This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
In this easy Monterey Chicken style One-Pan Orzo, we are dumping all the ingredients into a casserole dish and baking. No extra dishes needed.
Perfect for a weeknight dinner your whole family will love and it doesn’t get any easier than this dump and bake orzo. This recipe is so easy and versatile that it’s sure to make it’s way into your regular recipe rotation.
If you love orzo, you have to check out my Tuscan Chicken One Pan Orzo.
Why You’ll Love Monterey Chicken One-Pan Orzo
❤️ Convenience – this dump-and-go recipe doesn’t dirty any other dishes. You can dump all your ingredients into a casserole dish, whisk it together and throw it in the oven. This is easier than grabbing fast food.
❤️ Versatility – you can easily customize this recipe for your families preferences. You can even add different toppings to one side of the one-pan orzo than the other. Add tomatoes, broccoli, etc.
❤️ Meal Prep Friendly – this is a great meal to make ahead on a Sunday or Monday and enjoy leftovers for a few days. It reheats like new with a splash of water or chicken broth.
❤️ Feeds a Crowd – as with most casseroles, this is great for feeding a family. You can serve it with a salad and bread for a delicious hearty dinner.
Key Ingredients
You’ll love this simple ingredient list for our Monterey Chicken One Pan Orzo! It doesn’t get any easier 🙂
Chicken – rotisserie chicken is the easiest option since it’s tender and the hard work is done for you. Of course you can use any chicken you prefer.
Orzo – this rice shaped pasta is my favorite in one pan recipes like these.
Chicken stock – rather than broth, I use stock in a lot of my recipes as they have a stronger, less diluted flavor.
Cream of chicken – this kitchen staple is creamy and provides a hearty down home flavor.
Sour cream – a container of sour cream adds acidity and lightens up the creaminess of the condensed soup.
Spinach – either fresh or frozen and thawed spinach can be used.
Monterey Cheese – this wouldn’t be called Monterey Chicken Orzo without monterey jack cheese!
Crispy Fried Onions – everyone’s favorite crunchy topping, French’s fried onions are topped on this one pan orzo casserole adding the best texture to contrast the creamy pasta.
Garlic – a few cloves of garlic add lots of flavor to this hearty monterey chicken orzo.
Seasonings – I used simple salt and pepper and Longhorn Prairie Dust all purpose seasoning.
How to Make Monterey Chicken One-Pan Orzo
Grease a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray or butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Dump all Ingredients in
Directly into the casserole dish add the cream of chicken, sour cream, and chicken stock. Add seasonings and garlic. Whisk until smooth and creamy and no lumps remain.
Add in the spinach, chicken, half the cheese and orzo. Whisk to evenly combine and incorporate into the liquid. Be sure ingredients are evenly distributed.
Bake in oven
Top with remaining cheese over the top. Finally, top with an even layer of crispy fried onions. Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until top with golden brown and edges are bubbly.
Alternate Flavor Options
Looking to change up this Monterey Chicken orzo? You can keep this same method and base ingredients and change up the mix-ins. Instead, try these flavors:
Marry Me Pasta – swap the spinach and cherry tomatoes with sun-dried tomatoes and basil.
Tuscan Chicken – cherry tomatoes and spinach, lemon juice, parmesan and Italian seasonings take this orzo to a whole new level.
Louisiana Pasta – swap the spinach, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella for chopped bell peppers, broccoli and colby jack.
Pesto – keep everything the same, but whisk in 2-3 tablespoons of pesto into the creamy sauce mixture.
Chicken Scampi – omit the spinach and crispy onions. Replace 1/2 cup of stock and with dry white wine.
Looking for More One-Pan Meals?
One-Pot Marry Me Chicken Pasta
One-Pan Buffalo Chicken Alfredo
One-Pan Lemon Parmesan Pasta
Tuscan Orzo Chicken Bake
I hope you enjoyed this recipe for this Monterey chicken one-pan orzo recipe. Be sure to comment below with any questions or feedback!
If you make these or any other recipes, don’t forget to tag me on IG @BadBatchBaking to be featured on my story. Seeing your recreations makes my day!
Monterey Chicken One-Pan Orzo
Ingredients
- 1-10.5 oz can cream of chicken with herbs
- 16 oz container sour cream
- 2.5 cups chicken stock
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning **see notes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly cracked pepper
- 3 cups fresh spinach leaves torn (or 1-10 oz box frozen chopped spinach, thawed)
- 16 oz dry orzo
- 3 cups monterey jack cheese freshly grated
- 2 cups rotisserie chicken
- 1-6 oz can French's crispy fried onions
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray or butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Directly into the casserole dish add the cream of chicken, sour cream, and chicken stock. Add seasonings and garlic. Whisk until smooth and creamy and no lumps remain.
- Add in the spinach, chicken, half the cheese and orzo. Whisk to evenly combine and incorporate into the liquid. Be sure ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Top with remaining cheese over the top. Finally, top with an even layer of crispy fried onions. Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until top with golden brown and edges are bubbly.
Notes
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp each: salt and pepper
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This dish feels like a warm hug! It’s a bowl of comfort food at its best. Loved the simplicity of the recipe. It came together in no time. So yummy!❤️
That’s the best description! Totally agree 🙂
so good!! the crispy onions made this dish! I had to crank my oven up to 400 and double the cook time to make sure the spinach and orzo was cooked but will def make this again! hubby went back for seconds
This was so good! Do you think the leftovers would be okay to freeze?
Yes! After it rested to room temp, I scooped it into a vacuum seal freezer bag and froze it. To reheat, I popped it in the fridge the day before serving to let it defrost (or you can do this on the counter for a few hours). You can reheat in an oven safe baking dish or reheat in the microwave. Either way, add a few splashes of chicken broth as the liquid gets absorbed into the pasta.
Girl, you put your foot in this. Best dish I have made in years. Whole family asked for seconds and asked me if we could have it again next week.
Stooooppp!!! I am so happy, this is the best compliment. Thank you Mary 🙂
So good. So easy. Definitely going to be a staple moving forward. My son was skeptical when I was making it , but he had two servings. Anytime I make anything of yours it’s always a hit !
Hi Abie! Thank you so much 🙂 That’s a huge compliment and I’m happy your son loved it too.
you need to add crispy onions to ingredient list for us that Jump to Recipe
Thank you so much for this catch. I’ve updated the recipe to be more clear.
As soon as I saw this posted on insta this morning, I knew I’d be thinking about it until I made it… so I did, and it was a hit! Kids and husb said to add to the rotation, which is an insane compliment. I do make my own cream of chicken, but other than that I followed the recipe to the letter. Thank you!
Can you share your from scratch cream of chicken?