# Chicken Orzo Soup

A weeknight soup built on homemade stock and a rotisserie chicken — a dozen cloves of garlic, lots of mushrooms, and orzo in the last ten minutes.

Source page: https://madebetterwithbutter.com/recipes/chicken-orzo-soup/

- Category: Weeknight, Soups, Chicken
- Prep: 20 min
- Cook: About 40 min
- Serves: 8 bowls
- Pot: 7-quart Dutch oven (about 5 quarts at 1x)

## Ingredients

### The base
- olive oil, a good drizzle
- 3 pats butter, 2 or 3
- 1 large onion, diced, or 2 smaller ones
- 12 cloves garlic, minced or pressed, 10 to 12
- 3 ribs celery, in ½-inch pieces
- 3 carrots, thinly sliced
- 6 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced

### Seasoning
- 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper, 1 to 2
- salt, to taste

### The soup
- 1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled and chopped
- 12 cups chicken stock — homemade if you have it
- 1 cup dry orzo

## Steps
1. In a big Dutch oven over medium heat, warm a drizzle of olive oil with 2–3 pats of butter. Add the onion and cook until soft.
2. Add the garlic, celery, carrots and mushrooms. Let them sweat until the mushrooms have given up their moisture and everything is soft, before any seasoning goes in.
3. Stir in the Italian seasoning, black pepper, Aleppo pepper and a little salt.
4. Add the chopped chicken, then pour in enough stock to cover everything well, about 12 cups.
5. Simmer over medium-high for 20–30 minutes.
6. Stir in the orzo for the last 10 minutes and cook until tender. Taste and adjust the salt.

## Notes
- Make the stock first if you can: [Dark, Rich Chicken Stock](/recipes/rich-chicken-stock/).
- Rotisserie chicken is the weeknight shortcut. It's already cooked, so it only needs to heat through.
- A [vegetable chopper](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF2NQ11W?tag=madebetterwit-20) makes the onion, celery and carrots fast. Cut them to fit the 2½-inch grid, push the lid down, done. It works for garlic in a pinch, though we'd rather mince it or use a [garlic press](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G67LP4LM?tag=madebetterwit-20).
- The orzo keeps soaking up broth. Thin leftovers with a splash of stock when you reheat.