Excessive Protein Hen Meatball Lemon Orzo Skillet

Why You’ll Love This Excessive Protein Hen Meatball Orzo

There’s a lot to like about this dinner, particularly should you’re attempting so as to add extra protein to your meals with out utterly altering the way in which you eat. The hen meatballs are tender and filled with taste, whereas the orzo cooks proper in the identical skillet in hen bone broth, absorbing all that savory goodness. Recent lemon juice and spinach added on the finish hold all the pieces shiny and recent. It’s filling and comforting with out feeling heavy, and the entire dinner comes collectively in a single skillet.

• Over 50 grams of protein per serving. Lean floor hen, Parmesan, protein orzo, and hen bone broth all work collectively to significantly bump up the protein.
• Made in a single skillet. The meatballs, orzo, and spinach all prepare dinner in the identical pan, which suggests fewer dishes.
• An entire meal. You’ve received protein, pasta, and veggies multi function skillet, so you actually don’t want something on the aspect.
• Huge taste. Garlic, Parmesan, lemon, oregano, and crushed pink pepper make certain this doesn’t style like boring “well being meals.”
• Nice for meal prep. The leftovers are incredible for lunch the subsequent day. Make it at the start of the week and portion is out for straightforward to seize lunches!
• Household-friendly. You possibly can simply modify the crushed pink pepper should you’re serving youngsters or anybody who doesn’t like a lot warmth.

Components You’ll Want

There are two components to this recipe: the tender hen meatballs and the lemon orzo. Quite a lot of the components are pantry staples, and all the pieces comes collectively in a single skillet. Make certain to scroll to the recipe card on the backside for the total ingredient record and directions!

For the Hen Meatballs

• Floor hen: I exploit lean floor hen to maintain the meatballs mild whereas nonetheless packing in loads of protein.
• Panko breadcrumbs and milk: Soaking the panko in milk earlier than including the hen retains lean hen meatballs moist and tender.
• Egg: Helps bind the meatballs collectively.
• Parmesan cheese: Provides salty, tacky taste and even somewhat additional protein.
• Worcestershire sauce: Considered one of my favourite methods so as to add additional savory taste to floor hen.
• Olive oil: Including somewhat on to the meatball combination helps hold them moist.
• Seasonings: Dried parsley, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, kosher salt, and black pepper give the hen tons of taste.

For the Lemon Orzo

• Onion and garlic: These create the flavour base for the orzo.
• Crushed pink pepper: Provides simply sufficient warmth to stability the lemon and Parmesan. Be happy to make use of much less should you choose.
• Hen bone broth: As an alternative of cooking the orzo in water, bone broth provides each taste and extra protein.
• Protein orzo: This is likely one of the best methods to spice up the protein in your complete dish with out altering the flavour or texture very a lot. Protein pasta is often plant based mostly and the components can differ model to model. You possibly can completely make this with out utilizing “protein pasta”. After all the protein grams will change, however it should nonetheless be scrumptious!
• Child spinach: 5 ounces may seem like so much whenever you add it, but it surely wilts proper into the recent orzo.
• Recent lemon: Don’t skip the recent lemon juice! It brightens up your complete skillet and balances all these savory flavors.

Easy methods to Make Hen Meatball Lemon Orzo

You’ll want a big, deep dish skillet with a lid for this recipe. Every little thing cooks in the identical pan, so make certain it’s massive sufficient to comfortably match the meatballs and orzo. A 7 qt, vast Dutch Oven works nice for this. I can’t discover my precise one, however this is basically the same and love the color!

1. Make the Hen Meatball Combination

Mix the panko breadcrumbs and milk in a big bowl. Let the combination sit for 10 minutes so the breadcrumbs have time to soak up the milk. This straightforward step makes an enormous distinction with lean floor hen and helps create actually tender meatballs.

Add the egg, Parmesan, Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon olive oil, parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, oregano, onion powder, and garlic powder. Stir till all the pieces is mixed.

Add the bottom hen and blend with a spoon simply till all the pieces comes collectively.

Don’t over-mix the hen. The extra you’re employed the meat combination, the firmer the meatballs can turn into.

2. Brown the Hen Meatballs

Warmth olive oil in your skillet over medium warmth. Working in two batches, use a small 1 1/2-tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the hen combination straight into the skillet.

Don’t fear if the combination appears very smooth! That’s precisely the way it’s speculated to be. Making an attempt to roll these into completely spherical meatballs together with your arms can get messy, so I discover it a lot simpler to scoop them proper into the skillet.

Brown the meatballs for about 3 minutes on either side. You’re not attempting to utterly prepare dinner them at this level. You simply desire a good browned exterior. They’ll end cooking later within the orzo.

Switch the browned meatballs to a plate and repeat with the remaining hen combination.

3. Begin the Orzo

In the identical skillet, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the diced onion and prepare dinner for about 5 minutes, till the onion is smooth.

Add the minced garlic and prepare dinner for one more minute. Stir within the crushed pink pepper, remaining salt, and remaining black pepper.

PRO TIP! And undoubtedly don’t clear the skillet earlier than doing this! All these browned bits left behind from the hen meatballs add much more taste to the orzo.

4. Prepare dinner the Orzo and Add the Meatballs

Pour the hen bone broth into the skillet and produce it to a boil. Add within the protein orzo and stir all the pieces collectively. Cowl the skillet and prepare dinner for 10 minutes.

6. Add the Lemon and Spinach

As soon as all the pieces is cooked, squeeze the juice of 1 massive lemon into the skillet and add the child spinach.

Stir all the pieces collectively, cowl the skillet, and prepare dinner for one more 2 to three minutes, till the spinach is wilted. Give all the pieces a style and add extra salt and pepper if wanted.