Chicken and Orzo Skillet Dinner

The recipe is a pretty good, easy and quick dinner as long as you use approximately half of the recommended orzo.  Makes enough sauce, isn't bland (as other reviewers commented), and is still a filling meal with serving four.  I reworked the nutritional data with only 6 oz orzo and found it to be more in line with other Cooking Light recipes.  The original is close to 500 calories and with refined carb pasta to boot!  I did add a bit of garlic to the tomato mix and once added red bell peppers as I needed to use one up.

I have attached the new nutritional data...

Like other reviewers said- this is a bit bland. I did add a few things to spice it up a little bit, including: frying garlic (2 cloves) before adding tomatoes (stolen from another reader), adding red wine to the tomato mix, adding some dried basil at the end- but the orzo-tomato ratio was just way off! Next time I would do an extra tomato and tomato paste, as well as spinach. I think this recipe does have a lot of potential and is great for busy nights (it took me less than 30 minutes)

This one is just okay. It's not bad, but it's also not great. I didn't have a problem eating it, or its leftovers, but it's also not one that just stands out with me as being fantastic. Will not make again, especially when there are so many other recipes to try. I made this as the recipe directed, and I will say that my 4-year-old niece really liked it.

Only used about 1/2 of the recommended orzo. Yummy though.

I didn't understand how this recipe would work without garlic, so I added it. I haven't had the recipe as is - but with the garlic (sauteed with the chicken) my whole family (even a finicky toddler) enjoyed it. So I would recommend it - but with the added garlic because it did seem that it could be a bit bland without it. I also cut down on the red pepper flakes to make it less spicy to a child. But it was a really easy weekday dinner that was good for the whole family - and that's what I look for (tasty & easy recipes.)

This was very easy and tasty. I really wonder about your tastebuds, folks, when you describe a dish like this as "bland." Plain reduced fat feta and the salt & peppers gave this dish great flavor, in my (not so) humble opinion. I am always unsure about measuring spinach. I bought a 5 oz prewashed package and could have used all of it. I will make this again for a weeknight dinner.

I'll make this again but I'll add garlic. When making this I added dried basil as well as some left over tomato sauce. It was definately lacking flavor even with the added basil.

Definitely bland, even with the red pepper flakes. Feta was the only bit of flavor in the dish. If you like to tinker & experiment, this is a good base recipe.

Needs something but not sure what. No overriding flavor.

Since many reviewers said this was bland, while cooking the chicken, I sprinkled on some onion and garlic powder. I also added about 2-3 tsp of minced garlic with the chicken. It turned out very well with those changes. The red pepper gave it a nice kick, but if you aren't a fan of spicy, I would decrease or omit b/c it wasn't subtle. I liked the large portion, so I wouldn't decrease the orzo like some other reviewers suggested. Though I may add more spinach next time since it did wilt down and seemed like it could use more. I would even use an extra cup of chopped tomato for more veggies.

This could be the start of a very good meal with a little help. First, to make it more family friendly, I'd leave out the hot pepper flakes. Since that was all that was giving the dish ooph, I'd add herbs like basil, oregano or thyme. I also had to add an extra 1/4 of water to keep the dish from drying up. This is a good start, but yes, it needs help. You can read my full review at Taking On Magazine: http://bit.ly/T8GBXa

I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! I used broccoli in place of the spinach because it's all I had and I added some dried rosemary to it. I also used regular tomato paste in place of the no-salt-added stuff because we're not on a sodium-restricted diet and I used garlic and herb feta to give it more of a kick.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. After reading the reviews I decided to kick up the flavor and pretty much double the spices. Make sure to add lots more tomato paste to give the orzo plenty of flavor. I also coated the chunks of chicken in red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and onion powder. It had a good kick and the leftovers were tasty too!

very dry and bland. recommend using half amount of orzo

Easy supper; chose it because we had everything on hand. Made a couple additions to use up some bits & pieces from the fridge. Boneless thighs rather than breasts, sauteed some chopped onion, garlic & three large mushrooms, used a full bag of spinach rather than just 3c. Very much a budget meal with generous serving size.

I'd give this a one because my husband said to never make it again, but I think it has potential. It was very bland. Adding a bit more salt or feta cheese helped. I like how simple and healthy it is, but it really needs tweaking to be a winner. I like the suggestions of others to add more herbs and garlic. It is a lot of orzo, so that could be cut down on a bit.

I thought this was a cheap and easy dinner to make. I added some seasoning salt to the chicken with a touch of pepper. Also, added a little more tomato paste. I thought the orzo tasted nice and creamy and the feta cheese was a nice touch.

I liked the idea of this recipe, but after reading decided that it would be bland, so I made some alterations. I seasoned the chicken breast and cooked it before cutting into pieces. I used only 6-8 ounces of orzo. I sauteed about 2 teaspoons minced garlic before adding the tomatoes and cooking liquid and I also added most of a chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, a couple of sliced basil leaves and some chopped parsley. It came out really good and I will be making this again for us and for friends. Great idea, just needed some help.

I ate this at my daughter's house and it was delicious! It has a very nice flavor. We thoroughly enjoyed it! We added a little more spinach because it cooks down so much. It would probably be a good idea to chop the spinach first. It was even delicious as a left over. We added a little low-sodium chicken broth to it when we reheated it.

Was a bit bland. Its needs some other ingredients such as onion, garlic, oregano, basil. With these additions, it could get a much higher rating!.

I made this recipe exactly except for omitting salt and it was bland as heck! I really didn't like this at all and neither did my husband. If I knew what to add to make it better I would but I'm not creative and typically don't change anything in recipes so for people like me, this was not a good recipe : (