Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup {Crock Pot}

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is a delicious chicken soup with pasta that is cooked right in your slow cooker. This easy crock pot soup is pure comfort food to warm you from the inside out on a chilly day. One of the best crock pot recipes to cure what ails you. Flu buster lemon orzo soup to the rescue!

When trying to decide what to name this tasty soup recipe, I thought about the following options:

• Feel-Good Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
• Goddess Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
• What I Eat When My Husband Is Out of Town and I Get to Pick the Menu Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
• Take THAT You Nasty Cold Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
• Best Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup EVERRRRRRR

This is an entire slow cooker of good, clean, healthy, happy food we have right here.

Every bite of this soup made me feel alive and nourished. It’s light, bright, and packed with veggies, lean protein, and whole grains. It will fill and warm you to your core, without weighing you down, and the leftovers are just as tasty as the bowl you eat the day you make it.

It’s the sort of midday pick-me-up I long for in the middle of a weekday, but it is hearty enough to satisfy me on a chilly evening. I used to think Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup was my favorite (or maybe one of these other crockpot soups), but not anymore.

Per usual, I shopped for my lemon chicken orzo soup ingredients at Pick ‘n Save, my local Wisconsin grocery store for which I’m in my third year of creating and sharing recipes highlighting some of my favorite Pick ‘n Save products. I especially love the Simple Truth line, which is an array of products you’ll find throughout the store that are either organic or natural, free from 101 artificial ingredients and preservatives. For today’s soup, I’m using the Simple Truth Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth. It’s rich, savory, and one of the most important flavor foundations in broth-based soups like this one.

While this soup bears some resemblance to a classic chicken and noodle—lots of warm broth and chunks of juicy chicken—a few important additions make it taste extra special and unique.

Notable Characteristics of Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

A handful of fresh dill makes the soup herbaceous and lively, and a generous squeeze of lemon juice wakes up the flavors and makes the soup incredibly refreshing and almost cleansing.

In case the vibrant flavors, feel-good ingredients, and homey comfort of this soup are not reason enough to make it, I am going to give you one more: SLOW COOKER. This is one of those magical crock pot recipes that require no pre-cooking of any sort. Simply dump the ingredients into your slow cooker, turn it on, then go about your business. In a few hours, you’ll have a hearty meal ready to serve. (For more classic flavors, I’ve got you covered with Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup!)

More Easy Slow Cooker Soup Recipes

• Crockpot Lentil Soup
• Crockpot Vegetable Beef Soup
• Crockpot Beef Stew
• Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup
• And all these other Crockpot Soups!

Recommended Tools to Make This Soup

• Slow cooker
• Non-slip cutting board

Print Review

4.69 from 16 votes

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup {Crock Pot}

A bright and delicious Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup, made easy in the crock pot! Filled with fresh, healthy ingredients and absolutely delicious.   UPDATE 3/10: Because the orzo was turning out mushy for some, the recipe was revised to add it in the last 30 minutes before the soup is finished cooking. Please also note that regular (white) orzo can cook more quickly than whole wheat orzo (how the recipe was tested), so if you decide to use white orzo instead, you may want to wait longer to add it or check it a bit early.

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 4 hrs 35 mins

Total Time: 4 hrs 50 mins

Servings: 6 servings (12–14 cups total)

Ingredients

  

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• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts - trimmed of excess fat
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 medium carrots - peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 3 medium stalks celery - diced (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion - finely diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 7  cups Simple Truth Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1 cup whole wheat orzo*
• 3 cups roughly chopped spinach - loosely packed (about 3 ounces)
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice - about 1 large lemon
• 2 tablespoons  chopped fresh dill

Instructions

 

• Lightly coat a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the bottom, then season with salt and pepper. Add the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and basil. Pour the chicken broth over the top.
• Cover and cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes on high or 4 to 6 hours on low. Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred or chop, then return to the slow cooker along with the orzo. Turn the heat to high and let cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Add the spinach, lemon juice, and dill. If you desire a thinner soup, add a bit of water or additional chicken broth. Cover and continue cooking on high for 5 additional minutes, just until the spinach wilts. Taste and add additional salt and pepper as desired. Enjoy warm.

Notes

• *Please note that regular (white) orzo can cook more quickly than whole wheat orzo (how the recipe was tested), so if you decide to use white orzo instead, you may want to wait longer to add it or check it a bit early.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Serving: 1(of 6), about 2 heaping cups, Calories: 240kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 28g, Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0g, Trans Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 65mg, Sodium: 489mg, Potassium: 0mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 0IU, Vitamin C: 0mg, Calcium: 0mg, Iron: 0mg

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

All text and images ©Erin Clarke / Well Plated

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I am sharing this post in partnership with Pick ‘n Save. As always, all opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands and companies that make it possible for me to continue sharing quality content with you! For more recipe inspiration, you can follow Pick ‘n Save on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter too.