Overly specific cooking question. Nigella’s chicken in a pot with orzo. Can I freeze it?

[OwlBasket]

I cooked this a while ago and it was lush but pretty much twice as much as we eat. I want to cook it again today but am torn between halving the recipe (including chopping the chicken in half and freezing that = faff) and just cooking the whole shebang and freezing half the finished meal. Would the orzo be revolting after freezing? I fear so, but mainly unreasonably. Any advice?

Here’s the recipe: www.nigella.com/recipes/chicken-in-a-pot-with-lemon-and-orzo

mainly = maybe

It's just pasta. I can't see why it wouldn't freeze just as well as any other pasta.

Ah ha. See I’ve never frozen pasta in any shape or form... It’s good to hear it can be done

Should be fine! (I made it last weekend, and it was so delicious there was no chance of leftovers to freeze).

We made this the other week. It was lovely. I haven't tried freezing it. I don't think pasta is at its best after freezing but it would probably be ok.

The texture of the orzo goes a bit funny if you freeze it, ime. Edible, but rejected by picky kids who love the same thing cooked fresh.

It'll be softer after freezing and reheating, so the orzo won't be al dente, but it'll still taste good. When you're batch cooking can you leave out the orzo, cook it separately and stir in at the end for the portions that you're having fresh? Then freeze the other portion without pasta and when you reheat it add the pasta at that stage.

Mmmm. It was the texture I feared for indeed.

Could I cook the whole thing as far as the point when you add the orzo (halving the chicken first) freeze half at that stage, The finish off after defrosting? Would that be daft? I imagine the chicken would be cooked through already at that point.

Ha. X-post BANS. I’ll do that then

Yes did this exact recipe the other month and froze left overs. Texture of orzo is a bit soft, so still tasty but without the nice orzo texture.

I think when I made this we had the leftover orzo the next day, maybe with some other veg, and did something else with the leftover chicken.
I think it would be a bit grim defrosted - wouldn't do the dish justice at all.

I wouldn't halve the quantities because I think it's one of those recipes where your proportions all have to be pretty accurate (which they would be if you halved the chicken, but that seems like a lot of faff).

I've never frozen pasta either, but there's plenty of frozen pasta available to buy in the form of ready meals.

When I said 'as well as' - it freezes, its perfectly edible. Very few things are as good frozen as they are fresh imo.

Well, update time. I cooked the second half this evening and it turned out fab. I’d expected to leave it in the freezer longer TBH but am feeling under the weather so it was a godsend.

Halving the chicken wasn’t faffy, to my surprise, despite not having as sharp a knife to hand as I’d have liked. I’d cooked everything to the stage that you’d usually add the orzo then removed half the stock, veg and chicken. Froze half of the fresh parsley too. So, after defrosting it was quick and easy.

Thanks for all the advice!