Instant Pot Lemon Orzo Soup
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This Instant Pot Lemon Orzo Soup with chicken included only takes 3 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot.
I recently shared a recipe for Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup. My family loved it so I wanted to find a recipe for Instant Pot Lemon Orzo Soup. It is even faster to make with the use of the Instant Pot.
It all begins with adding some butter and olive oil into the Instant Pot. Using the sauté mode, melt the butter. Once it is melted add in the onion, celery, and carrots. Sauté for a couple of minutes. Then add in the seasonings and sauté for another couple of minutes.
Next, you turn off sauté mode and add in 6 cups of water. You want to be sure to deglaze the pan and remove any brown bits on the pan. This will prevent you from getting a burn warning when the soup cooks. Then you add in a tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon.
Now it’s time to add in the orzo. Stir it into the pot. Then place the chicken on top of everything along with the spring of rosemary. Don’t stir. Just leave it as is. Finally, it’s time to pressure cook the soup. It only cooks for 3 minutes.
Once cooking is complete, you remove and discard the rosemary. You will also remove and shred the chicken. Add the chicken back in along with the lemon juice. At this point, you can serve this as is. Or you can thicken it up with a cornstarch slurry. I liked it with the slurry. The broth has some more thickness to it that my family enjoyed.
Here is what you need to make the
Instant Pot Lemon Orzo Soup
- BUTTER
- OLIVE OIL
- ONION
- CARROTS
- CELERY
- SALT
- OREGANO
- PEPPER
- RED PEPPER FLAKES
- PAPRIKA
- FRESH ROSEMARY OR DRIED ROSEMARY
- GARLIC
- WATER
- CHICKEN BETTER THAN BOUILLON
- ORZO PASTA
- BONELESS SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS
- LEMON JUICE
- CORNSTARCH
Instant Pot Lemon Orzo Soup
Real Mom Kitchen
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- salt according to your personal preference
- ½ tsp oregano
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp paprika
- 1 twig fresh rosemary or ½ tsp dried rosemary
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 6 cups water
- 1 Tbsp Chicken Better Than Bouillon
- 1 cup orzo pasta I think you can use 3/4 cup
- 1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into pieces (I cut in half lengthwise and then cut each half into 2 pieces)
- 2 Tbsp to ¼ cup lemon juice based on taste
- 1 ½ Tbsp cornstarch optional to thicken (if using mix with 1 1/2 Tbsp water to form a thick smooth slurry)
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot on to sauté mode. Add butter and olive oil. When the butter begins to melt add in the onion, diced carrots, and celery. Sauté for 1 min. Add the salt, oregano, pepper, red pepper flakes, and paprika. Sauté for 2 mins. If adding dried rosemary add it now. Mix in garlic and sauté for just 20 seconds.
- Turn off sauté mode. Add water and deglaze the pot very well by scrapping the sides & the bottom of the pot with the help of your spatula. There should not be any food particles stuck at the bottom of the pot. This is important and will prevent getting a burn error. Mix in the better than bouillon.
- Add the orzo pasta and mix in well. Place the chicken breasts pieces on top of the pasta and DO NOT stir of mix. Throw in the fresh rosemary twig if using the fresh.
- Put on the lid and make sure valve is set to seal. Pressure cook on high for just 3 mins. Once the cooking cycle perform a quick pressure release by moving the valve from the sealing to the venting position. Remove the lid when pressure is completely released.
- Remove the fresh rosemary twig & discard. Remove the chicken pieces and shred them with a fork. Add lemon juice into along with the shredded chicken and stir to combine.
- If you wish to thicken the soup, add the optional cornstarch slurry. Stir well bring to a simmer on the sauté mode for about 1 min or until the soup thickens a bit.
Recipe is adapted from Foodies Terminal.
