This copycat Panera chicken orzo lemon soup is one of my favorite soups of all time. Sadly the Panera lemon chicken orzo soup is discontinued.
My daughter used to work at Panera and I loved Panera’s chicken orzo lemon soup and had dreams of her in the back of the house, chopping up celery, etc. and hopefully I would learn how to make that soup at home.
Real life at Panera? They ship all their soups in frozen bags and they defrost them. So, here is my greek lemon orzo soup copycat version.
Tip About Pasta, Orzo or Noodles in Soups:
Always cook them separately and add them only when you serve. Otherwise if you leave them in the soup they will soak up all the liquid and taste like ass when you reheat it. I usually store the orzo for this soup in a ziplock bag and place it on top of the leftover container of soup.
Ingredients needed for this lemon orzo soup recipe:
- olive oil – it doesn’t have to be expensive – you can even substitute avocado or grapeseed oil
- garlic – I prefer fresh here, but feel free to use the jarred minced garlic
- celery – an often underused vegetable in soup in my opinion!
- chicken broth – feel free to use boxed broth, or even jarred chicken broth base
- orzo – found on the same aisle as the pasta
- seasonings – Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, oregano, salt and pepper
- chicken breast – this is a perfect soup to use rotisserie chicken
- baby spinach – add just at the end do it doesn’t wilt too much
I also add one of of the cut lemons to the broth while the orzo is cooking ā I think it leaches out some of the lemon oil in the skin to give it that extra zing, but leave that part out if you like. Just remove before storing any leftovers. This copycat Panera chicken orzo soup is so bright with the addition of lemons! Here is another copycat recipe I have for Starbuck’s Lemon Loaf!
Copycat Panera Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup
My daughter used to work at Panera. I was so sad when she told me they ship in their soups frozen and weren't made in house! This is my copycat version.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup celery, sliced thin
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2/3 cup dry orzo
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- Ā¼ teaspoon salt
- Ā½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 8 ounces cooked chicken breast, chopped
- 2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the garlic and
celery and cook for a few minutes. Add the chicken stock and orzo, and
cook for 9-10 minute, or according to your package directions. - When the orzo is cooked, add in the rest of the
gang: the lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, dried
oregano and the chicken. Remove from heat and put a lid on for a few
minutes to warm up the chicken. Add chopped spinach to each bowl and
ladle in the soup – I add sliced lemon for garnish
Notes
On my WW plan, each serving is only 3 points. Click this link to see what the WW points would be on your plan.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 282Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 56mgSodium: 1598mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 26g
Let me know if you make this Panera chicken orzo lemon soup – just tag me on Instagram @mybizzykitchen!
If you love orzo, check out my recipe for this Orzo Salad – perfect for spring and summer! You can find the recipe here.
I thought of you Monday, actually, as I too got busy in the kitchen–made myself lunch for later in the week and photographed a number of things in natural light that I had made previously either this past weekend or re-made with the intent to eat and photograph it. I’m planning on doing something similar for President’s Day weekend as it felt very productive.
I had the best day until I started getting sick, but my favorite way to spend a rainy day – in my kitchen ?????
LOVE the photo header! Hope you don’t get sick and your rest day keeps things at bay. Hugs.
Thanks Roz! So far the over the counter medicine is working š Hugs!
Thanks for the orzo chicken soup recipe! Printed it and will have to try it!
Yes! Let me know what you think of it – seriously if you have rotisserie chicken this can be ready in 15 minutes. Hope to see you on Thursday at the meeting š
Hopefully, you just have a winter cold. When we were in Mexico with my aunt/uncle for my 50th bday, my aunt was doing the keto diet. I was litterally nauseous watching her eat each day. For breakfast she would eat romaine lettuce spread with cream cheese and 3 slices of bacon. She ate about 4 of those. Lunch would be burgers with onions, mushrooms, bacon and cheese( no bun). Dinner would be a huge steak and veggies. Then after 3 days she would “cheat” and eat a tortilla or a bite of cake and then it was all blown to crap for the rest of the day. She’d start fresh the next day. Such an unrealistic way to live. Personally, I don’t understand how eating 10 slices of bacon a day is healthful. I want to lose 20 more lbs and I’m thinking of WW. I don’t know if I could get all my points in though because of the WLS. I do know that I eat whatever I want and I probably should not be eating as much sweet stuff as I do. If I cut that out, I’d probably drop more weight. I just ordered some Fit Frappe from amazon. Its a protein frappacino and I used it before my surgery when I was on my liquid diet and for a few months after. I’m going to start using that as a snack instead of cheese and crackers.
The problem with Hannah’s pickiness is that she was basically eating breakfast for every meal – bacon, sausage and eggs (and cheese!) š
If you join WW, all the high sugar stuff is so high in points – and it also tracks the saturated fat. It basically forces you to make better choices š
Love the quote! And I’m all about soups at the moment.
I can eat soup 365 days out of the year too, and can consider it dinner š
I like your new header – it’s fresh! But as Kym said, it does look a little blurry. Good thing you have a techie brother to help you out with this.
Feel better – take zinc! I find that usually helps ward off an oncoming cold, or at least makes it not turn into a full-blown cold.
Once my brother fixes it, it will look better š I’ve been drinking lots of green tea today, I need to get some zinc š
Look at you using your under cooked photogenic eggs as your new photo. It cracks me up (no pun intended) that you go back and cook them longer but use them for the photo. Yes, hopefully Charlie can do his magic and tweak the header photo. I love all the colors and textures that come across. It seemed a little blurry in the header version. For the record, I liked the salsa too. Wow, only 14 pounds to 156. That is “doable!”. Glad Hannah is jumping on the WW mission with you.
Ha – love the pun! Yep, needs a bit of tweaking, but it looks good on the phone app!
Oh goodness, I hope you aren’t coming down with bronchitis! The creeping crud around my office has been so bad I come in every day and immediately wipe every surface with Lysol Wipes.
That soups looks so good. I need to make some soups to freeze and have on hand. I had a few containers but Mr. Helen and I both were sick from Christmas to just last week so we used them all up.
Since Hannah is coming to WW with you, will you change your meeting or will she meet you there? It’s great to have a buddy!
I am always really good about washing my hands too – especially at The Chopping Block. Feeling much better tonight so hopefully it’s nothing.
Hannah is going to do WW online – because I still sometimes work weekends, I don’t want to commit to a local WW meeting, when I know I can always meet my sister on Thursdays.
It is nice to have a buddy – even if she eats mostly vegetarian! š