One Pot Creamy Sundried Tomato 'Marry Me' Orzo

Creamy Marry Me orzo in a stainless steel pan with a silver spoon.

5 from 2 votes

One Pot Creamy Sundried Tomato 'Marry Me' Orzo

One pot, 25 minutes, one seriously tasty, seriously easy meal. This 'Marry Me' orzo is packed with bold flavors and built with cupboard staples. Just add everything to your pot, stir, and wait for the magic to happen.

Great for busy weeknights, dinner parties, or meal prep!

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: marry me chicken, marry me orzo

Servings: servings

Calories: 589kcal

Author: Kate Phillips

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil or oil from your sundried tomato jar
2 ½ oz chorizo, de-skinned and diced (75g)
8 oz cherry tomatoes, quartered roughly 220g
½ cup sundried tomatoes chopped
4 garlic cloves crushed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups orzo (250g)
2 ½ cups hot chicken stock or use vegetable stock or water
1 cup coconut cream
¼ cup parmesan cheese grated
A big handful of spinach leaves
A handful of fresh basil chopped
Black pepper

Instructions

Cook the chorizo.
Set a large, high-sided skillet over medium-high heat, then add 1 tablespoon of oil and your diced chorizo. Cook, stirring for a couple of minutes, until the chorizo gets nice and crispy. Remove the chorizo from the pan and set it aside for now.
Add the tomatoes.
Keep any residual oil and chorizo fat in the pan (this is where the lovely flavor is!) Add the chopped cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, crushed garlic, red pepper flakes, dried thyme, and salt. Cook, stirring for another few minutes, until the tomatoes start to soften.
Add the orzo and liquid.
Pour in all your orzo, stock, and coconut cream. Stir them through the tomatoes, then bring to a simmer.
Simmer the orzo.
Once your sauce is simmering, lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 12 minutes until the sauce has started to thicken.
The orzo loves to stick to the bottom of the pan, so make sure you do stir it now and then - and if it does stick, you should be able to scrape it off the bottom with your spatula or wooden spoon.
Add the spinach and parmesan.
Once your orzo is al dente (cooked, still with a little bite to it), add the spinach and the grated parmesan. The sauce will still be quite liquidy at this point, and that's ok - trust the process here. Stir the spinach and parmesan through the sauce. As you do this, you'll notice that the sauce will thicken more as the spinach wilts into it.

PRO TIP: If it's still very liquidy, just simmer the sauce for another few minutes to let it reduce. And if it thickens up too quickly, add a splash of water to loosen things up.

Garnish and serve.
Scatter over the basil leaves and the crispy chorizo, then divide between plates. Serve with more grated parmesan and a good grind of black pepper on top.

Notes

STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: This is a fab recipe for meal prep - it will keep well for at least 4 days in the fridge and I think even improves over time! It's lovely hot or cold too.

INGREDIENT NOTES: You can play around with the ingredients, based on what you have. Skip the fresh tomatoes if you don't have any, and use bacon instead of chorizo (or leave it out for a vegetarian version). Swap coconut cream for regular heavy (double) cream or sour cream. Use vegetable stock or water instead of chicken stock if you like and make sure you taste your stock first and adjust your added salt accordingly - you'll need to add more salt if you're using water, and if your stock is particularly salty, you might not need any at all. Just taste it and see how you go.

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS: Add more vegetables when you cook the tomatoes if you like - chopped red bell peppers, broccoli, zucchini, leeks or red onion are great here.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: If you want to add more protein to the orzo, pair it with grilled miso chicken or honey harissa chicken.

Nutrition