Delicious Greek Chicken and Orzo in your slow cooker! Such an easy one-pot chicken recipe with punchy flavour from tomatoes, roasted peppers and olives. Slimming World friendly and family approved!
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Winner, winner, chicken dinner! This Greek Chicken and Orzo bake is one of my favourite one-pan recipes, taking inspiration from Giouvetsi and Kokkinisto.
Skinless chicken breasts or thighs cooked in a rich tomato sauce with roasted peppers, olives with orzo pasta soaking up all the yumminess!
Add plenty of feta cheese or grated Parmesan or Kefalograviera for authenticity if you can find and you have a hearty, healthy family meal.
What is orzo?
Orzo (Kritharaki in Greece) means barley in Italian. It is a type of small pasta that is shaped like a large grain of rice. I love using orzo in salads like my Greek Orzo Pasta Salad, soups or as a side for stews.
You can boil orzo in salted water as all pasta but it’s perfect for adding to one-pot dishes where it cooks in the sauce, absorbing the flavours of the dish.
You can replace orzo with pearl couscous (Israeli couscous) or other small pasta shapes if you like. You can also leave the orzo out and serve the chicken over rice, cauliflower rice or mashed potatoes.
Slow Cooker Greek Chicken
Full measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page. Please take a look at the steps and video before attempting this recipe!
Heat the olive oil in a pan or directly your slow cooker if it allows for searing. Add the chopped onions and cook, stirring, over low heat until softened. Add the garlic, salt, sugar, cinnamon and crumbled stock cube.
Stir in the minced garlic, tomato paste, bay leaves, chopped tomatoes, diced peppers, chicken and olives. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours (or on Low for 6).
Stir in the orzo and water and cook for a furter 20-30 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked to your liking. Remove the pot from the slow cooker (otherwise the pasta will continue to cook).
Discard the bay leaves, taste and season. Garnish with chopped oregano or basil leaves and top with feta or grated Parmesan. Leftovers will keep for up to three days in the fridge. Reheat in a saucepan, adding a little water if needed.
SLIMMING WORLD CHICKEN ORZO
This recipe is slimming friendly – actually SYN FREE! – provided you use cooking spray instead of olive oil. Olives are high in syns so feel free to leave out or replace with capers for that touch of salty yumminess.
YOU WILL ALSO ENJOY
- Easy Spanakopita – Greek Spinach Pie
- One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice
- Best Greek Lemon Potatoes
- Greek potato salad
Slow Cooker Greek Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil or cooking spray
- 1 large yellow onion , finely diced
- 1 chicken stock cube , crumbled
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp brown sugar or Sukrin Gold sweetener
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 400 g (14oz) canned chopped tomatoes
- 250 g (1 cup) fire roasted peppers , diced
- 8 skinless chicken thighs or 3 large chicken breasts, diced
- 10 Greek Kalamata olives (whole or diced)
- 210 g (1 cup) orzo
- 250 ml (1 cup) freshly boiled water
- Feta or grated Parmesan cheese to serve
- Basil or oregano leaves , to garnish
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a pan or directly your slow cooker if it allows for searing. Add the chopped onions and cook, stirring, over low heat until softened.
- Add the garlic, salt, sugar, cinnamon and crumbled stock cube.
- Stir in the minced garlic, tomato paste, bay leaves, chopped tomatoes, diced peppers, chicken and olives. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours (or on Low for 6).
- Stir in the orzo and water and cook for a further 20-30 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked to your liking. Remove the pot from the slow cooker (otherwise the pasta will continue to cook).
- Discard the bay leaves, taste and season. Garnish with chopped oregano or basil leaves and top with feta or grated Parmesan.
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