One Pot Corn & Pimento Orzo
One Pot Corn & Pimento Orzo is a creamy chicken dinner with Cajun seasoning, sweet corn, diced pimentos, and tender orzo all cooked in one skillet. Garden vegetable cream cheese melts in at the end to make the whole thing rich and cozy without a separate sauce. It is simple, colorful, and built for an easy weeknight supper.
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One Pot Corn & Pimento Orzo
One Pot Corn & Pimento Orzo is exactly the kind of dinner I want when I need something comforting but do not want a sink full of dishes afterward. We are cooking the chicken, the orzo, the corn, and the whole creamy sauce situation in one pan. That means less cleanup and, more importantly, less fooling around when everybody is ready to eat.The flavor is a little Cajun, a little creamy, and a little sweet from the corn. Diced pimentos bring color and a mild pepper flavor, and the garden vegetable cream cheese ties everything together at the end without making you build a separate sauce.Build the flavor right in the pan Start with about a pound and a half of chicken breast cut into bite-size pieces. A little olive oil, Cajun seasoning, and salt are all it needs before it hits the pan. Let the chicken get some color because those browned bits on the bottom are not something we want to waste.Once the chicken has browned, the rest of dinner starts joining the party. The orzo goes in along with a can of cream-style corn and two small jars of diced pimentos. Keep the liquid from those pimentos. It helps loosen up those flavorful browned bits from the bottom of the pan and gets all of that goodness back into the food where it belongs.Orzo makes this one-pot dinner easy Orzo looks like rice, but it is pasta, and that is what makes it so handy here. Instead of boiling it in a separate pot and draining it, we let it cook right in the same skillet with the chicken and vegetables. About 2 cups of chicken stock gives the orzo the liquid it needs while also adding more savory flavor.Bring everything to a simmer, cover the pan, and let it cook for about 10 to 15 minutes. You are looking for tender orzo and chicken that is fully cooked through. Because we are cooking chicken breast, make sure the thickest pieces reach 165°F before serving.The orzo will soak up that stock while the creamed corn adds body, so by the time the pasta is done the whole pan already has a creamy texture before we even get to the cheese.Cream cheese finishes the whole thingOnce the orzo is tender, take the pan off the heat and stir in 8 ounces of garden vegetable cream cheese. That flavored cream cheese is doing a lot of work for us. It melts into the warm pasta and chicken and turns the liquid in the pan into a rich, creamy sauce with basically no extra effort.Give everything a good stir until the cream cheese is completely worked in, then finish with parsley. The parsley gives the pan a little fresh color against the corn and pimentos, and then you are ready to eat.This is one of those meals that does not need a bunch of extra sides to feel complete. You have chicken, pasta, corn, peppers, and a creamy sauce all hanging out together already. If you want something alongside it, keep it simple.One pot, hungry people, dinner handledThe best part of a recipe like this is that the shortcuts actually make sense. Canned corn is ready when you are. Jarred pimentos need no chopping. Flavored cream cheese brings creaminess and seasoning in one ingredient. None of that makes dinner less homemade. It just means we used our time where it mattered.If your weeknight cooking philosophy is basically "make it good and do not make it harder than it needs to be," this one fits right in. Spoon it straight from the skillet while it is warm and creamy, and supper is handled.If easy one-pot dinners are your kind of thing, come join my weekly newsletter, and I’ll keep sharing simple recipes that help get everybody fed without turning dinner into a whole production.Alright, y’all. Grab a bowl and get some while it is hot.
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
- A drizzle of olive oil
- About 1 1/2 lb chicken breast cut into bite-size pieces
- Cajun seasoning to taste
- Salt to taste
- About 8 oz orzo pasta
- 1 can cream-style corn about 15 oz
- 2 jars diced pimentos about 4 oz each, undrained
- About 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 8 oz package garden vegetable cream cheese
- Parsley to taste, for finishing
Equipment
- Large skillet or sauté pan with a lid
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Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add a drizzle of olive oil.
- Season the chicken with Cajun seasoning and salt to taste. Add it to the skillet and cook until the pieces develop some color.
- Add the orzo, cream-style corn, and both jars of diced pimentos with their liquid. Stir everything together, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Pour in about 2 cups of chicken stock and stir to combine.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce the heat and cover the skillet. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the orzo is tender and the chicken is cooked through. The chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the garden vegetable cream cheese and stir until it melts completely into the orzo and the mixture is creamy.
- Finish with parsley to taste and serve warm.
Notes
- Use the liquid from the diced pimentos as shown in the video. It helps loosen the browned bits from the pan and becomes part of the cooking liquid.
- Cajun seasoning blends vary in saltiness, so season the chicken to taste and adjust the added salt accordingly.
- The cream-style corn and pimento container sizes are approximate because the video uses standard grocery-store containers rather than calling out exact weights.
Hi, I’m Matthew! AKA Your Barefoot Neighbor
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