This Greek lemon chicken soup is absolutely soul-warming, soothing, and nourishing. Avgolemono is a one-pot recipe that comes together rather easily and quickly. Use a rotisserie chicken to save time and watch this comfort food meal come together effortlessly. The most difficult part is the lemon and egg emulsion which gives this traditional Greek soup its creaminess. With step-by-step instructions and images, you can cook with confidence.
You’re Going to LOVE this Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
Avgolemono soup is like chicken soup’s Mediterannean cousin. It starts with a mirepoix of onion, carrots, and celery with garlic and bay leaves. You add in broth, then rice, cooked chicken, and lastly the lemon-egg mix. The result is a creamy chicken soup and feels really good on the digestive system, has a bright tangy flavor, and also feels like comfort food at the same time. This one-pot Greek Chicken Soup packs a nutrient density punch too! Gut healing bone broth, protein, and vitamin C. The perfect bowl of goodness to kick a cold.
Avgolemono Simple (and Flexible) Ingredients to Fit YOUR Needs
What I love most about this Greek Lemon Chicken Soup is that you can truly adjust to any dietary needs! Here I will list the ingredients I used to make it traditionally, as well as the substitutions you may use to accommodate your needs.
- Bone broth: I used beef bone broth, but chicken bone broth is what is traditionally used. I like Bonafide Provisions or Bare Bones Broth or Kettle and Fire.
- Mirepoix: I used diced onion, carrots and celery as well as garlic and onions as the base of this soup.
- Olive oil: Any Greek recipe needs a good Greek Olive Oil! Learn more about Olive Oil.
- Large eggs: The eggs create an emulsion with the lemon juice which is what makes this soup silky and creamy. If you can’t eat eggs, try mixing 1/2 a cup cashew cream with 1/2 cup lemon juice until smooth instead.
- Rice: I added some grains into my diet a few months ago, and recipes like this are the perfect way to incorporate them. I used basmati rice. However, if you’re still grain free you can use cauliflower rice, Right Rice or Miracle rice depending on your needs.
Step by Step Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
After eating this at a Greek restaurant with my Dad over the holidays I knew I wanted to make my own version.
- Heat a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Once it comes to temperature drizzle in the olive oil.
- Add in the diced onion, celery, carrots and bay leaves. Saute for 4-5 minutes or until tender and aromatic.
- Add in the garlic, then the salt and pepper and continue to mix and saute until aromatic.
- Add in the bone broth and bring it to a boil.
- Shred your pre-cooked chicken breast, you will need 1 1/2 cups
- Mix the eggs and lemon juice.
- Whisk the eggs and lemon juice vigorously, until frothy.
- Take 2 ladle fulls of hot broth from the boiling pot and slowly add it to the egg mix while you whisk.
- This is tempering the eggs, so they don’t turn into scramble when you add them to the pot.
- Mix together until foamy and cool, then set aside.
- Add the rice to the pot and bring back to boil, cover and let cook for 10 minutes.
- Once the rice is done and tender, add in the shredded chicken and mix in.
- Lastly mix in the tempered egg mix and quickly remove the soup from the heat. Serve hot and garnish with herbs.
Shredded Chicken Options
- Buy a grocery store rotiserrie chicken and shred the breasts.
- Boil or pressure cook 1-2 pounds of chicken breast in salted water, then drain and use the hand mixer to shred it in seconds. Yes, just pop your hand mixer into the pot and the chicken will finely shred in seconds.
- Use leftover chicken from another dinner!
Homemade Avgolemono Soup FAQ’s
Chicken broth or bone broth is ideal for the flavor profile, but any broth will work.
Yes, but better yet, replace it with cauliflower rice or another alternative.
Yes – you can use leftover chicken from a shredded chicken recipe like my Hail Mary Chicken. However, if you have a shredded chicken that has a sauce or heavy seasoning, then no.
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Avgolemono Soup
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 7 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: One Pot
- Cuisine: Greek
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
Comfort food at its best, this Greek Lemon Chicken Soup is easy and delicious.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup small diced onion
- 1/2 cup small-diced celery
- 1/2 cup small-diced carrots
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 7 cups bone broth
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup basmati rice (or rice substitute)
- 1 1/2 cup shredded chicken breast
Instructions
-
Heat a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Once it comes to temperature drizzle in the olive oil.
-
Add in the diced onion, celery, carrots, and bay leaves. Saute for 4-5 minutes or until tender and aromatic.
-
Add in the garlic, then the salt and pepper and continue to mix and saute until aromatic.
-
Add in the bone broth and bring it to a boil.
-
Shred your pre-cooked chicken breast, you will need 1 1/2 cups
-
Mix the eggs and lemon juice.
-
Whisk the eggs and lemon juice vigorously, until frothy.
-
Take 2 ladle fulls of hot broth from the boiling pot and slowly add it to the egg mix while you whisk. This is tempering the eggs, so they don’t turn into scramble when you add them to the pot. Mix together until foamy and cool, then set aside.
-
Add the rice to the pot and bring it back to boil, cover and let cook for 10 minutes. Once the rice is done and tender, add in the shredded chicken and mix in.
-
Lastly, mix in the tempered egg mix and quickly remove the soup from the heat. Serve hot and garnish with herbs.
Recipe Notes:
- For egg-free: mix lemon juice with 1/2 cup cashew or cauli cream
- You may substitute rice with cauliflower rice or Miracle Rice.
- Use rotisserie chicken to make this super easy, or you can boil 1 chicken breast in salted water for 30 minutes, then shred using a hand mixer.
- Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 1/2 cup
- Calories: 260
- Fat: 7.5g
- Carbohydrates: 25.3g
- Fiber: 2.1g
- Protein: 21.9g
Michelle L. says
This soup is so warm and comforting and just plain delicious. Very easy to put together (I just got diagnosed with a stress fracture and was able to make this soup with my boot on) and well worth the time. Outstanding!
Cristina Curp, FNTP says
get well soon!
cathy says
Just made it! I’ve never had this type of soup before and I LOVE it! I love the zing of the lemon and it was super easy to make! Will be making this again soon and for sure in the winter=) thanks!
Susie says
My husband is from Greece, and we’re very particular when it comes to Avgolemono. This was fabulous! Question: does it freeze well?
Cristina Curp, FNTP says
Yeay! what a great seal of approval. Unfortunately I have not frozen this soup yet, we always eat it 🙂
Dianna says
This was amazing! My whole family raved over it! Can’t wait to make this again!
Julia V. Hilts says
This soup is The Bomb!! My daughter works at a Greek restaurant and we are always complaining because we can’t eat their avgolemono soup because it contains gluten. We made your recipe and used cauliflower rice. It was amazing!! The whole family loved it and my 12 year old says it is her new favorite soup.
We have both of your cookbooks and love all of your recipes. Thank you for what you do! Love your creativity!
Suzanne says
This soup was absolutely delicious!!! I wasn’t sure about the lemon, and thankfully it’s not as hard to make as it sounds. My goodness, it is so yummy and healthy! I’ll be making this on a regular basis. Thank you!!
Laurane says
I love this soup!! I only made a half batch because I wasn’t sure if my spouse would like it. I like the zing from the lemon.
Susan says
While my family decided we didn’t vibe with the lemon flavor, we did decide it will make a wonderful creamy chicken and rice soup sans-lemon and will be on rotation. Its hard to find a creamy soup when dairy free that isnt coconut milk based. Excellent.
Michelle S says
Eeeeeeee! My favorite soup of all time! I just made it and it tastes like a bowl of love! Just the right amount of lemon. I made with basmati rice and homemade bone broth. Mmmmm.
Janelle says
Oooh this looks so good! Thanks for giving an egg-free substitution! Can’t wait to try it!