Orzo pasta is traditionally cooked in boiling water, but cooking it in chicken broth adds much more flavor. The short-cut pasta resembles grains of rice, and like rice, it absorbs the liquid it's cooked in and expands in size. However, it cooks much faster than rice, roughly within 10 minutes like most other types of pasta. Once cooked, season it and enjoy it as is, chill it for a salad or add it to your favorite soup.
Fill a medium saucepan with chicken broth and bring to a boil.
Add orzo pasta to the boiling chicken broth, about 3/4 cup for every 2 cups of chicken stock.
Cook the orzo in the chicken stock for eight to 10 minutes, until the orzo is al dente. Add more chicken stock as needed once the orzo starts to absorb the liquid.
Drain the orzo in a colander over the sink, then serve or add it to recipes.
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Based in Los Angeles, Zora Hughes has been writing travel, parenting, cooking and relationship articles since 2010. Her work includes writing city profiles for Groupon. She also writes screenplays and won the S. Randolph Playwriting Award in 2004. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in television writing/producing and a Master of Arts Management in entertainment media management, both from Columbia College.