Avgolemono Soup
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This Lemon Rice and Chicken Soup also known as Avgolemono is a classic Greek soup thickened with eggs, loaded with rice, chicken and flavored with lots of lemon. This soup is a hearty delicious soup requiring minimal effort and ready in only 30 minutes!
I don’t know if it’s still soup season or not, but who cares really. I love eating soup year round. This right here, my friends, is one of my favorite soups ever because of all the lemon flavor. It reminds me of my Romanian soups in which we always add lemon juice or vinegar.
This chicken and rice soup has been on my blog for a few years now and continues to be one of my most popular recipes. There’s a good reason for that. It really is that great, it really only takes 30 minutes and it really is that delicious!
Lemon Rice and Chicken Soup Known as Avgolemono
This lemon rice and chicken soup is known as Avgolemono. Avgolemono is a traditional Greek soup that I’m sure most of you have had if you’ve ever been to a Greek restaurant. I’m not claiming my recipe here is a classic traditional Greek soup but this is simply my version of the popular soup.
Avgolemono is an egg-lemon sauce and avgolemono is basically a soup make with egg yolk and lemon juice mixed with broth. As it cooks it will thicken nicely.
Ingredients In Avgolemono Soup
This soup is incredibly easy to make and uses simple ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need (make sure to scroll down for the printable recipe):
- Olive oil – a good extra virgin olive oil is great.
- Vegetables – I used onions and carrots, you can also use a bit of celery if you want.
- Arborio Rice – this is an Italian short-grain rice.
- Chicken Broth – buy a good low sodium or no sodium added chicken broth, or make your own.
- Lemon Juice – you’ll need about 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, which you should get from 1 large lemon or a couple regular lemons. It all depends on how juicy they are.
- Eggs – the egg part of the soup, which is used to thicken the soup.
- Chicken breasts – you’ll need cooked chicken breast. I usually buy a rotisserie chicken and use the breast from that. However, you can use uncooked chicken and just cook it along with the soup, then at the end take it out, shred it and add it back.
- Salt & pepper – add as much or as little as you want to flavor your soup.
- Dill – lots of fresh dill. I absolutely love fresh dill and always use lots of it. I really recommend you use it.
How to Make Avgolemono Soup
This soup could not get any easier, especially since I’m using already cooked chicken breast. I usually buy a whole roast chicken and use the chicken breast for this soup. However, sometimes if I don’t have a roast chicken and don’t feel like going grocery shopping, I’ll just boil a couple chicken breasts and use that broth actually to make the soup.
This soup is actually thickened with eggs, again this is a method I use in my Romanian soups as well. You basically beat the eggs with the lemon juice, then add a ladle of the hot broth to the eggs and stir, then slowly pour it in the soup.
Here’s how you make it:
Saute veggies: Heat the oil in a soup pot or large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the onion and carrot. Cook for about 5 minutes until the carrot and onion are tender.
Add rice and broth: Add the rice and chicken broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked through.
Prepare eggs with lemon juice: In a small bowl beat the eggs together with the lemon juice.
Finish the soup: Add the shredded chicken to the pot, then add about a ladle of the soup broth to the egg mixture and stir. Pour the egg mixture into the soup. You will notice the soup thickening up. Season with salt and pepper as needed and if you feel the soup needs more lemon, add more lemon juice as desired.
Garnish and serve: Garnish with lots of dill, with some feta cheese and lemon slices if you prefer, then serve.
What Is The Best Rice Used For This Soup
I like to use Arborio rice because it thickens the soup nicely as the rice cooks. However, pretty much most types of rice can be use such as brown rice, long grain rice such as Basmati or Jasmine.
If you use a brown rice or wild rice, it will take a lot longer to cook and you will also need to add more broth.
How Do You Store Leftover Avgolemono Soup
As the soup cools the rice will thicken even more and absorb most of the liquid. If you don’t eat all the soup in one sitting, just keep that in mind. You have a couple options. You can either add more broth to avoid having the soup turning into a big blob, or you can use a slotted spoon to separate the rice from the soup and store them separately.
I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never done that. I’m ok with the soup being thicker and as you heat it up it will thin out a bit. Anyway you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container for about 3 days.
Can You Freeze This Soup
You can freeze it meal sized in a large airtight container or individual portions. You can also use freezer bags.
Keep in mind that this soup will separate when reheated, even if it isn’t frozen, so make sure you stir it well before serving. Thaw it in the fridge overnight or cook from frozen in the microwave or on the stovetop.
This soup is fabulous!!! And SO easy and quick to make! Try it!
LOOKING FOR MORE SOUP RECIPES? TRY THESE:
- Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Red Lentil and Chicken Soup
- Chicken and Dumplings
- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
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Avgolemono Soup
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 25 mins
Total: 30 mins
Serves: 6
This Lemon Rice and Chicken Soup also known as Avgolemono is a classic Greek soup thickened with eggs, loaded with rice, chicken and flavored with lots of lemon. This soup is a hearty delicious soup requiring minimal effort and ready in only 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 medium carrot chopped
- 1/2 cup Arborio rice *
- 4 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 3 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 3 eggs
- 2 chicken breast cooked and shredded with 2 forks, skinless and boneless
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 tsp pepper or to taste
- 1/4 cup dill chopped
Instructions
- Saute veggies: Heat the oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat then add the chopped onion and carrot and cook for about 5 minutes or just until the carrot is tender and the onion is translucent.
- Add rice and broth: Add the rice and chicken broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked through.
- Prepare eggs with lemon juice: Meanwhile in a small bowl beat the egg together with lemon juice.
- Finish the soup: Add the shredded chicken to the pot, then add about a ladle of the soup broth to the egg mixture and stir. Pour the egg mixture into the soup. You will notice the soup thickening up. Season with salt and pepper as needed and if you feel the soup needs more lemon, add more lemon juice as desired.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with lots of dill, with some feta cheese and lemon slices if you prefer, then serve.
Video
Recipe Notes
* Arborio rice is an Italian short-grain rice.
I used 2 small cooked chicken breasts which I shredded with 2 forks, should be about 2 cups of shredded chicken.
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 192kcal (10%)Carbohydrates: 18g (6%)Protein: 15g (30%)Fat: 6g (9%)Saturated Fat: 1g (6%)Cholesterol: 105mg (35%)Sodium: 324mg (14%)Potassium: 389mg (11%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 1g (1%)Vitamin A: 1980IU (40%)Vitamin C: 6.5mg (8%)Calcium: 31mg (3%)Iron: 1.7mg (9%)
Stephanie Bolin says
How would you suggest I could modify the recipe to cook the chicken in the soup? Thank you!!!
Jo Cooks Team says
Cut the chicken up into bite-sized pieces and saute it for about 5 minutes in step 1 before adding the onion and carrots.
Maddi says
Made this for a party and everyone raved about it!! Definitely will be making this again!
Victoria says
So very easy to make and SOOO very yummy! I made once as directions given, The second time, I needed to use up some ground turkey sovthought I’d try that and it was so delicious, as well!
Crystal Goodpaster-Dupree says
Very great soup. Made with leftover routesseri Chicken I roasted day before with white rice and roasted carrots. My neighbor brought over her Meyer lemons! I had everything I needed for a switched up Sunday soup night dinner! TY
Maddi says
If I needed to stretch this a little, could I add some more broth and another 1/2 cup of rice? Just need a little more for a party but not a double batch. Can’t wait to try!
Jo Cooks Team says
Yes you can! I would add an extra squeeze of lemon as well.
Kathy says
This has always been one of my favorite soups, now I make my own and it’s even better! Thanks for such an easy and delicious recipe.
jo says
My pleasure, so happy to hear you like it!
Bev C says
This soup is excellent!
Victory Song says
This recipe is amazing; it’s my favourite soup!
Sarah S says
Can you make this with a slow cooker?
jo says
I haven’t tried it myself in a slow cooker because this is such a quick recipe. If I were to make it, I would probably not use cooked chicken and use raw chicken and cook it together with the rice and everything. Adding the egg mixture would still be done at the end.
Helen Molter says
Did you rinse the Arborio rice first?
Jo Cooks Team says
Nope no need for soup!
Michael Schaadt says
First I want to say ALL your recipes are AWESOME!! Your Instant chicken noodle soup and chicken & dumpling soup are amazing! I make them all the time. So of course my question is, could you make this in the Instant Pot?
Jo Cooks Team says
You can follow up to step 2 using the saute function, then instead of simmering for 15 minutes cover and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Follow the rest of the recipe as usual and enjoy!
Convos says
I have been making this in my instant pot since I am starting with raw chicken. I put the stick and chicken in the pot and cook for about 12 minutes. Then I pull the chicken out, add rice, and cook on rice setting with low pressure. Shred chicken in meantime. Then finish it up on the sauté setting. I found that you have to add more than a ladle into the eggs to get them not to curd. It’s delicious. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Vera says
WOW – absolutely amazing! I am eating it as I type. I added a small amount of celery and a bay leaf, and the juice of one large lemon. I used two leftover chicken breasts that were marinaded in lemon and garlic. One of the best s0ups I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
Wanda says
Very very good! I used the tiny Acini de Pepe pasta instead of rice and also only used one extra large egg – both because I didn’t want the soup to get too thick. It was the perfect consistency and stored well without getting too “gloopy”. Garnished with a little feta and I was in food heaven! Thanks for sharing!
Krystle says
So quick and easy! This was really delicious. I ended up using 3 small lemons because I like it really lemony. I will definitely make a larger batch next time.
Kirsten says
This was AWESOME ! I’ve tried several different recipes and this was by far the best ! So easy to make but so tasty! I used an extra tbsp of lemon juice because we like it lemony! Otherwise no alterations. Thank you. This is now in my recipe book!
Kimberly Smith says
I accidentally picked up a bag of matchstick carrots, would it be okay to use them? If so, how much do you think I should use?
jo says
You can use them, you can still chop them up into cubes, I think about 1/2 cup would be good.
Tracy Pringle says
This is my go to fall soup – especially if anyone is feeling a cold coming on! Fantastic, easy to make and delicious. Great comfort soup.
jo says
I’m so glad you like it!
Claire Hickey says
This soup is totally delicious. I love the fresh flavor and it is on my list of soups.
Cheryl says
Made this last night. I thought it needed a little more flavoring so I added some white wine and garlic. It was thick but we enjoyed it that way. I doubled the recipe for 5 of us and it was the perfect amount. I also used small, boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I coated in olive oil and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and baked for 18 minutes at 425 degrees F. It turned out tender and juicy and shredded easily for the soup. Thanks for the recipe!