A Warm and Comforting Avgolemono Soup Recipe

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Having too many lemons is a good problem to have. We had this particular problem last month when we bought a bunch of lemons to help stage our kitchen with for our fun little project. But after we were finished, we were left with a big bowl of lemons that we had to do something with.

Enter me Googling recipes that use lemons. I stumbled upon this recipe of avgolemono soup, a Greek lemon soup that, I admit, I had never even heard of before. It checked all the boxes, though: warm, lemony, chickeny, ricey (yes these are made up words), and above all, hearty and comforting.

I made the soup, which was actually quite fun to make, and it was delicious. Full disclosure: I added a little more rice to mine so that the soup would go a little further for our family. Overall it was so yummy and the perfect meal to have on a cold night. The only thing I would add next time are homemade oven-baked croutons. Yum.

This recipe is from Little Spice Jar, and here’s how you make it:

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon butter

  • 1 large carrot, peeled

  • 2 sticks celery

  • 1 large onion, peeled and cut in half

  • 5 cloves garlic

  • 10 cups water

  • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

  • 2 chicken bouillon cubes

  • 1 bay leaf

  • ½ cup white rice

  • 3 large eggs, whisked in a bowl

  • ⅓ cup lemon juice

  • Fresh dill, for topping

Directions:

  1. SAUTE: Add the butter to a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add carrot, celery, onion, garlic, and saute for 2 minutes. Add the water, chicken, bouillon cubes, and bay leaf.

  2. SIMMER: When the soup is boiling, lower the heat to medium so that it maintains a simmer. If any white foam forms at the top, use a slotted spoon to skim and discard. Allow the chicken to cook all the way through, about 20-30 minutes. Check with a meat thermometer for doneness, remove chicken to a plate.

  3. BLEND: Transfer softened carrot, celery, onion, and garlic to a blender. Add 1 cup of chicken stock from the pot; set aside for now. Make sure the soup is simmering on the stove, stir in the rice, and set a timer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, blend the soup in the blender, with a towel on the lid until smooth. If you use a high-power blender, you don’t have to strain this. For a conventional blender, I suggest straining. Pour this into the soup pot as the rice cooks.

  4. SHRED: Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it using two forks.

  5. SOUP: When there are 3 minutes remaining on the soup timer, whisk the eggs in a bowl. Stream lemon juice into the eggs as you whisk. Grab ⅔ cup of chicken stock from the pot and stream that into the egg mixture as you continue to whisk. When the timer goes off, slowly stream the egg-lemon mixture into the soup pot while you whisk the soup to combine. Add the shredded chicken to the soup. Heat the soup for 2-3 minutes but make sure it does not boil. Discard bay leaf. Serve in bowls sprinkled with dill or parsley.

Hope you enjoy this soup as much as our family did!!! Visit Little Spice Jar for more delicious recipes.

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Thomas