There is no stirring required for this deliciously creamy and cheesy one-pot chicken orzo recipe! Parsley and spinach bring color, while lemon adds brightness.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (8 ounce) package uncooked penne pasta
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ pound portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
- ½ cup margarine
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- ¼ cup soy sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the mushrooms, cook 1 minute, and set aside. Melt margarine in the saucepan. Mix in flour, garlic, and basil. Gradually mix in milk until thickened. Stir in 1 cup cheese until melted. Remove saucepan from heat, and mix in cooked pasta, mushrooms, spinach, and soy sauce. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, and top with remaining cheese.
- Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly brown.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 380 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 32 g |
| Cholesterol | 23 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 811 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We love, love, love this! I do add an onion, double the garlic, add sundried tomatoes, add Parmesian and because we specifically use skim milk, I use a little less. Maybe that is the difference in having a liquidy consistency for some? I also use fresh spinach. Anyhow, it is amazing! The changes I made were based on other’s reviews and what I thought we would enjoy. Oh, and I also double the mushrooms because we looooove mushrooms. Anyway, I have made it twice in 2 weeks and it is now one of our all-time faves!
Agreed with lots of others, despite lots of cheese and Portobello mushrooms it’s very bland
This was pretty tasty. It took me a lot longer than stated to prepare this first time, and I had a kitchen of dishes to wash from preparing it. I cut the butter in half and threw in some more mushrooms with another small clove of garlic.
This is delicious! Made it as written .. I squeezed all of the liquid out of the frozen spinach before adding and the consistency was perfect!
Delicious. I make casseroles or soup for work because they are easy to pack and reheat. I followed the recipe, but added more garlic because I can never have too much! 2 c of milk was perfect! Perhaps some were not cooking it long enough, I’m not sure. For as rich as the flavor is, it is pretty light! This will be a go to for sure! Thanks for the recipe!
I have made this twice using the original recipe.(using fresh spinach) The second time, last night, I added chicken. I cook the fresh spinach with the mushrooms. We love it!
i can never make enough of it my kids suck it up wanting more
I love this casserole. So creamy and the flavors are divine. I just substitute frozen spinach for fresh.
Couldn’t get the kids to eat it because of a ridiculous “gross” factor applied to mushrooms for some reason… But… know they would have liked it. We loved it. Wife and I ended up fighting over the leftovers.
I definitely would recommend following the reviews on this recipe that say to cut how much milk you use. I used about 1 3/4 cup and it turned out great. Otherwise it would be way to runny. I cooked some chicken on the side and that was a great addition to the dinner. Would highly recommend this!
We really enjoyed this! I put it together a little differently and added onions, garlic and parsley. I doubled the recipe (except for soy) and used mini penne. It filled the 11×15 (I think that’s the super large size) Pyrex lasagna dish. I sautéed about half a large chopped onion til translucent, added the mushrooms (sliced baby bella) and stirred til they released and cooked off most of their water, then added about 3 TBS minced garlic for a couple of mins. Stirred in the spinach (steam pkg, microwaved and drained), and soy, then spooned all that into a bowl. Made the sauce as directed, adding about a TBS chopped parsley and some black pepper along w/the basil. Once thickened, poured the spinach mixture into the sauce along with about 1/3 of the mozzarella, then added the pasta. Poured into sprayed dish, topped with remainder of cheese. Baked 350 for 20 mins, then turned to broil for a couple mins to brown just a tad. The only critique I can offer is to be sure to salt to taste along the way (the mushrooms, onions, spinach, sauce, pasta). I think it would’ve been kinda bland w/o the salt, onions, garlic and pepper. Otherwise, fantastic! Would be great with maybe a cup or so of a sharper cheese added to the mixture. Loved it!
Never can go wrong with this. Tastes great! Might add Chicken Chunks next time
Whoa, that’s rich! I suggest using at least twice the penne the recipe calls for. Next time I will try using half the amount of margarine and skim milk in the sauce. Sub any kind of Italian cheese you’d like – parm, reggiano, asiago, or a blend.
This has become one of my favorite dishes. I make a double batch and freeze individual portions. I eat low carb and even though this is a bit high in carbs I just plan my day and save the necessary carbs for dinner. The only change I make is to use fresh spinach which I cook with the mushrooms and it comes out perfect! I have to admit I thought the soy sauce seemed like an odd ingredient and I almost left it out. Glad I didn’t because it really adds wonderful flavor. My whole family loved this recipe!
Love this recipe! I added chicken to mine and it was fabulous!! Super easy to make too!
This tastes so so good, but the texture is a little runny when the recipe is made as is. I have plans to make this again and I will be adding more flour and some cheese variations the next time.
Both my husband and I loved this recipe but I did make a few minor changes based on what I had. First, I cut the recipe in half because there are only two of us. I also used cremini mushrooms (basically, baby portobello mushrooms) since I had them. I also used a mixture of cheddar and Montertay Jack cheese as, again, this is what I had. The only change I would make for future meals is to make a bit more sauce. Basically, it was a very tasty dish and I will definitely make again.
This is delicious! I followed some if the other reviewers suggestions and used less milk, added more garlic, and about 1/4 cup of parm and it came out perfect! I also was unsure of the soy sauce but left in as others suggested, I normally don’t use soy sauce but bought low sodium as I didn’t want it to be salty. That worked great, so if you’re sensitive to saltiness, this was a good option. I didn’t have penne, only had rigatoni, delicious! Super easy to prep and make too!
This was supper good. The family really enjoyed it. I did add some chopped fire roasted tomatoes. I will make this again.
So this is interesting. The recipe in the Plant-Based Recipes magazine that I bought did not have soy sauce as an ingredient, so I didn’t add it. I did add much more salt – 2 tsp, vs. 1/2 tsp as written. I also sautéed the mushrooms in the butter with the garlic and the basil. I removed the mushrooms, leaving the butter, to finish my white sauce.
I have made this recipe many times for my family, and they love it!! Takes some concentration, but pretty simple tasks, and tastes so yummy! I love adding more mushrooms, but that’s just me 🙂 Definently recommend!