Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella Recipe (2024)

Published: Dec 16, 2019 · Modified: May 26, 2021 by Chef Dennis Littley

4.92 from 34 votes

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My Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella could be on your dinner table tonight. It’s easy to make, healthy and delicious! So what are you waiting for?

Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella Recipe (1)

The combination of these flavors with a subtle hint of saffron, the smokiness of the paprika, and the hint of oregano add a lot to this dish. And the holy trinity of veggies, onions, peppers, and celery pairedwith garlic and tomatoes make it even more delicious!

Table of Contents:

What Ingredients do you need to make Orzo Paella?

Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella Recipe (2)

Let’s start by gathering our ingredients for my Shrimp and Chicken Orzo Paella. In chef speak this is called the mise en place. All you need is a few ingredients and you’re ready to get cooking. I did add clams to my version and forgot to add them to this pic, but they are optional.

How do I cook Orzo Paella?

Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella Recipe (3)

You can personalize this dish using just chicken and adding sausage. Including more seafood as I did with the clams is also a goodoption. You can also substitute the Orzo with Whole Wheat Orzo, white or Brown Rice or any of your favorite grains.

Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella Recipe (4)

I hope you enjoyed this not so classical orzo paella recipe. It’s one of my Restaurant Style Dishes that you can prepare faster than picking up takeout in your own home tonight at a fraction of the cost of dining out at your favorite restaurant.

What is Orzo?

My friends are always asking me what is Orzo? Orzo (also known as risoni)is a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice. In Italian orzo literally translates to barley.

Here are some other recipes you may like:

Skillet Paella
Root Vegetable Paella
Pineapple Shrimp Luau

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Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella

You'll love my healthy and delicious Chicken and Shrimp Orzo Paella. Not only is this restaurant-style dish easy to make it can be on your table in minutes

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Spanish

Servings: 2

Calories: 853kcal

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
olive oil for saute
8 jumbo gulf shrimp peeled and deveined
12 small clams washed littlenecks or pasta clams, optional
1 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular paprika
½ teaspoon dried oregano leaves
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 small onion diced
1 large red bell pepper diced
4 stalks of celery diced
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 ½ cups orzo or whole wheat orzo
15 ounce can of diced tomatoes in juice organic
1 cup chicken broth
pinch of saffron threads
2 tablespoon cilantro finely chopped

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

mix flour with smoked paprika, oregano, sea salt and black pepper
dredge chicken thighs in seasoning mix coating both sides fully
heat pan over medium-high heat and add olive oil
saute chicken thighs in pan 2 minutes per side to get good color
remove chicken from pan and add additional olive oil
add peppers, onions, celery and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes
add shrimp into the veggie mixture for a minute to cook partially then remove shrimp from the pan
add orzo, tomatoes, chicken stock and saffron and mix well cook for 2 minutes stirring well so orzo doesn’t stick
add chicken thighs and clams on top of the mixture, turn the heat down to low and allow to cook fully (10 minutes)
at about 7 minutes into the cooking add shrimp to the pan and replace the lid
stir the mixture together as needed to ensure the orzo doesn't stick to the pan
Plate up your masterpiece and serve
*make sure not to have the heat too high

Nutrition

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More Seafood Recipes

Crispy Fried Catfish
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About Chef Dennis

Chef Dennis Littley is a classically trained chef with over 40 years of experience working in the food service industry. In his second career as a food blogger he has made it his mission to demistify cooking by sharing his time-tested recipes, knowledge, and chef tips to help you create easy-to-make restaurant-quality meals in your home kitchen. Let Chef Dennis help you bring the joy of cooking into your home.For more details, check out his About page.

Reader Interactions

Comments

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Debra
August 11, 2023 at 8:39 pm
Sounds spectacular! Wondering if you have any ideas on how to prepare and possibly cook ahead of time for company so I’m not in the kitchen while they are here. Cook and reheat in The oven?
Reply
- Chef Dennis Littley
  August 12, 2023 at 2:16 pm
  You can make it ahead and reheat it in the oven, but the pasta won’t have the same texture and the seafood will get tough. A dish like this would be better off reheated stove top. If you plan to cook it ahead cut back the chicken stock by a half a cup and add it to the mixture for the reheat.
  You can also cook it up to the point of adding the stock and tomatoes. Sear the chicken ahead of time and 15 minutes before you’re ready to eat put it all together in the pot and let it simmer. That will only take about 5 minutes to put together at that point and give you a much better dinner.
  Reply
Betty
June 09, 2021 at 8:31 pm

Great recipe I added 8cloves of garlic crushed to the making leftovers into soup for tonight loved it
Reply
Brandon Miller
December 27, 2019 at 10:20 am

Marvelous recipe, thank you so much! I swear I’ve made everything as you’ve said but mine doesn’t look nearly as good though, but the taste is just fantastic! My Orzo looks a lot more yellow as well for some reason, and the overall cooking and prepping process took way more than 30 min. but that’s just your many years of practice and talent against my zero of both, haha! I’m a big fan of yours already even though I only started reading you 2 weeks ago since I got out of rehab and trying to start a life from scratch. Cooking really helps me concentrate and keep things together, especially in the evenings when I’m tempted to go places so I really thank you for what you’re doing.
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