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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.

Close up on Greek orzo and chicken with olives

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

↓ For the full ingredients and detailed method, jump to the recipe card.

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).

chicken, tomatoes, peppers and olives in a slow cooker

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.

Chicken cooked with orzo and tomato sauce

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.