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South Korea Part Two: Going for Gold.
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When you need something bright, cozy, and low-effort, this one-skillet chicken and orzo hits the spot. Think crispy seared chicken, caramelized lemon, and garlicky, butter-kissed orzo that soaks up all the flavor.
It’s weeknight-easy, pantry-friendly, and pretty enough to bring right to the table. Grab a lemon (Meyer if you’ve got it), a handful of greens, and let the oven finish the work.
You guys, I am not going to lie, at this point I really don’t even know what day it is. This entire time I’ve been in South Korea, I think I have asked what day it is and what the time is over and over again. South Korea is one day and sixteen hours ahead of MST, so the jet leg struggle was, and is, real. Because of work, I needed to be going back and forth between US time and Korean time and for me, it just got way too confusing.
By the time you all read this I should hopefully be home, as I am heading out in a couple of hours with a few family members along with me. I am currently writing this post while sitting in a hotel room in Seoul, trying to catch up on work…and scrolling through all the AMAZING comments, social media tags, and press from the last three days. It’s truly amazing. Thanks for the support you all are showing my brother. He’s living up this gold medal win (well sort of, the jet lag on this quick trip cannot be fun) and traveling around with my brother Malachi, doing a quick US press tour. However, they’ll both be back on a plane to South Korea in a couple of days, as Red needs to start practice for Men’s Snowboard Big Air.
Crazy, crazy ride those two are on…
I mean, did you catch Red on Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night? Here’s the link if you’d like to watch.
And that’s your quick Red and Kai update for the day. Let’s talk food, because you know, that is what I do best.
While the food here in South Korea has been awesome…there’s been a lot of Korean Beef, ramen, and we had some amazing dumplings yesterday in Seoul…I must say, I’m looking forward to heading home and cooking up some of my favorite comfort meals, like this easy one skillet chicken dinner.
I made this before we left for Korea and it was the perfect easy, healthy, cozy dinner to eat the day before a long flight. Plus, it’s full of carbs, lemon, and veggies, so very much my kind of food.
The chicken is pan seared along with some fresh lemon slices and a little butter. The chicken becomes crispy, and the lemon slices caramelize, making them sweet enough to eat. I am aware that eating the whole lemon, peel and all, is still a little odd to many of you, but try it out this way. I promise, it’s so good.
The chicken and lemon alone could be an awesome recipe, classic and delicious, but me being me, I needed to add a little more to the recipe, so in came the orzo.
I mean, obviously, you have to have the carbs, you just do.
You could certainly use quinoa or another grain, but if I were you, I’d go with the orzo. It’s just fitting with this recipe and so delicious in the lemon butter sauce.
This recipe is not only delicious, it’s also super easy…one skillet, under an hour, and uses mostly pantry staple ingredients.
Cool. Cool.
It’s a crowd pleaser, and actually comes out of the oven looking relatively pretty. I threw on some fresh dill for color and served the chicken and orzo up right out of the skillet. Perfect for easy weeknight dinners or even entertaining.
Also, I get a lot of questions about what my favorite cast iron skillet is…I always, always use Staub. The ten and twelve inch are my favorites, I used the twelve inch for this recipe.
If I wasn’t getting home so late tonight, I’d for sure be making this for dinner. Instead, this will definitely be on my table as Friday night’s meal.
Can’t wait to start getting caught up on everything at home. Sorry for being MIA with comments this past week, I will be catching up soon. Thanks for all the messages!
Watch the How To Video Here:
One Skillet Lemon Butter Chicken and Orzo
Servings: 6 servings
Calories Per Serving: 337 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound chicken breasts or small thighs
- kosher salt and pepper
- 1 Meyer or regular 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
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.2. 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 3-5 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the skillet. 3. 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. 4. To the same skillet, add the garlic and orzo. Cook until the garlic is fragrant and the orzo toasted, about 2-3 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, uncovered for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.4. Serve the chicken topped with fresh dill and lemon zest. EAT!
Chicken dinner for the win…or the GOLD?! I dunno, but clearly I am still way too excited that my brother is an Olympic Gold Medalist. No big deal or anything…
This post was originally published on February 15, 2018
Question! Do you cook the orzo ahead of time before going into the skillet?
Hi Michael,
You do not cook the orzo ahead of time, it will cook in the skillet. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
This looked amazing. I let my teenage daughter choose what we would cook tonight. We followed the recipe to a tee with the finest ingredients and we’re extremely disappointed in how bitter, almost unpalatable this meal was…large waste of money. I don’t understand how it could turn out so bitter. Maybe too much lemon? One whole lemon sliced for the recipe and then the juice of another whole lemon was maybe too much. It wasn’t that it was overly lemony it was just lemon and bitter. These were fresh organic lemons so maybe you guys should recheck the recipe or if you have any hints on what would cause such bitterness I would love to know. Thank you.
Hey Cali, I am sorry you found this to be bitter. It sounds like you might just want to use less lemon next time and instead use the lemon more to your personal taste. Start with only 1 lemon and then add more if you wish for a more lemony flavor. I think that should really help! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Just found this recipe now, looks great and will try it tomorrow!! But just curious as to the brand of orzo you use, it’s shape is much different than the ones i have used and seen. Thank you!! Can’t wait to try it! Hope you and yours are staying healthy!
Hi Michelle,
I usually get my orzo from Whole Foods or Kroger. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I typically avoid simple, one pan meals because I’m a complicated person, but this is definitely a keeper! I pretty much doubled the recipe and followed along to a T and my family scarfed it down. Thank you for such an easy recipe. It’s what I need right now!
I am so glad this one turned out so well for you Micall! Thank you for trying it! xTieghan
This was ridiculously bitter. We did not even use all of the lemon juice recommenced and still came out ridiculously bitter.
Hi! I am sorry to hear that! Please let me know if there is anything I can help with! xTieghan
Looks amazing! Just want to clarify..one cup of orzo or one pound?
Hi Kelly,
It is 1 cup of orzo. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I substituted rice because I didn’t have orzo on hand. Delicious! Will definitely make again!
Thank you so much Abbie! I am so glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
Wow! What a spectacular recipe! So easy and so comforting! I’ve made it my goal during this period of self isolation to try 3 new recipes a week, providing I can get the ingredients. I’ve had this recipe saved for quite a while but it will now be included in our regular rotation! Those caramelized lemons? Yum. Even my 12 year old loved them and thought the lemons were the best part! The only completely embarrassing thing is that we basically had no leftovers (a wee bit of orzo) and there is only 3 of us. Meanwhile the recipe says it makes 6 servings. Clearly it was that good!! Thank you for creating this easy, quick and delicious recipe!
Hi Caroline! I am so glad this turned out so well for you! Thank you so much for trying it! I hope you have an amazing week! xTieghan
Made this last night – it was so good! It was so easy, quick, and affordable to put together. It came out looking and tasting like a special dinner. I followed the instructions exactly but added artichokes. Thanks for this recipe!
Thank you Anna! I am so glad you enjoyed this! xTieghan
I used regular lemons and cut up the chicken and it was pucker your lips sour. I also didn’t add the kale because no one but me will eat it, so possibly from the lack of that, I ended up having to thicken the sauce with cornstarch, which turned out fine. I really like the idea of it, but I think I’m going to have to do some tweaks, either making sure I have a Meyer lemon, or just omitting the slices and using zest instead. I ended up adding 1 tablespoon of honey to it in order to save the dish and that appears to have worked and now it tastes much better. The idea is great, but I think making sure to mention using Meyer lemons exclusively or telling people to use zest instead of slices if they use regular lemons would be a good idea. I’m wondering if the reason no one else appears to have mentioned the sourness is because they were only using Meyer lemons?
Hi Necia! I am sorry this did not turn out as hoped! Please let me know if there are any questions I could answer to help you out for next time! xTieghan
Found this recipe while digging back into your instagram (sorry for the stalking). Realized I had all the ingredients and decided to whip it up!! I never leave comments on recipes because its often not what i had hoped it to turn out. But let me tell you what… this was one of the best dishes i have ever cooked or eaten!! Thank you so much for developing it, my tastebuds thank you. From the caramelized lemon slices to the al dente orzo bites that got a little crispy on the edge of the cast iron… this was to DIE FOR. My new go-to-need-to-impress-someone meal. I threw in some broccoli, added 1/2 a sweet onion, and doubled the garlic and still… BOOM tons of flavor. Love love loved it. Next time im curious to throw in some parm and maybe sub the orzo with farro or quinoa?
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful treat with the world!
YES! I am so glad this one turned out so well for you Amy! Thank you so much for trying this ( and stalking my instagram I guess haha)! I hope you continue to love recipes of mine! xTieghan
What can I use instead of the half bunch of kale?
Hey Andria! I would recommend chopped broccoli florets or fresh spinach. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Someone mentioned substituting quinoa for the orzo, but I’m not a huge fan of quinoa and am pretty gluten sensitive. Do you think a gluten-free lentil or chickpea penne would work with this? I know those are quite a bit bigger; or maybe brown rice would be good? Thanks for any suggestion!
Hey Laurie!1 I would recommend first using a gluten free orzo. DeLallo foods has a great one. If that does not work, then yes I would recommend your go-to GF pasta. I think any of those should work well. Brown rice however will take much, much longer to cook, so I would stick with the pasta. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
made this with grape tomatoes and without kale, it was delicious. i put the garlic in with the lemon slices accidentally, which was fine but the garlic turned green! weird! i like the simplicity and comforting flavors of this dish.
Thank you so much Emily! I am so glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
Hi, I was a little confused because you ingredients only call for lemon zest and juice, but then you mention lemon slices in the directions, but never the zest. It also sounds like you’re switching back and forth between and skillet and a pan? Recipe says to add the chicken to a plate, but then the final direction is to slide the chicken from the PAN to the skillet. Please clarify when you can on the lemon and plate/pan!
Hi Carey, you need 1 Meyer lemon, sliced. Additionally you need the juice of 1 lemon. It’s listed out within the recipe. see below.
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. 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 3-5 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
3. To the same skillet, add the butter and Meyer 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.
4. To the same skillet, add the garlic and orzo. Cook until the garlic is fragrant and the orzo toasted, about 2-3 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, uncovered for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Serve the chicken topped with fresh dill and lemon zest. EAT!