Avgolemono Soup is a fabulously lemony chicken and rice soup made super creamy without any cream! It’s classic Greek comfort food.
Years ago my friend Barb made Greek avgolemono soup for me and I haven’t stopped thinking about this simple lemony chicken and rice soup since. Somehow she never got around to giving me her recipe, and so I was finally forced to make it on my own. If she’s reading, maybe she will send me her recipe and we can compare the two 😉 If you love lemon like I do, you need to give this a try.
Chicken broth thickened with eggs and flavored with lemon is a Mediterranean concept, so good that everybody got in on the action in some way or another…there are versions of it in Greece, Turkey, and Italy, as well as in Arabic and Jewish cuisines. The texture and flavor of the soup is incredible, it’s silky and lightly creamy (although there’s no dairy whatsoever) with a pronounced lemon tang.
My recipe is cobbled together from a bunch of sources. I take what I like from each one until I’ve got all the components…not too many eggs, extra lemon, no celery, rice not orzo…Of course traditionally this soup starts by boiling a chicken and creating your own broth. I used a cooked rotisserie chicken and broth from the market without sacrificing the flavor of this wonderful soup.
The minute you add the egg and lemon mixture to the hot broth you get a wonderful creamy emulsion. The soup can be reheated successfully as long as you do it gently and don’t bring it to a full boil.
This avgolemono soup is a perfect way to bring a little Mediterranean sunshine into the darker months…The dish can be delicate, or hearty, depending on how much chicken and rice you add. I think this would be ideal for any members of the family who are under the weather.
I love this easy technique of creating a super lemony sauce thickened with eggs that I’ve adapted it again and again…
Avgolemono Soup
Ingredients
- about 2 cups leftover cooked rice or orzo pasta
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups cooked white meat chicken, cut in chunks
- 3 eggs, well beaten
- about 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- salt and fresh pepper
- snipped chives or parsley
Instructions
- Heat the stock and water in a large soup pot to simmering. Add in the chicken meat and simmer for a few minutes. Take it off the heat.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the 3 eggs and the lemon juice together, make sure they are well incorporated and the eggs are completely broken up.
- Slowly pour one ladle of the hot broth into the egg mixture, whisking all the while. Add another in slowly, and then a third. You are tempering the eggs so they don’t curdle when you add them to the hot broth in the soup pot.
- Then, slowly, drizzle in the lemon egg mixture back into the broth, whisking constantly. (If you are good at that pat the head and rub the tummy trick, you’ll do fine with this…)
- The soup will turn a cloudy creamy color. Put the pan back on the burner and heat gently until it thickens slightly but doesn’t boil. Don’t stop whisking or stirring. This will only take a few minutes, and don’t wait for it to get super thick, it won’t. It just has a nice full bodied texture.
- I like to put the rice in the individual bowls first, and then top with the hot soup. This way the rice doesn’t absorb too much of the broth and get soggy. Add the parsley or chives, check the seasonings, and serve right away. Be sure you salt the soup sufficiently, and add more lemon if you want to.
- Serve garnished with snipped chives or parsley.
Thanks for pinning my avgolemono soup!
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Hi…I was wondering if I could eliminate the chicken and possibly replace with corn as my hubby is vegetarian. I had this soup on the weekend for the first time, it was mindblowing, I am now addicted and scouring around to find a vegetarian version if possible.
Great blog site.
You can definitely eliminate the chicken, although the flavor will be milder. I have a recipe on the blog for a version with asparagus : https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/2014/04/lemony-asparagus-soup.html
Wonderful soup Sue. It sounds terrific. So cool you updated and re-posted. That would be great about how since we can’t seem to shake this winter weather. We had a foot of snow last week and I think it will stay on the ground until June!
You would do my mother proud. I grew up eaten this soup-it is my favorite! It’s warm, comforting and soothing. There is nothing like it!
I love all these ingredients, and anything with lemon is a winner – the essence of the Mediterranean.
My partner calls this grandma food because it’s the kind of soup she always made for him. GREG
Yup, this definitely has a grandma quality to it 😉
I love this soup. My friend Leda first made it for me when she was visiting from Greece decades ago and it’s a go to comfort food for my family every since. We used orzo pasta instead of rice because I was out of rice. Either way is lovely. Just be sure to pre-cook and drain the orzo before adding it to the soup or it will be too starchy. Thanks for sharing your version.
Thanks Carol, I think I will try it with orzo next, for a change.
This soup sounds fabulous Sue. As a matter of fact, we are snowed in at our kids house right now and Kristen and I are planning to make this tonight, adapting it a little with what we have on hand. Thanks for the great recipe.
Hope it keeps you warm Penny!
I’ve been meaning to try out a veg recipe for avgolemono, though I feel like that would be heretical in some way. But I love the flavors in it! Such a comfort.
Hi! First time visitor to your page! It’s beautiful, tons of unique ideas here. I’m adding you to my Bloglovin’ feed so I can keep up with your new posts!
Hey Micheline, welcome in!
I had this soup at a Greek restaurant recently and it has been on my mind so I’m so glad to find this recipe for it. I wasn’t sure if it used whole eggs or egg yolks. Definitely going to give this a try – pure comfort food.
Some recipes do use egg yolks, This one works very well, I’ve made it numerous times and I never have had trouble with the eggs as long as I temper them first.