Pesto Chicken with Orzo Meal Prep Bowl Recipe

The meal prep hack you didn’t know you needed is right here in this Pesto Chicken with Orzo Bowl Recipe! These equally portioned bowls make a delicious lunch or dinner and are packed with 50 grams of protein in each bowl. Prepping these bowls takes only a few minutes. You can walk away and let your oven do the work without any hands-on cooking!

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As I continue on my journey to keep my family well nourished, these meal prep bowls are my latest obsession. If you are looking for a simple meal prep method, this one might be the best yet! These bowls have tender chicken breast with a creamy pesto orzo and fresh tomatoes. Amazingly tasty and soooo easy to make, you’ll find yourself returning to them again and again.

Over time, I’ve been building a whole collection of individually portioned bowls, including Baked Blueberry Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowls, Chicken Enchilada Meal Prep Bowls, Pancake Breakfast Bowls, and Apple Cinnamon Raisin Overnight Oats Bowls, giving plenty of options for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Amazingly tasty, and soooo easy to make you’ll return to this one over and over. The good news is that I’ve been busy making several recipes using the individually portioned bowls. My Chicken Enchilada Meal Prep Bowls is my to my meal prep bowl recipes.

And speaking of cottage cheese—I’ve been on a roll creating more ways to use this protein-packed ingredient! If you’re a fan (or curious about how to make it more exciting), be sure to check out my collection of cottage cheese recipes.

As a nutritionist, I make sure that I have nutrient dense meals on hand at all times for my family. So while I love my easy Dill Pickle Chicken Salad or Buffalo Chicken Salad recipes, I am also really loving the diversity of these all-in-one meal prep bowls that can be grabbed for school lunches or when we’re short on time.

If you love our Pesto Chicken with Orzo meal prep bowls, you might also enjoy this full‑dish version: my Mediterranean Chicken Orzo Casserole. It gives the same tasty orzo and chicken, but as a comforting, one‑pan dinner for family meals or cozy nights. You can also try my No Boil Chicken Pasta Casserole with artichokes and peas for another hands off option where everything cooks together with minimal prep.

Why you will love the meal prep bowl method

Here are the many benefits of individual bowl recipes:

• Measure out a handful of ingredients equally among 4 bowls (or more if you want to double the recipe), pop them into the oven, and then refrigerate with a lid to be enjoyed later.
• They take less than 10 minutes to prep!
• Portioned evenly and are macro friendly! These bowls are high in protein with 50 grams, but also have carbs for energy, fiber, and healthy fats.

I use these 4-cup bowls to prep Pesto Chicken with Orzo bowls. I love that they have lids for easy storage in the fridge!

BUY THESE 4-CUP BOWLS HERE!

Making Pesto Chicken and Orzo Bowls

I used only a handful of ingredients in this recipe: orzo, chicken breast, pesto, fresh tomatoes, chicken broth, and whipped cottage cheese. That is it!

Tips to make this successful. Trust me on the process as I tried this recipe multiple times to get the ratios just right!

• Use 4 cup glass bowls with lids for easy storage later
• Be sure to spray or grease each bowl so the orzo won’t stick to the bottom and the sides.
• Place each bowl on a large sheet pan
• Be sure to stir together the ingredients before placing in an oven! You may also need to check on the bowls about halfway through baking and give the mixture a stir.
• Let the bowls rest for about 10 minutes so the orzo continues to soak up liquid and thicken. Then stir in cottage cheese.
• Feel free to top with parmesan cheese and fresh basil before serving!

Storing and Serving

These perfectly portioned bowls will store well in the fridge for up to 1 week! Just simply re-heat in the microwave for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The bowls are a great idea for school lunches, or to pack and take to the office.

5 from 1 vote

Pesto Chicken with Orzo Meal Prep Bowl Recipe

By Amy Rains

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 35 minutes mins

Servings: 4

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These equally portioned bowls make a delicious lunch or dinner and are packed with 50 grams of protein in each bowl. Prepping these bowls takes only a few minutes. You can walk away and let your oven do the work without any hands-on cooking!

Equipment

• 4 4-cup glass bowls (oven safe)

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Ingredients 

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• ▢ 1.25 lbs Chicken breast* , (see note below)
• ▢ 1 1/3 cups Orzo
• ▢ 1/2 cup Pesto** , (see notes)
• ▢ 3/4 cup Cherry tomatoes
• ▢ 3 cups Chicken broth
• ▢ 4 tbsp Cottage cheese***, (optional, see notes)

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Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 4x 4-cup glass bowl containers and place on a large baking sheet.
• In each bowl, measure out 1/3 cup orzo pasta and place on the bottom.
• Make sure the chicken breast is cut into bite sized pieces, and equally divide into each bowl (4 – 5 oz per bowl).
• Measure out 1 – 2 tablespoons of pesto and place in each bowl
• Toss in a handful of cherry tomatoes in each bowl and stir the mixture so the chicken, orzo, and tomatoes are well coated with pesto. Now measure out 3/4 cup chicken broth per bowl. Stir once more.
• Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked to 165 degrees and orzo is al dente. Remove from oven and let sit for another 5-7 minutes, then stir in 1-2 tbsp cottage cheese (if using).
• Cover with lids, refrigerate, and save for later use.

Notes

*Chicken breast: Use a package of 1 – 1.5 lbs of chicken breast and cut into bite sized pieces. You want to evenly divide among 4 bowls, this will equal between 4 – 6 oz of chicken per bowl. At 5oz of chicken, this recipe will have 50 grams of protein total. 

**Pesto: you can use store bought pesto or make your own with my favorite recipe: 2 cups fresh basil leaves, 1/3 cups parmesan cheese, 2 cloves garlic, 1/3 cup olive oil or avocado oil, and sea salt and crushed black pepper. Combine into a food processor and pulse until smooth. 

***Cottage cheese: I used whipped cottage cheese (low-fat) in this recipe for a more creamy texture, and it adds extra protein! To make whipped cottage cheese, place a container of cottage cheese in a food processor and blend until smooth (about 2 minutes). You can also use regular cottage cheese if you don’t mind the lumpy texture. 

Nutrition

Calories: 498kcal, Carbohydrates: 42g, Protein: 51g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 97mg, Sodium: 1175mg, Potassium: 741mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 814IU, Vitamin C: 8mg, Calcium: 87mg, Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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