Instant Pot Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup–a bright lemon-flavored broth based soup with chunks of chicken and bites of orzo (or rice). Easy to make and delicious to eat!
Get the SLOW COOKER lemon orzo soup recipe here
Instant Pot Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup
This could be a new favorite soup for me! I am totally in love with lemon and this soup delivers. The lemon zest and lemon juice pack a powerful punch but it’s not overkill. This soup satisfies without all the cream, fat or flour of other soups. My whole family gulped this soup down and agreed that is was a winner.
I have made this soup both with orzo and with rice. The orzo was added to the pot after the pressure cooking time was up and the rice was added straight into the Instant Pot from the beginning. If you want more a creamy tasting soup then use the rice. It soaks up a lot of the liquid and gets almost creamy, like a risotto. If you want a more brothy soup then use the orzo.
More LEMON recipes you’ll love…
Instant Pot Lemon Chicken and Rice
Instant Pot Lemon Chicken Meatball Wraps
Instant Pot Greek Lemon Chicken Rice Soup
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
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Instant Pot Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
A bright lemon-flavored broth based soup with chunks of chicken and bites of orzo (or rice). Easy to make and delicious to eat!
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat or 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thighs are my preference and I have used frozen)
- 6 cups chicken broth (or 6 cups water and 6 tsp Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 carrots, diced or grated
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 celery ribs, diced
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup orzo or 1 cup jasmine rice
- Salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese, optional
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting and add in the chicken and broth.
- While the pot is heating the broth prepare your carrots, onions and celery. Add them into the pot along with the bay leaf, garlic powder, thyme, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt.
- If using orzo, set it aside for later. If using rice, add it in now.
- Cancel the saute setting. Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 8 minutes on high pressure. The Instant Pot will start on its own.
- When the cooking time is finished, move the valve from sealing to venting. If foam escapes then move the valve back to sealing and wait 3 minutes and try again. Remove the lid when you can. Discard the bay leaf.
- If using orzo, stir that in now. Turn the Instant Pot to the saute setting so that the orzo can cook (it will take about 5-6 minutes).
- Remove the chicken and cut into pieces or shred. Add it back into the pot.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Ladle into bowls and top with a tablespoon of parmesan cheese, if desired.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I I have made this soup both with orzo and with rice. The orzo was added to the pot after the pressure cooking time was up and the rice was added straight into the Instant Pot from the beginning. If you want more a creamy tasting soup then use the rice. It soaks up a lot of the liquid and gets almost creamy, like a risotto. If you want a more brothy soup then use the orzo. To make gluten free: Just check the chicken broth to be sure it does not contain gluten. Use Jasmine rice in place of orzo pasta! Get the slow cooker version.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of the recipe with boneless, skinless thighs
- Calories: 263
- Sugar: 4.4 g
- Sodium: 1224 mg
- Fat: 6.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 27 g
- Fiber: 2.3 g
- Protein: 21.8 g
- Cholesterol: 43 mg
Keywords: instant pot
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I should have said at the end when serving. No parm.
I like to add feta cheese to this!
I should have said at the end when serving. No parm.
I love feta! will have to try that soon
This was the first recipe I’ve tried from you. My original soup plans for my soup dinner had to change when I realized I didn’t have any wild rice. I went to the internet to search for orzo and chicken soups since I had those available. I wasn’t expecting to like this too much; I thought the lemon might overpower the flavor. However, it was delicious. My family, picky eaters, loved it. I made it exactly as the directions said (I used chicken breasts and orzo). I will definitely make it again, and I will try some of your other recipes. Thank you!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you found this recipe and tried it! I love it too! Thanks for taking the time to write a review and give the recipe 5 stars.
How long should the chicken and broth cook in the sauté setting before I turn it off and do the pressure setting?
I would say about 10 minutes.
I could only find bone in thighs in our Montana town now as we have to travel 60 miles to Costco. Our supply chain here is breaking down I fear. And Hubby is high risk as he suffers major health issues from agent orange exposures so we are limited…how should I make cooking adjustments for frozen bone in thighs?
★★★★★
They should work fine. I would just cook them a bit longer (12 minutes) and then remove the bones after they have cooked.
We have an 8-quart. Would I need to adjust the liquids at all?
No should be just fine!
Just about to try it. In the middle of prepping veggies, we found our onion was bad. Smells delicious without the onion.
Hope you like it! It should be OK without it.
I had just about a cup of orzo to use up and this recipe fit the bill. It was delicious!
Not to be picky but there is no mention of the addition and discarding of the bay leaf in the directions, but it was easy to figure out.
I will make this again!
Oopsie! I will correct that 🙂 Thanks!
We love this recipe. Used elbow macaroni and generous portions of all the seasonings Very tasty.
★★★★★
I love that idea Jerry!
The printable recipe does not say how long to cook the Orzo for while on saute!
Thank you
Thanks for letting me know, I’ve fixed it 🙂
I made this with leftover Rotisserie chicken meat and cooked for 4 minutes. I didn’t have dried parsley, so used dried cilantro I had on hand. Turned out great. My wife wants this every week now. Very tasty. I also increased each of the spices and the leomon juice by a bit.
★★★★★
Jerry your wife is lucky to have you!
Made this for dinner last night and it is delicious! The only things I did is saute my onions, then carrots, celery and fresh minced garlic first.
Thanks for the delicious recipe!
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Lani!
I have a question. How do you go about using the slow cooker setting? Don’t want to buy a slow cooker if my instant pot can do the same thing.
I haven’t used it much and from what I have read it isn’t great. If you do use it use the highest setting as the lower settings are more like keep warm. The heat comes from the bottom of the pot too instead of the sides as in a traditional slow cooker so you may need to stir every now and then.
Hi! I’m wanting to try this with brown rice, what changes would you suggest to do this? (By the way I love your emails! So many good recipes!)
Brown rice takes 22 minutes to cook and a 10 minute NPR. So that’s what I would do. If you can use thighs because they’ll hold up better for 22 minutes than the breasts.
Karen I love your recipes. As a matter of fact I made this lemon chicken soup last night and was eating it when I read your email. What a coincidence. I have a mini so I’m frequently adjusting to fit. Thanks
★★★★★
Oh how funny! I’m glad you like it Amy!
has any one tried this with lime instead of the lemon?
Made this the other day I used bottled lemon juice and fresh grated lemon rind. The lemon flavor was incredible, this is a keeper! Thanks Karen for the great recipe!
★★★★★
I love lemon flavor!
I was wondering if I can use bottled lemon juice and I have some dried lemon zest, could I use those two ingredients in place of the fresh lemon? I generally don’t have lemons in my fridge. My hubby isn’t feeling well tonight and I have all the other ingredients so I think I’ll give it a try. Fingers crossed. Thank you for all your instant pot recipes I’m new to cooking with an instant pot and your recipes all use regular ingredients that I have in my pantry. I love that! Thanks again.
How did it work out? I bet it will be okay. Probably not as great as fresh lemon but good enough!
Made this 3 times already. LOVE IT!
★★★★★
How do you cook this recipe with frozen chicken breast?
Just follow the recipe as it is written. It should work out perfect.
The recipe was easy to make, however, we found it to be rather bland. I used fresh garlic in place of the powder, but it still needs something. Any suggestions?
★★★
did you use all the lemon zest?
Yes, I did, but still found it lacking in flavor. Thank you for all the good recipes you send. Always look forward to trying them.
This looks yummy! I’d like to try this as I’m taking dinner to someone tomorrow and have nearly all the ingredients. However, I don’t have jasmine rice. Would white rice (instant or regular) or brown rice work? Suggestions on amount?
I’d try the regular white rice. I bet that would be just fine. Same amount.
Everyone was happy with this. I used a variety of different colors of carrots and a Penzys spice blend “Tuscan Sunset ” ,and seasoned salt in lieu of plain salt . I used arborio rice (3/4 cup). Next time I will add a can of fire roasted tomatoes.
Thanks for the great recipe!
★★★★★
I like all your ideas Tina. It sounds great 🙂
All i have is canned chicken already chuncked up. Will that work. I dont have a manual button on my pot. This recipe sounds good. Im new to this ip cooking.
I bet you have a pressure cook button then? Am I right? Yes canned chicken would work!
Hi Karen, I am making this recipe right now. I goofed a little as I didn’t realize shred the chicken after cooking eight minutes. I had put mine in chunks and reduce the time to four minutes so I hope that will be OK. I guess I will see you soon.
The one question I have is how long did it take for the orzo to cook on sauté?
I hope it turned out well for you!!! I think it took about 5 or 6 minutes 🙂
If I want to cut this recipe in half, does the cooking time change?
nope! Same time.
Do I need to do anything other than half the receipe for my 3qt?
Nope! This should work great in a 3 quart.
I’m curious … how long does it take for the orzo to cook on the sauté setting?
I think it took about 6 minutes. I will time it next time.