Spinach dip chicken orzo bake aka your new weeknight obsession. This one pan spinach dip chicken orzo bake checks all of the boxes. Oven baked chicken on a bed of creamy spinach dip pasta with a quick squeeze of lemon, it is irresistible. This one will be added to your weeknight dinner rotation in no time.
Comfort Food
This is the definition of comfort food that still feels fancy. A weeknight dinner that tastes like you spend hours, but really it’s just one baking dish, with all of the best ingredients – chicken, cheese, pasta, spinach and garlic.
Spinach Dip Orzo
Orzo is a rice-size pasta. Mixed with cream cheese, mozzarella and spinach, it becomes the most creamiest spinach dip pasta. It’s a dream, better than the classic spinach dip you’re used to.
Spinach Dip Chicken Orzo Bake Ingredients
This one-pan bake is a simple dish that will be in your weeknight dinner rotation in no time. The ingredients are an easy round up.
- Chicken Breasts (or thighs), thin cutlets work the best. I usually have to trim and slice my chicken breasts in half to make them thinner.
- Smashed Garlic Cloves, to smash a garlic clove, press the palm of your hand down on the back of a knife and press down on top of the garlic clove it will break it.
- Shallot, a shallot is in the onion family, it’s mild and sweet.
- Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed.
- Orzo Pasta, little rice-size pasta.
- Cream Cheese
- Chicken Stock
- Dijon Mustard, adds the acidity to the dish to balance out the creaminess.
- Shredded Mozzarella, for this dish, I use the grocery store pre-shredded cheese bag.
- Heavy Cream, it’s the heavy whipping cream carton at the grocery store.
- Fresh Lemon Juice, a quick squeeze before serving brightens up the flavors and ties them all together.
Spinach Dip Chicken Orzo Bake
Ingredients
- 1 TBSP Butter
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts - cut thinly or cutlets
- 4 Garlic Cloves - peeled and smashed
- 1 Shallot - thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 10 oz Frozen Chopped Spinach - thawed
- 1 cup Orzo Pasta - uncooked
- 2 oz Cream Cheese
- 2 TBSP Dijon Mustard
- 2 cup Chicken Stock
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
- 1 cup Shredded Mozzarella
- ½ Lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the over to 425F.
- In an oven safe pan, over medium heat, add the butter and chicken. Add the garlic, shallot and salt. Brown both sides of the chicken, about 3 minutes on each side. If you are using a stainless steal pan, if the chicken sticks to the bottom of the pan, let it brown without trying to lift it up, once the chicken is brown it will easily release from the bottom of the pan.1 TBSP Butter, 1 lb Chicken Breasts - cut thinly, 4 Garlic Cloves - peeled and smashed, 1 Shallot - thinly sliced, ¼ tsp Salt
- Once the chicken is browned, turn down the temperature to low. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. In the pan, add the thawed spinach, orzo, cream cheese, dijon mustard and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Note: the chicken should not be fully cooked, it will go into the oven to be baked through to 165F degrees.10 oz Frozen Chopped Spinach - thawed, 1 cup Orzo Pasta - uncooked, 2 oz Cream Cheese, 2 TBSP Dijon Mustard, 2 cup Chicken Stock
- Add the browned chicken back into the spinach dip orzo mixture. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 425F for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, remove the chicken, fluff the cooked orzo pasta, add in the mozzarella and heavy cream. Add the chicken back in. Cover again with foil and bake at 425F for another 10 minutes until bubbly.½ cup Heavy Cream, 1 cup Shredded Mozzarella
- Remove from the oven, gently squeeze fresh lemon juice and serve.½ Lemon
