Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

A big winter storm blowing in up north... So I thought I'd give you guys a new recipe to warm up with! Pretty much this is a chicken noodle soup but with lemon added to the broth. But it is a light meal if you have a bigger lunch and this can be prepared very quickly!

I adapted this recipe from two blogs (Panera's Low Fat Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup and Two Peas and Their Pod) to create the recipe below.

To adjust this to a faster cooking time use precooked chicken (left overs or store bought rotisseree chicken). If you have fresh chicken instead, cook it in the skillet while the onions/carrots/celery are cooking and the broth is starting to come together. This also would have a been a great soup minus the chicken too, just add in some extra veggies and it would be so flavorful!!
 
I didn't have orzo so I broke up some pieces of linguine and used that instead. I had a small bit of broccoli left over so I added that in the pot. Some baby spinach or green beans also could have been a nice addition. I might sub in chickpeas or cannellini beans next time fo the chicken.
 

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Makes 2-3 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick

1 celery stalk, thinly sliced

4 cups of chicken broth
Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/3 cup)

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups orzo pasta

2-3 cups diced chicken

1 tsp dried flat-leaf parsley

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery until tender, about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add the chicken broth, lemon zest, and bay leaf and bring to a boil.

Add the chicken and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Add dried parsley and lemon juice.

Meanwhile, cook pasta separately according to the box directions, and then combine into the soup when serving.

Discard the bay leaf prior to serving. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve!