken and orzo soup is a hearty and flavorful soup that doesn't take hours in the slow cooker. This is a perfect dish for leftover grilled chicken. We grilled our chicken the day before using our Greek Seasoning, but you could also use a prepared rotisserie chicken from the market, just discard the skin and shred the meat before adding to the soup.
Orzo is a small grain pasta and actually resembles little grains of rice. The world orzo actually means barley in Italian, but it is not made from barley at all. It is made from semolina which is a course ground flour made from durum wheat. The advantage to having orzo in this soup is that it actually cooks in half the time of rice, again reducing the amount of cooking time for this soup. If you cannot find orzo at your local supermarket, if can also be found under the name Rosamarina.
Kale is one of the fastest trending 'superfoods' out there. A nutritional powerhouse, low in calories and high in fiber, iron and many vitamins and antioxidants. Kale is heart healthy and figure friendly and has a texture that holds up well in broth based dishes.
- 2 Tbls olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" thick slices
- 2 celery ribs, cut into 1/2" thick slices
- 2 teaspoons Dried Thyme
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 3 cups no fat, low sodium chicken stock
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 Lb kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
- 8 ounces dried orzo
- 1 LB boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Place a soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat and add the olive oil.
- Add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Cook about 6 minutes until vegetables start to soften.
- Add Dried Thyme and the Bay Leaf, stir to combine.
- Pour in the chicken stock and water, bring the liquid to a boil.
- Add orzo and simmer 5-8 minutes until pasta is tender.
- Add kale and continue to cook an additional 2 minutes until kale starts to wilt.
- Add chicken, stir to combine and continue cooking another few minutes until everything is heated through.
- Serve hot.
