Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup - Or in my case Pastina

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I am a true lover of lemon chicken orzo soup and was seriously sad when they took it off the menu at Panera Bread, so naturally I turned to making it myself, and honestly it's really easy to make.

The recipe is pretty much just cook the pasta, add the chicken, and the make it creamy with eggs and lemon juice. This time though I decided to switch it up by adding onion, garlic, and thyme. I also used pastina pasta instead of orzo because I didn't have any.

For reference: orzo is a small rice shaped pasta and pastina is the teeny tiny little star shaped pasta.

So here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1 medium sized onion, diced

- 3 garlic cloves, chopped

- 8 cups chicken stock

- 3/4 cup orzo - I used about 1 cup pastina and occasionally used 1 cup orzo as well, I like a lot of pasta

- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into small cubes - you can also use around 1/2 lb of pre-cooked chicken

- 3 eggs

- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, around 2 lemons

- 1 tablespoon lemon zest

- salt and pepper to taste

- 1 tablespoon dried thyme, optional

- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, optional

Instructions:

1. Place olive oil and butter in a pot over medium high heat

2. Add onion and garlic to the pot and cook until onions are translucent

3. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil

4. Once boiling, reduce heat and add orzo and cook to package directions

5. Around 5 minutes before pasta is cooked, add chicken pieces

6. In a small bowl beat eggs while slowly adding in the lemon juice then zest

7. Add a ladle of the hot broth to the egg, lemon juice mixture while mixing to temper the eggs

8. While mixing soup in pot, slowly pour in egg mixture and mix until combined

9. The soup should thicken up a little bit; add salt, pepper, and thyme if desired

10. Ladle into bowl and garnish with parsley - Enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

- Ellie Elise

#soup #lemonchickenorzo