I love to make this lemon orzo soup on busy weeknights! A cozy, healthy one-pot meal, it has a lemony broth filled with tender orzo and veggies.
Let’s make lemon orzo soup! This recipe has quickly become a favorite in our house this winter, a new go-to dinner for busy weeknights. I love that it’s cozy enough to feel warming and satisfying on a cold day, but that it’s still healthy and fresh. A bright lemon broth surrounds tender orzo pasta, flavorful vegetables, and creamy white beans. A sprinkle of dill or parsley takes it over the top.
Like all the best weeknight dinners, this lemon orzo soup is easy to make. It comes together in one pot with simple ingredients and cooks up in about 30 minutes.
I hope this recipe is as big a hit in your house as it has been in ours. Even Ollie, my four-year-old, can’t get enough of it. He loves to help make it too. His favorite job is manning the pepper mill, which means that our soup is always very, very well peppered. 🙂 Hey, if he’s excited to eat vegetables, I’ll take it!
Lemon Orzo Soup Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this lemon orzo soup recipe:
- Orzo, of course! Orzo is a small, rice-shaped pasta. Its quick cooking time makes it perfect for using in soups like this one!
- Onion, garlic, carrots, and celery – These vegetables create the soup’s flavorful base.
- Vegetable broth – Make homemade vegetable broth, or use store-bought.
- Fresh thyme – It adds woodsy, earthy depth of flavor to the soup. Feel free to substitute dried thyme if you don’t have fresh on hand—1 teaspoon will do the trick.
- Cannellini beans – Filled with fiber and protein, they make this soup a satisfying meal.
- Fresh spinach – For an extra veggie punch. I love the silky texture of the leaves in this soup.
- Fresh lemon juice – It adds bright, citrusy flavor to the broth.
- Fresh parsley or dill – Optional, but recommended! They make this soup feel especially light and fresh.
- And salt and pepper – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Recipe Variations
I love this soup as written, but there are all sorts of ways you can change it up! Feel free to vary the ingredients based on what you’re craving or what you have on hand. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Replace the celery with fennel.
- Use a leek instead of the onion.
- Use rosemary or dried Italian seasoning instead of thyme.
- Replace the spinach with kale or Swiss chard.
- Substitute cooked lentils or other white beans for the cannellini beans.
- Replace the orzo with another small pasta, like ditalini or small elbows, or even cooked rice.
Let me know what variations you try!
How to Make Lemon Orzo Soup
This lemon orzo soup recipe is an easy one-pot meal. Here’s a quick overview of how it comes together:
Start by sautéing the onion, carrots, and celery in a soup pot over medium heat. Cook until they soften, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic.
Next, simmer the soup. Add the orzo, beans, thyme, and broth and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the orzo is tender.
- Something I love about this soup:Â As the orzo cooks in the soup, it releases starches into the broth. They thicken it slightly, giving it a really comforting, almost creamy texture. So good!
Finish the soup with the lemon juice and fresh spinach. Once the spinach wilts, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve topped with fresh herbs!
- Tip:Â For an extra-lemony soup, top your bowl with lemon zest too.
What to Serve with Lemon Orzo Soup
We often enjoy this soup for dinner on its own, with some crusty bread on the side for sopping up the lemony broth.
For a larger meal, pair it with a simple arugula salad or a green veggie like roasted green beans or roasted broccoli.
Storage Tips
Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The orzo will absorb the broth as it sits in the fridge, so you’ll likely need to thin the soup with water when you reheat.
More Soup Recipes to Try
If you love this lemon orzo soup, try one of these cozy soup recipes next:
- Pasta e Fagioli
- Minestrone Soup
- White Bean Soup
- Creamy Gnocchi Soup
- Or any of these 35 Best Soup Recipes!
Lemon Orzo Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 2 celery ribs, chopped
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- ½ cup dry orzo pasta
- 1 cup cooked cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Fresh parsley or dill, for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, salt, and several grinds of pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until softened.
- Stir in the garlic, then add the broth, thyme, orzo, and beans and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the orzo is tender.
- Add the spinach and lemon juice and stir until the spinach is wilted. Season to taste and serve topped with freshly ground black pepper and fresh herbs, if desired.
This soup turned out absolutely perfect, and it gave me a brilliant way to use the fresh lemons from a friend’s tree.
Hi Jeanine – I made this soup yesterday and it is delicious. My husband is not keen on the cannellini beans but I smashed them down a bit to ‘hide’ them and he enjoyed it immensely.
Will try your other soup recipes in the next weeks. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I love your recipes. While your site is very attractive, the small gray print in your recipes is very difficult to read. There is not enough contrast and it could be just a little larger. Just a suggestion….
Hi Jean, we will be changing that soon actually – thank you for your feedback!
This sounds delicious! I’d like to make it for my grandchildren and am always looking for a little more protein for them. I was thinking of using chicken broth and adding some cooked chicken breast. What do you think?
What does ‘a cup’ equate to in grams? Please
I had all ingredients so thought I would make this recipe for lunch. Followed recipe as written. It was outstanding! My sister and I loved it. Will make this often.
I’m so glad you loved the soup, Tracy!