I was craving some good home style comfort food and one of the top recipes in my bookmarks was this one for chicken giouvetsi from Kalofagas . Giouvetsi is a one pot Greek dish where the meat is baked along with the pasta. The recipe for giouvetsi is quite simple and I realized immediately that the
secret was that while the meat is cooking its juices drip right into the pasta where its flavours are absorbed. I really like one pot meals like this because they generally required very little preparation and then you can relax while the whole meal cooks all at once. For the pasta I used some whole wheat orzo to make it a touch healthier. The chicken giouvetsi was pretty easy to make and the hardest part was quartering the whole chicken though you could easily just use chicken legs and or breasts to save some time. The simple sounding recipe really belies the amazing flavour of this dish! While baking, all of the flavours have plenty of time to mingle and become good friends and every bite right down to the last piece of orzo on the plate was tasty and full of flavour. For even more flavour feel free to garnish the meal with some grated kefalotyri or pecorino romano cheese.
Chicken Giouvetsi
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 1 cubanelle pepper (chopped) (or banana pepper or green bell pepper)
- 1 1/2 cups orzo (I used whole wheat) (gluten free for gluten free)
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup tomato puree
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 whole chicken (separated into pieces)
directions
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the onion and pepper and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the orzo and toast for a few minutes.
- Add the stock and tomato puree and season with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil and transfer to a baking dish along with the chicken.
- Bake in a preheated 375F/190C oven until the liquid has been absorbed and the top is golden brown, about 45 minutes.
Kevin, that looks amazing. Would you recommend searing the chicken first, or just putting it atop the pasta raw? I think I’ll try it this weekend with leg/thigh quarters I have.
I love dishes I cannot pronounce! In all seriousness, this looks delicious.
wow… looks quite interesting and tasty… seems like i have lots of reading to catch-up here… 🙂
This sounds fantastic Kevin!! Love all the ingredients..
Kevin, this looks fabulous–so comforting!
This looks great. I am also curious would you sear the chicken to get the color on it. Or did your just get that color in the oven. I am so making this
Mmm looks delicious Kevin – I love orzo!
awesome luscious one pot meal.I tried your cinnamon bread last week and posted about it too.thanks for the delicious recipe:)
I wish I would have seen this before I cooked dinner. YUM!
Oh my gosh, yum!!!!
This is great when there is a big company! It looks so good! Thanks!
OMG this looks soooo yummy! I’m so happy to hear you say you found and used whole wheat orzo! I have been hoping it existed. Can’t wait to try this one.
Great job, Kevin this looks so incredibly good!!!!
I love one pot meals – this looks super yummy!
I never heard of this, it sounds interesting, I may try it for Andrew. Thanks for sharing.
Orzo is felicious… A great dish!
Have and nice weekend and cheers,
Rosa
Kevin, glad you enjoyed the Giouvetsi. Practically every Greek home makes a version of this.
Thanks for the shout-out and you made the dish wonderfully…cheers!
Looks amazing!!! It’s definitely on my weekend menu!!!
Not familiar with giouvetsi but the dish sounds and looks tasty. Love one-pot-wonders 🙂 I take it you seared your chicken before adding it to the pot? Am wondering how you managed to get it so golden brown otherwise.
So much eyeappealing..hope mouthwatering too Kevin..
I love recipes like this! This looks wonderful!
I am going to have to give something like this a shot because it looks amazing.
This looks so good. I have to make this!
This looks delicious, Kevin. I used to make a chicken/rice dish that had loads of flavor too. I didn’t know orzo came in whole wheat.
I also love one pot meal. These looks fantastic.
This looks great, I am just wondering about the garnish that you choose. Is it cilantro, flat leaf parsley?
wow this looks and sounds amazing!
Kevin, you still amaze me with all the great recipes that you make. Do you ever go out for dinner? You probably eat better at home.
So easy… and it sounds so delicious. I’m going to give it a try.
It looks like that recipe would have a million ingredients, and it totally doesn’t. How nice to know you can make this in a snap.
I’ve been reading your blog for a while…
This looks amazing! If I had any orzo on hand, I’d so make this today. Unfortunately, I used it all recently… 🙁
It’s beautiful Kevin!
Looks delicious! Definitely comfort food!
Kevin – this looks amazing! Thanks for the recipe and have a great weekend!
Awesome! And you always have wonderful photos!
Thanks for the post. Happy Friday!
I just found you and have to say that you have one of the nicest food blogs. Everything looks so yummy.
It looks delish. Wondering like some of the others if you brown the chicken pieces first?
Djuvec, haha!
Helene: I rarely have the time to eat out any more…
taiyyaba, Ruth, Y, tamilyn: I did not sear the chicken first. All I did was place it on top of the pasta and liquid and it turned a nice golden brown as it baked in the oven. I did end up splitting the recipe between 2 8 inch square baking dishes so the liquid did not go very far up the chicken and thus a lot of the skin was exposed.
Strauch Family: the garnish in the photo is flat leaf parsley.
This looks so good, similar to something my mom makes, except she puts in olives also. I love one-pot dishes too.
I love one-pot dishes! I’ll have to look for whole wheat orzo! I didn’t know it came in whole wheat!
Awesome! I’m so glad I found your blog, you have some really good looking recipes. I might just try this one soon.
Yet another fabulous looking dish, but this one I printed out and plan on making. I love when the pasta soaks up the sauce!
Cannot wait to make this. Looks similar to a dish I always get when I go to the Greek festivals in the summer. You are on a roll lately…I see tons of your pics on Tastepotting. That’s how I found you. Keep up the amazing work!
This looks delish – I might even make it for dinner tonight!
I always love your photos! This one made my mouth water! lol
I can’t wait to try this recipe- it looks so simple, and anything that uses 1 pot is always a winner in my book. 😀
Great photo…. 🙂
Going to the grocery store today to get these ingredients Kevin! I already have skinless chicken in pieces, so I hope that works too .. will let you know how it turns out. Am excited about it!
Kevin … I did it. That’s right – I didn’t delay, I made it! What can I say? It’s easy, it smells divine, and I just had my first taste – YUMTASTIC! Made a few changes (added a couple extra spices). This dish is going into my “party pleasers” file! Thks again!
This looks like the perfect meal.
This looks absolutely delish, you’ve got to love those one pot meals. I guess it would work great with chicken thighs.
i am bookmarking this!
smells great, kevin, thanks for the post. we’re waiting for it to cool a bit before digging in. needs some bread on the side to sop up the sauce.
Yum!! Where did you find the wholewheat orzo?? I haven’t seen it anywhere in the GTA. Thanks!
Sarah: I found it a small shop in the St. Lawrence Market. It is the shop just north of the grain and rice shop that is out in the open on the basement level.
very easy to make and delicious!
It is just pouring outside today and while surfing for comfort food I came across this beauty! Can't wait to give it a try, but have you considered searing the chicken first?
The Hot Plate: Searing the chicken first to give it a nice caramelized skin would also be nice. Though I find that as long as the chicken is not submerged and the skin side is up then the skin gets nice and golden brown as it bakes.
Oooohhh that looks great, I love risoni pasta. My Grandmother is Greek so I will have to ask her if she's had something like this before. I think she cooks something similar, but she uses potatoes instead of the pasta.
I've been silently stalking your blog for a while now, but I just made this last week, and it was amazing and I had to say something! It was simple to make, and tasted amazing… even my friend who doesn't eat much kept on going back even after he was full. 🙂
Hey Kevin! I just made this…unfortunately I wish I saw the comment about splitting between two dishes because my chicken didn't really cook the way we wanted. In one dish I would reduce the liquid to maybe 4 cups. Thanks for the recipe!
What changes for the Crock Pot or Insta Pot?
For the slo cooker you can optionally do steps 1-5, place everything except the orzo into the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 3 hours, mix the orzo into the liquid and continue to cook on low for another hour or on high for another 20 minutes. Enjoy!
I made this using 8 bone-in chicken thighs in my roasting pan. It’s been 45 minutes, and there is still a lot of liquid. Should I have allowed it to reduce first a bit on the stove top? I am thinking next time I am going to lesson the amount of chicken broth to 4, maybe 5 cups. It really is delicious!
What is a cubanelle pepper? Is there a substitute?
It is a mild pepper and you can replace it with a banana pepper, or your favourite mild chili pepper, or even a green bell pepper. Enjoy!