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 pretty 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!
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!
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PinIngredients
- 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.
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This sounds great! I love orzo!
I love this idea! I always have leftover rotisserie chicken.
Thanks Sarah!
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 absolutely love skillet recipes for a busy weeknight! This looks really great. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Kristen!
I love picking up rotisserie chickens to make several meals with. I love this dish. It looks so comforting, perfect for fall!
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 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!
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 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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
Can I use egg noodles instead of orzo?
You sure can!
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!
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 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!
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!
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.
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!