When we moved to West Virginia, we met some of our very best friends Liz and Don. Not only are they one of the sweetest couples with a smart and fun daughter, but they are also some of the biggest foodies and best cooks we know. One of the first meals they made for us was a delicious vegetable risotto. While I love a good risotto, I know it can be daunting to make it yourself. So I came up with this creamy lemon parmesan orzo that uses something people are a little more comfortable cooking: pasta!
This lemon parmesan orzo recipe uses the same technique as making risotto. You toast your pasta in a skillet for a few seconds and then add warm broth a few cups at a time until your pasta is cooked and the starch from the pasta creates a beautiful, creamy, flavorful sauce. Then you add cheese. Lots of parmesan cheese. Plus a squeeze of bright, fresh lemon. It’s a delicious side dish with chicken or fish and I love to add fresh herbs in the summer to brighten it up even more.
Creamy Lemon Parmesan Orzo Ingredients
1 cup uncooked orzo pasta
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cloves garlic – minced
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk or half and half
Zest from one lemon
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 cup frozen peas
Salt
Pepper
How to Make Creamy Lemon Parmeson Orzo
Heat your chicken broth in a saucepan until it’s warmed through, but not boiling. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a skillet on medium heat and then add your uncooked orzo, garlic and lemon zest.
Cook until the orzo and garlic become fragrant.
Spoon in 1/2 cup of the chicken broth.
Cook on medium, stirring frequently until it has been absorbed.
Add another 1/2 cup of chicken broth and continue this until all of your chicken broth has been absorbed. Keep adding by 1/2 cup, until all 3 cups of liquid has been used. With your very last 1/2 cup of broth, toss in your frozen peas and let them warm through.
Once the broth has all been absorbed, stir in your milk and lemon juice.
Add your parmesan cheese, and give it another stir.
Don’t be afraid to top with a little more parmesan!
Cookware I Used
Stainless Skillet: I like to use a skillet to make this dish because I think it cooks the orzo more evenly. You could use a non-stick skillet, but I used my 12-inch stainless one.
Microplane: This is one of my absolute favorite kitchen gadgets. You can use it to zest the lemon, grate the garlic into your dish, and then also use it for the parmesan!
Large Soup Ladle: I think this is the easiest way to get your warm chicken broth from the saucepan to your skillet. A larger ladle fits just enough broth for each step of the cooking process.
Making This Creamy Lemon Recipe with Rice
You can easily swap out the orzo in this recipe for rice. If you’re making it in the same way and want a true risotto, use Arborio rice. You can follow the same recipe and instructions above, but you may need an additional cup of broth or water to fully cook the rice. Any broth you don’t use, just cool it off and put it in the fridge to use for a later recipe.
Can You Cook and Drain the Orzo Like Regular Pasta?
Technically you could make this dish by cooking the pasta and draining it like you would any other pasta, but you would have a much drier and less creamy orzo. The key to making this dish is to create a rich and creamy sauce with the starchy cooking liquid. This happens as you cook the orzo slowly, stirring in the broth bit by bit. I don’t think you could get the same results by boiling and then draining your pasta.
If you absolutely abhor the idea of ladling the warm broth to cook the pasta, you could boil and drain your orzo and then use some whole milk or heavy cream to create a creamy sauce. Just be sure to season appropriately if not using the chicken broth, as chicken broth is salted and milk and cream are not.
Ways to Serve Creamy Lemon Parmesan Orzo
Here are a few ways to make this side dish into a full meal:
- With a rotisserie chicken, either carved up on the side or shredded and mixed throughout
- As a side to a nice grilled steak or piece of salmon
- With additional broccoli or zucchini (as someone mentioned in the comments!) for added nutrients
- With handfuls of fresh basil and parsley chopped finely and mixed in to create an herby, flavorful sauce
Other Pasta Side Dishes to Enjoy
Here are a few other pasta dishes that I love for you to try whenever you get tired of this creamy orzo, which might honestly be never!
-
Creamy Bacon and Gruyere Orzo
-
One Pan Garlic Parmesan Shells
-
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
-
Creamy Pumpkin and Sage Orzo
Creamy Lemon Parmesan Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 cup orzo pasta uncooked
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Heat your chicken broth in a saucepan until it’s warmed through, but not boiling. Keep warm on low heat.
- Melt the butter in a skillet on medium heat and then add your uncooked orzo, garlic and lemon zest.
- Cook on medium, stirring frequently until the broth has been almost completely absorbed.
- Add another 1/2 cup of chicken broth and continue this until all of your chicken broth has been absorbed. With your very last 1/2 cup of broth, toss in your frozen peas and let them warm through.
- Add your parmesan cheese, and give it another stir.
- Top with a bit more parmesan and any fresh herbs you'd like!
I made this recipe and my whole crew loved it! It was delicious! Just curious, has anyone tried making it by adding the broth all at one time instead in half cup increments? I was afraid to try…
Hi Leah! I haven’t tried that and didn’t include that idea in the recipe because I don’t think it would create the creamy sauce that you get by adding it a little at a time. I made this recipe based off the idea of risotto where the “sauce” is created from the starch from the rice (pasta in this case) cooking slowly in liquid. I worry you’d lose that creaminess by cooking it all at once. I hope this helps! I’d be interested to see what happens if anyone does try that method and if I ever try it, I’ll report back!
I loved this recipe, and instead of peas added shrimp & baby zucchini. It was delicious! I’m wondering if it would also work with a fettuccine pasta in place of the orzo?
I loved this recipe! Instead of peas, I added baby zucchini, and I threw in some shrimp – so good!
I’m curious to know if it would work with a different type of pasta? Like a fettuccine maybe?
Hi Roberta! I am so glad you liked this recipe :) I love the idea of zucchini and shrimp, what a great combo! I don’t think it would work quite as well with any other pastas because orzo soaks up the liquid much like rice does and I think that wouldn’t work as well with other pasta shapes. Maybe some similar small shaped pasta would work! I do have a Garlic and Lemon Butter Shrimp Fettuccine recipe you could try!
I added chicken (grilled with a little lemon zest) to make it a bit more substantial and it was delicious! Great recipe :)
So glad you liked it :) I think adding chicken is a fabulous idea!
I’m not a pea lover so what would you think of corn?
Hi Linda! I have never tried it with corn, so I’m not sure how it would taste! I personally would try broccoli or asparagus, but if you really don’t like green veggies I think it would also be good without any veggies at all ;)
can this be made ahead of time and warmed? any suggestions/
Hi Angela! Great question. I made this once when my husband was out of town and had leftovers that I popped in the microwave the next day and it was still great! If you wanted to heat it back up on the stove, I’d recommend adding a little bit of chicken broth as you heat it back up to temperature and I think you’d be just fine :)
How many servings does this make?
Thank you your ingredients has three cups but the directions states half a cup three times just wanted to be sure before I made!
Thank you for noticing that Tara – I updated the post to clarify :) Let me know how it turns out!
Is it 3 cups or 1.5 cups of chelicken broth?
It’s 3 cups total, added 1/2 cup at a time until it’s all absorbed. I hope this helps!
This recipe is simple and so AMAZING! It has the perfect amount of garlic and lemon. I will definitely be making this quite often! I left the peas out and added some parsley for color. Thank you!
Thank you, Maria! I am so glad you like this recipe :) I love the idea of removing the peas but still keeping the green with some parsley. I’ll have to give that a shot myself!
This is seriously delicious. I’ve used it several times as a simple side, both with and without peas (to please the crowd). Love it!
So glad to hear that Sarah! Great idea to take the peas out if there are some anti-veggers in the crowd ;) Thank you for commenting!
Can you tell me how much this yields?
How many servings?
Thank you
As a side dish with a bigger entree, I can serve 4 people. But on its own as a meal, it’s safer to assume it feeds 2 :) Hope that helps!