This orzo, chicken and sun-dried tomato recipe is the perfect light meal for a warm summer night, an outdoor concert, a potluck or a picnic. It’s quick to throw together, travels well and somehow tastes even better the next day.

This is my father-in-law’s recipe, and it’s become one of our most-requested summer dishes. It tastes good warm, it tastes good cold, and it’s honestly the best room-temperature pasta dish I’ve ever eaten. I have no idea where the original recipe came from. A quick Google search turned up a whole bucket of orzo variations, including one with garlic and shrimp that’s got me curious for next time.

A Late-Blooming Chef

My father-in-law was a man’s man — one of those guys from a certain generation who expected his wife to handle dinner. When he retired, his daughter (my wife) suggested he might try cooking. “Many of the great chefs are men,” she told him.

He wasn’t exactly enthusiastic at first. But the comment stuck with him, and soon he was watching Graham Kerr during his morning workouts. Is there a better way to spend exercise time than watching a cooking show? Not long after, he was pulling recipes off the internet. He’d discovered edible chemistry.

That new passion brought kitchen gadgets galore, stacks of cookbooks, salmon en croute experiments, email recipe swaps with friends, and homemade kitchen inventions — including his own Sausage Patty Pack, engineered to hold and dispense a single homemade breakfast sausage patty.

We all benefited. We learned new things, ate well, and probably drank a little too much wine along the way. Such is life.

Tips for the Best Orzo

This recipe tastes best with tart lemons, not sweet Meyer lemons. Fresh oregano is our go-to, though dried will work in a pinch. For the chicken, we usually pick up smoked chicken breast from our local BBQ joint or grab a roast chicken from Costco. Either shortcut makes this dish come together fast without sacrificing flavor.

Orzo with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Prep Time: 8 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Serves: 4

Tools You’ll Need

• A large mixing bowl
• A strainer
• A spoon for stirring
• A kitchen knife or cleaver

Ingredients

• 8 oz. orzo (lemon-flavored if you can find it)
• 1–1.5 cups smoked or roasted chicken, diced
• ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced (add more if you like)
• ¼ cup chicken broth
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Fresh oregano, to taste
• ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions

1. Cook the orzo according to package directions, drain, and place in a mixing bowl. We love a Colorado-made lemon-flavored orzo for this dish, but plain orzo works well too.
2. Add the diced chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, then mix.
3. Stir in the ¼ cup of chicken broth. We use Wyler’s bouillon powder, so we can make exactly as much as we need. The broth moistens the pasta and adds flavor — pasta water works too if you’re out of stock.
4. Squeeze in the juice of half the lemon. We like it lemony, so we often add more. Adjust to your taste.
5. Drizzle olive oil over the pasta, lightly. If your sun-dried tomatoes are packed in oil, you can skip this or use a bit of that oil instead.
6. Chop fresh oregano and stir it in — we use a small bunch. With dried oregano, start light and add more as needed.
7. Add the feta and mix well. Taste and adjust with salt and extra lemon juice as needed. Serve right away, or chill it — it’s even better the next day. Enjoy!

Instructions:

Cook the past according to package directions, drain and place in a mixing bowl.

We found a Colorado orzo pasta that is lemon flavored, which really enhances this dish but plain orzo is good too.

Add the diced chicken and diced sun dried tomatoes and mix.

Add the ¼ cup of chicken broth. We use Wyler’s powder so you can make as much or as little as you need for a recipe. The broth moistens the pasta and adds a nice flavor but you could add pasta water if you don’t have stock.

Add the juice of half of the lemon. We like the lemony taste and frequently add more. It’s to your taste.

Drizzle some olive oil over the pasta, lightly. Note: if you used sun dried tomatoes packed in oil then you may not need to add olive oil or you can add a bit of the oil from the tomatoes.

If using fresh oregano chop and add to mixture. We use a small bunch. If you use dried oregano, start with a small amount and add more to your taste.

Add the feta crumbles and mix.  Taste and adjust seasonings – add salt to your taste and more lemon juice. You can eat it right away or chill and it’s even better the second day.  Enjoy!