Rotisserie Chicken Skillet – Dinner is served in about 30 minutes with this easy and flavorful recipe!
When people learn that my husband Jack and I are food bloggers, it usually sparks a very interesting conversation. We’ve found that most people are very passionate about eating great food – but so many people we’ve spoken to often don’t have a whole lot of time to spend in the kitchen cooking dinner these days.
So what’s a hungry family to do? How about this Rotisserie Chicken Skillet! This recipe is perfect for when your family is hungry for a delicious dinner but time is very tight.
How do you make this Rotisserie Chicken Skillet?
As a time-saving shortcut, we started this delicious skillet dinner with a store-bought rotisserie chicken. (And you know…although Jack and I do cook mostly from scratch ourselves, we’re not at all against taking a short cut here and there.)
We both think rotisserie chickens have great flavor – and they are so convenient to pick up at the supermarket – so feel free to use them anytime a recipe calls for cooked chicken. (Or, if you’ve cooked some chicken at home, feel free to use those leftovers instead.)
This is a simple one-skillet meal! Lightly toasted orzo is cooked in chicken stock and seasonings. Then cooked carrots and onions, and frozen peas are added to the orzo along with some cream, the shredded rotisserie chicken and Parmesan cheese! Toss together – and dinner is ready in less than twenty minutes!
And if you have any leftovers – here’s another time saver for you! Pack the leftovers up in single-serving sized containers – and lunch the next day is already packed! Enjoy!
Interested in more chicken recipes?
Click here for our 100+ Best Chicken Recipes.
You may also like these other Easy Dinner Recipes:
- Quick Skillet Chicken with Grapes
- Instant Pot Country Chicken
- Perfect Poached Chicken
- Air Fryer Mac & Cheese
- Easy Glazed SalmonPrint
Rotisserie Chicken Skillet
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings
- Category: entree
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 whole rotisserie chicken, or 3 ½ cups cooked chicken meat
- ½ cup orzo pasta
- 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
- 2 cups carrots cut on the bias
- 1 cup onion cut into thick strips
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Pick the meat from the cooked chicken and roughly cut up and set aside.
- In a large dry skillet pan over medium high cook orzo until lightly browned; about 3 minutes stirring frequently.
- Remove browned orzo to a bowl and add oil to hot pan.
- Add carrots and onion and sauté for 4 minutes.
- Add orzo back in along with stock, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cover and reduce heat to a medium simmer and simmer to cook the orzo, about 8-10 minutes.
- Uncover and add parsley, peas, and cream along with cooked chicken.
- Increase heat and cook just to bring the dish to temperature and incorporate the ingredients.
- Serve with grated Parmesan sprinkled over the top.
Keywords: Rotisserie Chicken Skillet
Great recipe, how about some nutrition information.
Hi Ursula – You can see it at the bottom of the recipe card.
This sounds so easy & delicious!!!
Definitely on my “ to make” list.
Hope you enjoy the recipe Debbie!
Excellent evening dinner meal using left over rotisserie chicken. The heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, & fresh parsley added a gourmet touch!
We also added a dollop of sour cream on top of each serving!
★★★★★
Great idea Pat! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This sounds good. Do you use Italian parsley or curly parsley in this dish? Is curly parsley mainly for decoration??
Hi Vi – We always cook with Italian flat leaf parsley. Curly parsley has a different taste (we think it tastes grassy) so usually use that only for garnish ourselves. Hope that helps!
I was looking up a dish that I could make with the left over rotisserie we had seen this one it looked delicious. Of course I had tried it, it came out very good although I had no heavy cream so I added cream corn which gave it a great flavor. Can’t wait t I make it again the right way.
★★★★★
Great suggestion Carol!
Very yummy! My pan is already nonstick so I decreased the 2 Tbsp oil down to 1 tsp. I sauteed 8 oz sliced white mushrooms for 5 minutes first, then continued the recipe with the carrots and onions. I only had low sodium chicken broth on hand (no chicken stock) so I added 1 tsp sodium-free chicken bullion to the broth. I also used regular cream instead of heavy cream since that’s what I had on hand. This was very flavorful even with my “healthy” substitutions and it made great leftovers the next day. Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
Thank you Brenda!
This is super easy and amazing. My family loved it so I’m now making it for a small group.
★★★★★
Thanks Kim!
I am prepping the ingredients for this recipe and I’d like to know if I should use curly or Italian parsley?
Thanks!
Hi Cate – We recommend flat leaf Italian parsley (but if you only have curly, that’s OK to use instead).
This recipe is a definite keeper! I cut the ingredients in half since I was using a left over chicken, which was enough for my husband and me with enough leftover for one more meal. (Leftovers from the leftovers! LOL!) I also added mushrooms along with the carrots and onions. I’m so glad I found this recipe!
★★★★★
We’re glad you found it too Glenna!
Delicious! The only modifications I made because it’s what I had on hand was 1 cup of canned peas, 3Tbsp dried parsley and instead of heavy cream I used1/2 bar of fat free cream cheese. It was a nice change for us, as I make crustless pot pie often. Loved the flavors and will definitely make again! Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
You’re welcome Linda! I suppose you are right…this is a little like a crustless pot pie with pasta.
Well we loved yet another one of your recipes. This was quick and tasted great. My husband even said does she have a place for comments. I said yes she does, he said well leave one that it’s great! So here it is. He took the rest for his lunch today. Thanks Jack and Martha😊have a great day!
★★★★★
Hi Linda – So glad the recipe was a hit! 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to write to us!
This looks fantastic, your pictures are beautiful! I just came home with a Costco rotisserie chicken, now I know what to do with it. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
★★★★★
Hope you love the recipe Linda!
I didn’t have all the ingredients but I improvised on some things such as dried parsley oppose to fresh parsley..no orzo but I used whole wheat penne pasta..overall it came out awesome and i would do it again but with all the ingredients the recipe called for..thank you very much for sharing..
★★★★★
You’re welcome Sandy – sounds like some great swaps!
This is an excellent quick recipe made all in one pan. You can boil your carcass after dicing up the meat, then use the broth in the recipe. Very tasty dish
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Carol!
I tripled the amount of cream . I also added butter when I sautés the carrots and onions. Add 2 cups of peas and 2 cups of sweet corn.
I also used 1/8 tsp clove. 1 tbl spoon of cummin. Also two cloves of garlic, minced….
★★★
Wow Ralph – Sounds like an entirely different recipe! 🙂
I have tried a lot of recipes on a lot of websites looking for something, anything, that can become a weekly staple. Something that both my wife and I like, is healthy, and isn’t so difficult that I dread making it.
This is finally it. It is so freaking good. Even my 3 year old doesn’t put up a stink eating it. I make it as recommended with no substitutions (though I may reduce pepper since while the wife and I liked it, 3 yr old was chugging milk so probably was a bit peppery for him).
I’ve made it three times. Both times I used a Costco rotisserie chicken that’s already off the bone. The dish is moist. Plenty of flavor. I’ve subbed tagliatelle in once with equally good results because orzo can’t be found at my grocery store right now.
Looking for more recipes like this one. Thanks.
★★★★★
You’re welcome Izzy! So glad the recipe was a hit with the entire family! And yes – feel free to adjust the seasonings to suit your tastes, especially if the rotisserie chicken you use has lots of seasonings.
So delicious! I was looking for a way to spice up a store bought chicken and this was perfect! I added a few handfuls of spinach when i added the peas in and i added chilli peppers for some heat. I also used milk and sour cream instead of heavy cream and it worked great. LOVE!
★★★★★
Thanks Salina!
Hello I was looking for quick me for me and my family and I was wondering if this dish could be substitute with half and half??
Sure Patricia – half and half will work in this recipe
Looks inviting. I’ll try the recipes soon
Hope you love it Donna!
Very disappointing and frustrating that there is no nutritional information included with this recipe. (Or if it’s there I can’t find it.) It looks like it could be delicious but I’m not going to try it without knowing what the calorie count. And I’m not willing to jump through the hoops to figure it out.
Hello D – We are working our way through 1400+ recipes adding nutritional information to our recipes as a courtesy to our readers. We are not nutritionists ourselves and this is a time-consuming, manual process to make sure the information is accurate. (I suspect you understand how time consuming it can be from your comment.) If having the information is super urgent, there are free online nutritional calculators you can use in the meantime.
This is absolutely delicious and so easy!
Thanks Janice!
As a busy working mom, I can’t tell you how much I love this recipe! I get a rotisserie chicken from Costco at least once a week, and we use whatever is leftover to make this dish the next night. Just wanted to add in a quick tip for those who are dairy free – coconut milk (the kind in the can) works beautifully in this recipe. Thanks for sharing, Martha!
★★★★★
Great idea Claire! Thank YOU for sharing with us! (So glad the recipe is a hit!)
This is very colorful and presents well but that doesn’t make up for the bland taste of this recipe. Even adding additional garlic didn’t help. When I reheat the leftovers, I’m planning on adding a dash or two of soy sauce to see if that will make a difference. Probably won’t make this again.
★
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback Marjorie.
Martha, what a wonderful website. I’m so glad i found it, you have so many recipes that i can’t wait to try. This one pot dinner was delicious. This was the first time i ever cooked or tasted orzo, I’ll be making it again for sure.
★★★★★
Thank you – we’re glad you found us Sue!
Could this be prepped ahead of time and frozen to be cooked later?
Hi Melanie – Yes – it would probably be OK to do so. Sometimes cream separates a bit after it has been frozen and thawed so I’d consider preparing this recipe up to the step where you add the cream, then when you reheat it before serving add the cream at that point instead. Hope that helps!
My son who eats NOTHING loved this. I did add a couple of things, but unlike on other recipe sites, I don’t think that should take away from what is a great recipe. I added fresh mushrooms and cooked them with the carrots and onions, and also added about a teaspoon of all spice towards the end. I also found that, as written, the dish had too much liquid in the pan towards the end, and I reduced it for a longer time. We WILL make this again. It really has something for everyone and, as I said, if my 14 year old loves it, EVERYONE will!
★★★★★
Thank you Karen – I’m so glad you found a recipe that your son enjoyed. (I have a picky eater at home too so I totally understand the struggle!) We’re all for people adapting our recipes to suit your tastes – mushrooms and allspice both sound delicious! I suspect the mushrooms you added gave up some liquid as they cooked, so that might have been the reason for the excess liquid, but sounds like the extra simmering time did the trick! Thanks for taking the time to write to us today.
The chicken skillet rrcipe was very tasty, it was like a pot pie without the crust.
I used half n half instead of heavy cream, still very good.
Thank you, I will make again.
Marsha
You’re very welcome Marsha – glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This recipe is really delicious! Since I love veggies & usually have some bits left over, I threw some diced red peppers in the mix that I cooked along with the carrots & onions. I also think that it would be just as good with a lot less cream if dairy or calories are a concern.
Thanks Lois!
Super and super easy. Added 1/2 lb sliced sautéed mushrooms with chicken, etc., which was an excellent addition.
Thanks Anne! Mushrooms are a great addition!
This recipe is the only reason my toddler eats veggies. We have it at least once a week…going on a year now! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
★★★★★
Oh Katy! I’m so happy to read this! As a mom of a picky 10-year-old (who ironically used to eat everything!) I can appreciate the struggle! So glad you’ve found something that your little one will eat!
Can I use egg noodles instead of orzo?
You sure can!
Awesome meal!! My husband and I live on our trawler so I use canned veggies. Canned peas n carrots worked great!! I browned 1/2 cup jasmine rice because I didn’t have orzo. Worked super! The sauce that this dish create is amazing!! This will be a repeat meal for sure!
Thanks Jan! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Could rice be substituted for orzo, we have all but that on hand…
Hi Grace – In general yes, but orzo is a pasta and it cooks differently than rice so the amount of liquid and cooking times will definitely vary. Without making the recipe ourselves with rice swapped in, I’d only be guessing to tell you how to adapt the recipe for rice.
I loved this but I noticed when it was finished it needed more sauce in my opinion so I added more stock, cream, garlic powder and seasoning salt. I simmered it for about 30 minutes and it was amazing.
Thanks Lisa!
Very nice recipe.
I used Half and Half instead of cream. In future I will increase the orzo. It toasted beautifully in the dry pan.
Not sure if you added some grated cheese to the mixture before adding “additional” grated cheese at serving; not a problem though. It’s always tasty.
Thanks for this keeper! Luv
Thank you Luise – we appreciate you letting us know about that extra word in the instructions – you are correct in noting that there is no “additional” grated cheese in the recipe. I will update that now. Thanks again for taking the time to write to us!
Thanks for this yummy simple yet different recipe. As we all have different palates, here’s a few tweaks I made. Added a tsp or so of ground thyme to counter the sweetness of the carrots. There are lots of options for savory add ins. I upped the orzo to 3/4 Cup for browning. Then added about 1 to 1 1/2 Cups reg. cooked orzo to balance out with the amount of meat & veggies. This is truly a go to quick supper, even more so if the prep is done in advance. Just signed up for your emails. : ))
Thank you! Great ideas for making this dish your own! Glad you enjoyed it!
i can’t wait to make this dish! I have never browned orzo, but I have made risotto. Is it kind of the same concept? Should I use butter or oil to brown the orzo? How much? Thanks!!
Hi Maggie – The browning step in this recipe is more similar to making rice pilaf. We are having you toast the orzo pasta in a dry pan – see step 2 in the recipe. ( …vs in a risotto you start the cooking process by sauteing the arborio in oil or butter.) Hope you like the recipe!
Could you just skip the cream? If not what would be a good alternative?
Sure Sarah – are you trying to avoid the fat and calories (a fat free half and half could work) or dairy all together (use chicken stock)? Hope these suggestions help point you in the right direction.
I plan on making this tonight, substituting evaporated skim milk for the cream. This is a substitution I use all the time and really like the results.
Sounds great Lisa – that substitution is a great, lower calorie option. Thanks for writing to us!
I would love to use heavy cream but my husband is lactose intolerant and I must watch my diet carefully. Could I safely use almond milk instead of heavy cream? Or creamy tofu?
Hi Colleen – Absolutely – you can try substituting other milk/cream alternatives! The flavor and the creaminess will likely be different but I’m sure it will still taste delicious!
Oh my! I fixed the rotisserie chicken dish for dinner and it was sooooooo gooood! thanks for sharing!
Thanks Adela – glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I love picking up rotisserie chickens to make several meals with. I love this dish. It looks so comforting, perfect for fall!
I absolutely love skillet recipes for a busy weeknight! This looks really great. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Kristen!
Hi,
Another delicious recipe. The amout of pasta is listed as “½ orzo pasta”. Is that 1/2 cup or 1/2 LB?
Thanks for this nice idea for rotisserie chicken. It is so versatile.
Hi John – Thank you so much for pointing out the error – it is 1/2 cup. I will fix the recipe right away! Thanks again!
I love this idea! I always have leftover rotisserie chicken.
Thanks Sarah!
This sounds great! I love orzo!