My Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella could be on your dinner table tonight. It’s easy to make, healthy and delicious! So what are you waiting for?
The combination of these flavors with a subtle hint of saffron, the smokiness of the paprika, and the hint of oregano add a lot to this dish. And the holy trinity of veggies, onions, peppers, and celery paired with garlic and tomatoes make it even more delicious!
What Ingredients do you need to make Orzo Paella?
Let’s start by gathering our ingredients for my Shrimp and Chicken Orzo Paella. In chef speak this is called the mise en place. All you need is a few ingredients and you’re ready to get cooking. I did add clams to my version and forgot to add them to this pic, but they are optional.
How do I cook Orzo Paella?
You can personalize this dish using just chicken and adding sausage. Including more seafood as I did with the clams is also a good option. You can also substitute the Orzo with Whole Wheat Orzo, white or Brown Rice or any of your favorite grains.
I hope you enjoyed this not so classical orzo paella recipe. It’s one of my Restaurant Style Dishes that you can prepare faster than picking up takeout in your own home tonight at a fraction of the cost of dining out at your favorite restaurant.
What is Orzo?
My friends are always asking me what is Orzo? Orzo (also known as risoni) is a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice. In Italian orzo literally translates to barley.
Here are some other recipes you may like:
Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- olive oil for saute
- 8 jumbo gulf shrimp peeled and deveined
- 12 small clams washed littlenecks or pasta clams, optional
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 large red bell pepper diced
- 4 stalks of celery diced
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 ½ cups orzo or whole wheat orzo
- 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes in juice organic
- 1 cup chicken broth
- pinch of saffron threads
- 2 tablespoon cilantro finely chopped
Instructions
- mix flour with smoked paprika, oregano, sea salt and black pepper
- dredge chicken thighs in seasoning mix coating both sides fully
- heat pan over medium-high heat and add olive oil
- saute chicken thighs in pan 2 minutes per side to get good color
- remove chicken from pan and add additional olive oil
- add peppers, onions, celery and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes
- add shrimp into the veggie mixture for a minute to cook partially then remove shrimp from the pan
- add orzo, tomatoes, chicken stock and saffron and mix well cook for 2 minutes stirring well so orzo doesn’t stick
- add chicken thighs and clams on top of the mixture, turn the heat down to low and allow to cook fully (10 minutes)
- at about 7 minutes into the cooking add shrimp to the pan and replace the lid
- stir the mixture together as needed to ensure the orzo doesn't stick to the pan
- Plate up your masterpiece and serve
- *make sure not to have the heat too high
Debra says
Sounds spectacular! Wondering if you have any ideas on how to prepare and possibly cook ahead of time for company so I’m not in the kitchen while they are here. Cook and reheat in The oven?
Chef Dennis Littley says
You can make it ahead and reheat it in the oven, but the pasta won’t have the same texture and the seafood will get tough. A dish like this would be better off reheated stove top. If you plan to cook it ahead cut back the chicken stock by a half a cup and add it to the mixture for the reheat.
You can also cook it up to the point of adding the stock and tomatoes. Sear the chicken ahead of time and 15 minutes before you’re ready to eat put it all together in the pot and let it simmer. That will only take about 5 minutes to put together at that point and give you a much better dinner.
Betty says
Great recipe I added 8cloves of garlic crushed to the making leftovers into soup for tonight loved it
Brandon Miller says
Marvelous recipe, thank you so much! I swear I’ve made everything as you’ve said but mine doesn’t look nearly as good though, but the taste is just fantastic! My Orzo looks a lot more yellow as well for some reason, and the overall cooking and prepping process took way more than 30 min. but that’s just your many years of practice and talent against my zero of both, haha! I’m a big fan of yours already even though I only started reading you 2 weeks ago since I got out of rehab and trying to start a life from scratch. Cooking really helps me concentrate and keep things together, especially in the evenings when I’m tempted to go places so I really thank you for what you’re doing.