Chicken Legs and Mushroom Orzo is a fantastic one-pot weeknight meal for the entire family! Perfectly seasoned orzo pasta is mixed with sautéed mushrooms, and topped with juicy baked chicken legs. It's so good!
This recipe is great for feeding a crowd on busy nights - it all comes together in one pan, and is made with cost-efficient ingredients like chicken drumsticks! Similar to my One-Skillet Chicken Thighs and Rice recipe, you can have dinner ready in about 30 minutes.
The Coined Breakdown
- Total Cost per serving: $1.31
- Total Cost (6 servings): $7.83
- Those Other Guys: $16.99 per serving
Ingredients
- Chicken Legs - Chicken legs are an affordable cut of protein. Pair that with the fact that dark meat cooks beautifully, it's a perfect choice for our dish today.
- Orzo Pasta - Orzo is a small, almost rice-shaped pasta that falls in the pastini category. It bakes up pretty quickly, and will soak up all of our delicious umami from the mushrooms and chicken stock.
- Mushrooms - Slice up any type of your favorite mushroom like white, baby Bella, or cremini.
- Chicken Stock - We're cooking (and flavoring) the orzo in chicken broth! I used bone broth for extra protein.
- Heavy Cream - To add a bit of extra creaminess to our pasta, we stir in some heavy cream towards the end of cooking.
Variations and Substitutions
Chicken Thighs and Orzo: You can use bone-in chicken thighs in this recipe! I would add a couple more minutes to the searing time to ensure they cook all the way through.
Mix-Ins: Try using kale instead of spinach. You can also add extra veggies like shredded carrots or sun-dried tomatoes. Yum!
Cajun Chicken Legs and Orzo: Sauté the onions with chopped celery and chopped bell peppers. Then, use Cajun seasoning on your chicken legs for a New-Orleans inspired dish.
How to Make Chicken Legs and Mushroom Orzo in One Pan
Step 1: To begin, preheat your oven to 400℉. Sear the seasoned chicken legs in a pan with a little bit of butter.
They won't fully be cooked yet; but that's okay because we're going to bake them later.
Step 2: Remove the chicken and set aside.
In that same pan, sauté chopped onions and sliced mushrooms in butter until the onions are translucent.
Step 3: Add in some spinach, orzo, and seasonings.
Step 4: Stir well to combine. By now, your oven should be hot and ready to go.
Step 5: Pour in the chicken broth and place the drumsticks on top.
Cover the pan, and bake for 18-20 minutes.
Step 6: Finally, remove the chicken legs once more and stir in some heavy cream, lemon juice, and shredded parmesan.
Place the chicken back on top and serve hot. That's it!
Recipe Pro Tips
- Get the seasoning deep down in there. If you have time, try and marinate the seasoned chicken for at least an hour. If not, cut slits into the chicken legs before rubbing the seasoning in well. This will help distribute the flavor all the way through the chicken.
- Don't cross-contaminate! We place the seared, but not cooked through chicken on a plate or bowl on the side while continuing to cook the dish. Then, we remove the fully-cooked chicken once more to stir in the cream and cheese into the orzo. Don't add the fully-cooked chicken to the same place you put the semi-raw chicken...that will cross-contaminate everything!
Recipe FAQs
To be positive, you can use an instant-read oven thermometer and cook them to an internal temperature of 180°F, or 82°C.
Sure! You can use a 1:2 ratio for rice and broth. So, if you are using 1 cup of rice, add 2 cups of broth to the pan.
Rice will take more minutes than orzo to cook, but don't worry - it's super hard to overcook chicken legs so the extra time won't mess them up.
I'd recommend just leaving them out if you don't like mushrooms! You can use other veggies like shredded carrots or chopped broccoli.
Other Dinner Recipes You'll Love!
If you tried this Chicken Legs and Mushroom Orzo Recipe, or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you! Thanks for visiting!
One Pot Chicken Legs and Mushroom Orzo
Equipment
- Large Skillet with lid
- Chef's Knife
- Tongs
- Wooden Spoon
- Citrus Squeezer
- Microplane
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken legs
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons butter separated
- ½ count sweet onion diced
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 ½ cups orzo pasta
- 1 ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup frozen spinach
- 2 ½ cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½ count lemon juiced
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup fresh parmesan grated
Instructions
- Season your chicken legs with the salt and black pepper, covering them evenly with seasoning.
- Preheat your oven to 400℉.
- Add a large skillet with deep sides to your stovetop and melt 1 tablespoon of butter on medium heat.
- Sear the seasoned chicken legs on both sides, for about 8 minutes. The chicken won't be completely cooked - set them aside for later.
- Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in that same pan.
- Add your chopped onions and sliced mushrooms. Cook until the onions are translucent.
- Pour in the minced garlic, orzo pasta, oregano, ground thyme, and the salt. Stir well.
- Add in the spinach, chicken stock, and Worcestershire sauce. Combine well.
- Once the pan begins to simmer, place your chicken legs on top. Cover the pan, and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pan once more (they will be fully cooked now, so do not add them back to the plate you used for the partially-cooked chicken.)
- Stir in the lemon juice, heavy cream, and grated parmesan into the orzo. Top back with the chicken legs and serve. Enjoy!
Annabel Heigin says
As soon as I saw the weekly email with this photo, I told my husband we have to stop by the grocery for ingredients! This turned out extremely delicious and even my mushroom-hating kid enjoyed it. Maybe it has something to do with how they are cooked? Thank you!
Shani W. says
So glad your family liked it Annabel! As long as the babies get their veggies in, it's a good day!