Slow cooker parmesan herb chicken & orzo is an easy, no-fuss crockpot meal with hearty flavors that will please the whole family.
The slow cooker is constant around our house! If you’re loving yours too, try Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff Soup, Best Easy Slow Cooker Ribs, and Slow Cooker Mediterranean Chicken.
It’s feeling very Fall-ish around here. The air has definitely cooled off, the leaves are every shade of red and orange you can possibly imagine, and a huge rain storm just rolled through over the past couple of days giving me the perfect excuse to pull out my favorite grey wanna-be-Hunter rain boots. (Scored those babies for a steal of a deal from Nordstrom Rack last Spring, pretty much lived in them until Summertime came and in typical Utah desert fashion, a lack of rain storms.) It’s feeling like Fall inside my house though too, or rather smelling like Fall. Between the pumpkin harvest candle burning non-stop (thank you Target) and something yummy in the slow cooker all day long, it’s a little slice of heaven up in here.
I’m a little bit obsessed with this simple crockpot meal. Chicken and buttery orzo made all together in your slow cooker with herbs and garlic and melty parmesan cheese?? It just doesn’t get better than this. All you have to do is brown your chicken on the stove for a couple of minutes, then throw it int he slow cooker with your orzo, liquids, mushrooms, and seasonings, and let it cook for a few hours.
A few minutes before you’re ready to eat, just stir the orzo and sprinkle parmesan cheese all over the top. Cover it for about 5 more minutes so it gets all melty and ooey gooey delicious and then serve it up! Put it on your menu for this week, you will be so glad you did.
What people are saying about this Slow Cooker Parmesan Herb Chicken & Orzo
“We had this tonight for dinner. My picky eater hubby LOVED IT!! His exact words were “It’s pretty good. You have to keep this one. Its really good. I really like it. ” The only thing I didn’t do was add mushrooms because I don’t like them. He said next time I make this to add the mushrooms. So thank you for this recipe we thoroughly enjoyed it. 
” – Milihn
“My boyfriend has never been one to try new recipes or even let me cook. Sunday I made this dish and it was a huge hit and success. So much of a success that my boyfriend asked me to make it again so it is currently cooking. This is an amazing dish!” – Carol
“I just have to say this recipe is a WIN! My fiancé is incredibly picky. Literally he eats all of my cooking but never comments, and this one did the trick! I’m surprised by all the reviews saying the orzo was soggy, mine was perfect. Wish I could try it with mushrooms, I’ll have to plan a girls night soon so I can. This is probably THE best crock pot recipe I’ve ever used. Thank you for sharing, this will be a regular in my home!” – Katie
“Made this last night – it was perfect. SO good. I fried the mushrooms in butter and added them at the end for a super great extra taste. Thanks for the great recipe! (The orzo was perfect, adding it about 45 minutes before we ate!” – Kayleigh
Slow Cooker Parmesan Herb Chicken & Orzo
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts - OR 4-6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 3 teaspoon Italian seasoning - divided
- 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups orzo pasta - (see note)
- 4 tablespoons butter - melted
- 1 cup sliced - mushrooms
- 1 medium white or yellow onion - finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt - (or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper - (or to taste)
- ½ cup shaved or finely shredded parmesan cheese
- freshly cracked black pepper and herbs (such as thyme or parsley) for garnish
Instructions
- Season chicken with a bit of the Italian seasonings and salt and pepper on both sides. Cook in a large nonstick skillet on the stove over medium-high heat 1-2 minutes on each side until browned on the outsides.
- Transfer chicken to a greased slow cooker. Add chicken broth, butter, mushrooms, onions, garlic, remaining Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours or on low for 3-4 hours. Stir in orzo, cover and cook for another 30-45 minutes on high.
- Uncover and use a fork to pull chicken out of the slow cooker. Stir contents of slow cooker, then return chicken to slow cooker, on top of the orzo mixture.
- Sprinkle parmesan cheese over chicken. Cover and cook until cheese is melted, about 5-10 minutes. Serve with fresh herbs and cracked black pepper if desired.
NORMALLY im told to cook chicken for 8 hours on low in a slow cooker – will 3-4 HOURS be enough to cook the CHICKEN?
Pinterest Fail. It didnt look anything like the photo in the recipe. Flavor was just blah.
Maybe I did SOmething wrong but my orzo even When mixed Wasnt THe Same colour And I Feel like it SHould CAll for mozzarella cheese Instead Of parmesan based on the photo.
Not sure about the color! This recipe is meant to have parmesan cheese. Maybe try mozzarella instead if you feel that you’d enjoy it better!!
Hey! Love this recipe, but we don’t have orzo in my country. Is there anything i can replace it with? Maybe rice or something?
Thanks!
Hi Ella- You can substitute for rice!
The instructions I see say one and a half cups of orzo and that was more than enough. However I was not very impressed with this meal it just didn’t seem to have a lot of flavor although my wife enjoyed it. For some reason it won’t let me give it less than two stars.
Hi Tiffany, I was looking through orzo recipes and found yours – I really like how it looks! Thank you very much for sharing your secrets lol
Okay – I made this tonight for the first time and oh my goodness!! It was SO GOOD! If you actually follow the directions (which are really quite simple) it is such a comforting and yummy and easy meal! Perfect for my boyfriend and I as I do most of the cooking but am currently taking evening classes. This is definitely going into the rotation.
Made this recipe – doesnt look like the picture, but tasted ok. What are the lIttle red dots in the orzo?? Did i miss a step??
I followed the recipe exactly and added the orzo only for the last 30 minutes. There was SO much liquid!
This was PHENOMENAL! 🙂 i used probably only just over a cup of chicken broth in the crockpot with the 3 chicken breasts, and added carrots, since i did not have mushrooms. After it was done, i added some cornstarch to the remaining liquid (transferred to a sauté pan) and made a ‘gravy’ to go over the chicken and orzo. (which i cooked separately)
THANK YOU FOR THIS RECIPE!!!!
I cooked this for my family and we all loved it not a bit left over it has now become our goto meal for busy dance nights. Great recipe worked perfect first time every time
I modified this dish by cooking it in the oven. I used boneless/skinless chicken breast and seared ( with olive oil) it in a frying pan as suggested in the recipe. I transferred it to a greased 9×13 baking dish, added all of the other ingredients including 1 1/2 cups of orzo and 3 cups of chicken broth. I baked at 350 for 20 minutes and then bumped it up to 375 for another 25 min. The dish came out super flavorful and savory. Chicken was moist and tender! Orzo was cooked perfectly (to our liking) definitely not mushy at all!
Modification for the win as I was craving this dish and wasnt able to crock pot it!
We enjoyed this recipe but I was taken aback by the amount of liquid in the crockpot. My fiance made it and he didn’t add the mushrooms. He only put 2 cups broth because he wanted to cook the pasta separately. I’m not sure why so wet.
The chicken had great flavor and was very tender. The recipe was easy enough for him which is nice because he’s not a “cook”. Will probably do again, reducing liquid, and maybe adding tomatos/sun-dried tomatos.
Hello is it possible to substitute the onions for onion powder we dont like the actual onion but like the taste it leaves. Also what kind of herbs are you talking about?
Since the orzo can get mushy, wondering if anyone’s tried this recipe with risotto? I’m considering it.
Have you tried the risotto? I thought the same! Or even just rice 🙂
Made this tonight exactly how the recipe says and it was EXCELLENT! My husband even said it was the best dinner I had made in awhile 🙂 thank you for such a yummy recipe!!