Slow Cooker Parmesan Herb Chicken & Orzo
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This Slow Cooker Parmesan Herb Chicken and Orzo is creamy, comforting, and incredibly easy to make in the crockpot. It’s an easy, no-fuss crockpot meal with hearty flavors that will please the whole family.
If you love using your crockpot as much as I do, you’ll really enjoy my Slow Cooker Creamy Beef Stroganoff, and saucy Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala. If creamy, cozy dinners is your love language, I’ve got you covered with my one-pot creamy Garlic Chicken and Potatoes, Creamy Tuscan Parmesan Chicken, and Creamy Mushroom Garlic Chicken.
Why This Recipe Works
Great cold-weather recipe — 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…and all I can think about is this slow cooker parmesan herb chicken and orzo. It is the quintessential fall dish — hearty, warm, easy, comforting — all in one.
Simple ingredients — Chicken breasts, some seasoning, chicken broth, orzo, a few mushrooms and onions, that’s basically all you need to create this delicious chicken and orzo dish.
Easy — 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. Plus, this dish is as easy as putting it all in the slow cooker, cooking on low for a few hours, and then shredding the chicken and adding cheese. Talk about no muss, no fuss!
Parmesan — Is there any dish that can’t be made better with the addition of parmesan? I didn’t think so! So nutty and buttery, topping this slow cooker chicken dish with parmesan is the perfect way to round out its delicious flavor.
Ingredients
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts — You can also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs if you like.
- Italian Seasoning — A dash of Italian seasoning is all you need, or you can substitute Herbs de Provence if you like as well (my personal favorite swap for Italian seasoning).
- Low Sodium Chicken Broth — Use low-sodium, then add salt later to taste. Much easier to add salt than remove it.
- Orzo Pasta — I love orzo in this dish but you can also use a larger pasta if you like, see below for note.
- Butter — Melt the butter ahead of time to pour right into the slow cooker.
- Mushrooms — I LOVE mushrooms and think they add so much amazing flavor and texture to this orzo chicken in the slow cooker. But you can eliminate them if you wish.
- White or Yellow Onion — Finely chop an onion to add to the slow cooker.
- Minced Garlic — Mince the garlic by hand or scoop it from a jar — either way, it’d delish!
- Salt & Pepper — Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Shaved or Finely Shredded Parmesan Cheese — Add that delicious parm at the end for a yummy, cheesy topping.
- Freshly Cracked Black Pepper And Herbs — I am a garnish girl. For this slow cooker parmesan herb chicken and orzo dish, I finely chopped thyme and parsley to sprinkle over, along with a few cracks from my pepper mill.
How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken Orzo
This recipe is so easy! All you have to do is:
- Season chicken with a bit of the Italian seasonings and salt and pepper on both sides. Then cook in a large nonstick skillet on the stove over medium-high heat 1-2 minutes on each side until browned on the outsides.
- Next add the chicken to a prepared slow cooker, and add on top of it the chicken broth, butter, mushrooms, onions, garlic, remaining Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for about 1-2 hours or low for 3-4. Stir in the orzo (see note if using something other than orzo) and cover and cook for an additional 30-45 minutes on high.
- Take the lid off and use a fork or tongs to remove the chicken breasts. Give the orzo a good stir, then add the chicken back to the slow cooker, right on top of the orzo.
- Sprinkle the top of the dish with the parmesan and cover one last time for a few more minutes to let it melt and get all gooey and cheesy on top. Serve with fresh herbs and fresh cracked black pepper.
FAQs
You do not have to cook pasta first before you put it in a slow cooker, however you should wait till the rest of the ingredients are nearly done cooking before adding it, otherwise it will get way too mushy.
Another key is to make sure there is enough liquid in the crock for the pasta to cook in. If not, add some water or chicken broth when you add the pasta as well.
Generally speaking, it’s better to cook chicken in a slow cooker at a lower temperature for a longer period of time because low-and-slow cooking results in a more tender and juicy meat.
However, if you add liquid to the slow cooker and cook it on high then it will still be pretty tender and tasty as the liquid helps keep the chicken from drying out as it cooks.
Expert Tips for Perfect Crockpot Chicken Orzo
- If you’re worried about “mushy” orzo from adding it to the slow cooker, you can cook the orzo separately and simply stir it in at the end of your cooking time, when you add the chicken back in. If you are cooking the orzo separately, you should only add 2 cups of chicken broth in the crockpot with the chicken and throw out any remaining broth at the end.
- Pro tip: Cooking the orzo in chicken broth gives it much more flavor than cooking it in water.
- This slow cooker parmesan herb chicken and orzo dish will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
More Orzo Recipes to Try
- Orzo is such a versatile kitchen staple! I love this variation for One Pot Greek Chicken and Orzo, it somehow feels bright and comforting at the same time.
- This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup is the perfect light and fresh soup for Spring and Summertime.
- Creamy Parmesan Spinach Orzo is one of my favorite side dishes – ever! It goes great with any cozy chicken dish to make a delicious, complete meal.
When you make this recipe, snap a photo and tag me on social – I love connecting with you and seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
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 or tongs 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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!!
The 3 cups broth with 1 cup orzo can’t be right. I knew something was up and read through these comments for help. I ended up putting the WHOLE box (16 oz) of orzo in and it worked perfectly. 😀
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!)
I made this for dinner tonight, only I did it right on the stove because i waited to long for it to cook in the crock pot. Browned the chicken breast then sautéed the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Added the chicken broth and orzo to the pan and added the chicken breast back in. Simmered until everything was done. for the orzo i used 2c chicken broth to 1c orzo. It was good.
i added a regular bag of frozen broccoli and it came out great! i think the broccoli helps to soak up the extra water so you may want to add around 1/2 cup extra broth as i had to add a little more towards the end
Any suggestions on how it would be best to cook this on the stove or oven? Times and temp?