One of the first things I ever made when I was a teenager was blueberry buckle. For the finest results, make sure to use fresh blueberries when making this dish.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 3 ounces pancetta bacon, diced
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 ½ cups cubed, cooked chicken
- 1 (10 ounce) can artichoke hearts (water-packed), quartered
- 5 ounces baby spinach
- 1 (16 ounce) package orzo pasta
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
- ⅛ cup balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in pancetta, and cook until browned. Remove to paper towels.
- Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil into skillet. Stir in onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent. Increase heat to medium high, pour in white wine; cook about 3 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low, stir in chicken, artichoke hearts, and spinach. Cover, and cook to warm through.
- Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add orzo pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and stir into chicken mixture.
- Stir pine nuts and balsamic vinegar into pasta.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 758 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 97 g |
| Cholesterol | 55 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 679 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Very Tasty, family loved it. Only used 1/2 lb Orzo. Added some Kalamata Olives and 2x the artichoke hearts (everyone here loves them) Will add move chicken next time as well.
Loved this! Used marinated artichoke hearts based on other reviews, toasted the pine nuts for added flavor, cut way back on orzo, doubled the spinach and used an aged balsamic as a drizzle when serving. Thank you for sharing!!!!
The ingredients call for 3 teaspoons oil, directions call for tablespoons. Doesn’t specify when to incorporate pancetta. Kind of bland so I added a touch of salt, black pepper, a little extra crushed red pepper flakes and topped with some crumble feta. Delish
I have to give this recipe 4 stars because although my husband and I thought it lacked something , all 3 of our kids ate it up. Next time, more onions and garlic for sure and I think capers would definitely add something to this. Overall, as written, it was a crowd pleaser.
1.3.20 My husband’s comment was this has too much pasta, and I agree. I followed the recipe and cooked the amount of orzo listed, but didn’t even use all of it. This could just be personal taste, but If I make this again, I’ll probably reduce the orzo by 25%, 16 oz of orzo is a LOT in relation to the other ingredients. This needed both salt and pepper as well as some other seasonings, because it just didn’t have much flavor. I’d also saute some fresh chicken rather than using leftover cooked chicken. Certainly is easy enough to make and with a little tweaking, this could be a 5-star recipe.
Nothing has to be change. Perfect!
Great, easy to make recipe. Like others who commented, I reduced the orzo using 1 cup dry before cooking. I also was without balsamic vinegar, so instead marinated the diced raw chicken in a mixture of the marinated artichoke liquor and a tablespoon of bottled salad dressing (I used Russian dressing), letting it stand for 20 minutes before cooking the chicken and marinade together in a skillet. Simmered the mixture and added to the wine and artichokes, reduced slightly and thickened with a roue for a tasty creamy sauce. I also increased the spicy heat by finely chopping and adding five piri-piri peppers as a substitute to the suggested pepper flakes. The bacon and toasted pine nuts added the accent notes to this tasty dish. My wife loved it…Will do it again.
Very disappointed. After reading several positive reviews, I realized they altered this recipe to probably make it have flavor. If you make it as written, it is VERY bland. The orzo to “sauce” ratio is too high (we cut back by about 1/4 and it was still pasta heavy).
The basic recipe and combination of flavors were very good. However, I did make changes and in doing so, the meal takes a bit longer to prepare. I sautéed 4 bone-in chicken thighs with skin. After browned, I added the onion and garlic, and added sliced fresh mushrooms (about a half cup or so) (seasoned all with salt and pepper, as well as the red pepper flakes). I then added artichoke hearts (using marinated hearts with some of the marinade) and the wine—covered, and braised while preparing orzo, till chicken was tender. I added the spinach at the end with the orzo, and to finish off, added a drizzle of balsamic vinegar over the top. Came out absolutely delicious! My husband and son grated fresh Parmesan on top—I did not. My husband and son loved the dish also.
This was so good I’ve made it for company – twice. Today we had leftovers and it was so hot outside that we ate it as a salad – cold over lettuce with diced fresh tomatoes and shredded cheese. Delicious! Great for my dairy free friend.
My whole family enjoyed this! I would not say that the flavor is robust, but it is in a nice meal. I followed suggestions from other reviewers, such as boiling the orzo (half of a box) in chicken broth (then I added a bit of the starchy broth to the final mixture). I started by cooking the cubed chicken in some olive oil with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and removed that to a plate. In the same pan, I browned honey ham cold cuts (since I didn’t have pancetta or bacon) and then removed that. Finally, in the same pan I heated olive oil and sautéed the onion, garlic and a dash of red pepper (since I have small kids to feed), then the white wine, the liquid from the jar of marinated artichoke hearts and let that simmer. Finally I stirred in the spinach, artichoke hearts, ham and chicken. Once the orzo was ready I combined everything and added some balsamic and toasted pistachios (since I did not have pine nuts). My kids enjoyed it, especially my 6 year old, which made me breathe a sigh of relief!!! I’ll probably make this again if I have orzo on hand.
It’s a good start but needs tweaking. I thought it was pretty bland. Even with 1/2 of the orzo, it was still too much in my opinion. I added black olives and feta cheese with a drizzle of balsamic to finish. I’ll keep this on the back burner for now while I think of ways to improve.
Excellent. I doubled it.
Love, love, love this recipe! It’s become a family favorite. I just use whatever pasta I have on hand (generally rotini or mini shells which grab and hold the juices well), substitute bacon instead of pancetta (I just like bacon better), eliminate pine nuts (family member with tree nut allergy), and add in at least 1 to 2 tablespoon of capers (they bring the flavor to the next level, one time I forgot them and everyone noticed, I was reminded the next 3 times times I made the dish by helpful family members who were concerned of my omitting them again!)
Tasty, great if you have leftover chicken. But still good if you have to cook fresh chicken.
I added garlic salt and pepper and 3 cloves of garlic. Added parmesan at the end. It was good but I’ll add more garlic and maybe not crisp the pancetta next time.
Delicious recipe. I used regular bacon instead of pancetta, I read the previous reviews and cut the orzo in half, it was plenty! Super quick and easy.
Loved this delicious recipe! I sauted seasoned chicken breast in the bacon grease before adding onion garlic and what-not. This is my first time cooking orzo. It was good. I will make this again.
We followed the recipe exactly. While there was nothing at all “bad” about the dish … there was also nothing outstanding about it.
This was a very good, and easy dinner. I didn’t have cooked chicken, so sauteed cubed chicken breast in a little olive oil, then removed the chicken and sauteed garlic, onion, sun-dried tomatoes & sliced mushrooms. I didn’t have pancetta or bacon, so skipped that ingredient altogether and don’t think it hurt the recipe. From that point, I mostly followed the recipe. I added about 1/4 C of the liquid from marinated artichokes and used only 12 oz. orzo. I slightly under-cooked the orzo, so it would absorb liquids in the pan of vegees & chicken. It came out perfectly. I might decrease the orzo to 8 oz next time. I would also like to try adding the dry Italian dressing mix other reviewers commented on. All in all, a great dinner and one we will make again.
Made the changes suggested and it was so good . I will definitely make it again