Marry Me Chicken Orzo One Pot

5 from 1 vote

Marry Me Chicken Orzo One Pot is a delicious one pot version of the iconic Mary Me Chicken. This quick and easy one pot version is ready in just 25 minutes and only uses one pan… but it’s just as delicious as the original!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Fusion, Italian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Servings people

Calories 613kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

1 chicken stock cube (I use Kallo Organic)
1 tablespoon tomato puree
650 ml boiling water
600 g chicken breast diced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil (or oil from the sundried tomatoes)
4 cloves garlic grated or crushed
250 g orzo (I use Napolina)
100 g sundried tomatoes in oil drained and sliced (See Note 1)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
100 g baby spinach
100 ml double cream
25 g parmesan grated (plus extra for serving)
1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped (plus extra for garnish)

To serve

A side salad or green vegetable optional

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Crumble the stock cube into a large measuring jug, add the tomato puree, then pour over the boiling water. Stir well, then set aside to use later.
Season the diced chicken breasts with plenty of black pepper and a small amount of salt. (See Note 2.)
Place the oil in a large frying pan, then place the pan over a high heat for 1 minute.
Place the diced chicken in the hot pan and fry on high for 3 minutes, stirring regularly until browned on most sides. Remove to a plate. (See Note 3.)
Turn the heat right down and return the frying pan to the heat. Wait 30 seconds to ensure the pan has cooled down or you will burn the garlic!
Add the garlic to the pan and fry for 30 seconds, taking care not to burn the garlic.
Add the chicken stock / tomato puree mixture, orzo, sundried tomatoes and oregano to the pan and stir to ensure everything is well combined. Turn the heat up to medium and allow the sauce to just start bubbling.
Turn right down and cover with a lid. Cook for 10 minutes.
Return the chicken and juices to the pan, and add the double cream, parmesan and spinach.
Stir to ensure everything is well combined, then continue cooking for 3 minutes, by which time the sauce should be just gently bubbling and chicken should be cooked through.
Stir in the basil and serve. Scatter with more basil for garnish.

Notes

The 100g refers to the drained weight. Typically to get 100g sundried tomatoes you’ll need to buy a jar of sundried tomatoes in oil that weighs about 200g. The brand I use, is Polli.
I recommend you only season very lightly with salt at this point as the stock cube will add a lot of salt to the dish. If you go to heavy with the salt at this point, you’ll end up with a very salty recipe.
The chicken should not be fully cooked through at this point. The chicken will finish cooking at the end when it is added back into the pan. If you follow the instructions above the chicken should be perfectly cooked by the end, but if you are at all concerned, simply fish out the biggest piece and cut it in half. If there is no pink in the biggest piece you can be confident all of the smaller pieces will be fully cooked.
Not suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition