Greek Avgolemono Soup (Egg-Lemon Chicken Soup)

This is the best Avgolemono soup recipe! Perfectly creamy, with a velvety thick texture, plenty of rice, and a delicious lemony chicken flavor.

Chicken Avgolemono soup is a favourite Greek Sunday meal, so comforting and flavorsome. In some areas in Greece, they even serve it on Christmas day. It's that special!

Table Of Contents

• What Is Avgolemono?
• Ingredients
• Additional Ingredients
• How To Make Avgolemono Soup
• Tempering The Eggs
• Thickening The Soup
• Serve With
• Recipe

Greek Avgolemono soup is part of a category of soups, not the name of one particular soup. However, when we refer to Avgolemono in Greece, we usually refer to Greek lemon chicken soup with rice. And that's because it's the most popular Greek soup of that category.

What Is Avgolemono?

Avgolemono means egg and lemon avgo=egg, and lemono (from the word lemoni)=lemon. As for the Avgolemono pronunciation, it goes like that...

Av-g-ho-le-mo-no (the g is soft and doesn't sound a lot like a g, more like the sound you make when you gargle).

Greek Avgolemono is a way of thickening soups and stews. It's a Greek favorite and there are numerous dishes under that category.

The egg and lemon thickening method gives a dish a very creamy texture. A more velvety and light creaminess than any other thickening method can give to a soup or stew (like flour or cornstarch for instance). Think of creme Anglaise texture, that's the creaminess you get with egg and lemon!

OTHER TRADITIONAL GREEK AVGOLEMONO RECIPES:

• Meatball Soup With Rice Egg & Lemon (Yiouverlakia Avgolemono)
• Greek Lamb Stew In Egg Lemon Sauce (Arnaki Fricase)
• Stuffed Cabbage Rolls With Egg & Lemon Sauce (Lahanodolmades Avgolemono) 
• Stuffed Zucchinis With Ground Meat & Egg Lemon

Ingredients

To make a traditional Greek Avgolemono soup recipe you need a whole free-range chicken, free-range eggs, short grain white rice (or Arborio rice), and a few vegetables such as celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. Also fresh juiced lemons, bay leaves, and peppercorns.

Why free-range chicken + eggs?

The Chicken: A free-range chicken is much more flavorful, and we need this because we are not using any stock in this recipe. We make a light broth from the chicken itself. That's why the chicken needs to be really flavorful. If you want to use any other type of chicken it is better to use some stock as well instead of water.

Originally in Greek villages, an aged female chicken with plenty of fat was used to make this soup. There is even a Greek saying that goes like that: The aged chicken (female one) has the juice. I'm not sure if it derives from the making of this soup. But today is used teasingly whenever a younger man shows affection for an older woman.

The Eggs: Free-range eggs are better. Again in terms of flavor but also thicken the soup better since they are richer in nutrients. If they're organic too, the better!

The other basic ingredients

• Short-grain white rice to make a truly creamy lemon rice soup. Traditionally in Greece, we use a Greek rice variety called Glace rice which is a round-grain sticky rice. If you cannot find this, any short-grain white rice will do. You can even use Arborio rice for example.
• Lemons. Now if you want a really tasty egg lemon soup with Authentic Greek flavor you can even choose a specific lemon variety. Lemon flavor varies between varieties. Greek lemons are very acidic and aromatic. Try to avoid sweet-scented lemons for this Greek soup recipe, like the Argentina ones for example. Instead go for a variety like Greek Citron Lemons, Femminello Lemons, or any other Mediterranean variety of lemons.

Additional Ingredients

You may add some veggies to this Greek chicken and lemon soup. You can dice carrots and celery (or celery root) and add them at the same time you add the rice. Some people like to add a diced potato or two as well.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and zucchini are also great additions.

Is Avgolemono Soup Good For You?

Yes, definitely! It's very nutritious and provides quite a few health benefits. It's packed with protein (from the chicken + eggs), glutamine (from the rice + chicken), loaded with healthy collagen (from the bones of the chicken), and Vitamin C (from the lemons). Here are a few reasons why Avgolemono is good for sickness:

• Both protein, glutamine, and collagen help to build and repair cells in your body.
• Collagen and Glutamine are very healing for the intestinal tract.
• Protein is easier to digest because it gets into the broth (easy-to-digest foods help your body focus on recovery and heal faster, as it doesn't have to put too much effort into digesting food).
• Vitamin C helps the body absorb protein more easily. So add some extra lemon when you're sick.

How To Make Avgolemono Soup

To make Avgolemono Soup use a whole chicken cut in parts and add to a stockpot together with onion, garlic, carrots, celery, peppercorns, salt, bay leaves, and plenty of water. Slowly simmer covered over low heat for about an hour and 20 minutes making a light stock.

By this time the chicken should be falling off the bone. This means that most of the collagen and proteins of the bone marrow and the meat are in the soup, which is really healthy and flavorsome.

Now remove the chicken from the pot. You may keep it somewhere warm inside a pot or dish covered, to serve separately after the soup (as many people do in Greece). Or let it sit uncovered until it cools down to debone and shred into pieces and mix it into the soup later on.

Next, pass the stock through a strainer and add the strained stock back to the pot (after you clean the pot first). Bring to a boil and add the rice.

Once the rice is cooked it's time to make the Avgolemono. Grab your whisk and read on!

Tempering The Eggs

To temper the eggs and make the Avgolemono, you need to add hot liquid to the eggs and slowly get them to reach the same temperature as that of the soup.

This is done by whisking the eggs constantly with a whisk and at the same time pouring the hot liquid into them. VERY VERY SLOWLY. Beginning with small drops and continuing threadlike.

If hand-whisking is too straining for you, you may use an electric whisk like this one, though the soup will get foamier this way. Nevertheless, that does not matter much.

Thickening The Soup

To thicken the soup beat separately the egg yolks and egg whites. The yolks should get a bit foamy and creamy (not too much, we're not making sponge cake), while the whites should come together and get white and foamy (a very thin meringue).

Combine these two mixtures together and add the lemon juice slowly while whisking.

And now the important part. Ladle a spoonful of the hot soup into the eggs beginning with small drops, while whisking the eggs constantly. Increase the speed on the next spoonful adding bigger drops and on the third spoonful add it threadlike. Continue until you add half of the soup.

Then pour it back into the pot. Give it a good stir and add the chicken in as well. And your creamy lemon chicken soup is ready to be served!

What Does Lemon Juice Do To The Eggs?

Lemon juice due to its acidity helps to thicken the egg. So it's not just used for the delicious and appetizing flavor it gives to the dish. But also helps to give a thicker texture to the soup.

Adding lemon juice to the raw eggs also raises the temperature at which the eggs cook. Therefore, the eggs don't curdle as easily.

TO AVOID CURDLED EGGS...

• The eggs should be at room temperature.
• Let the liquid in the pot cool down a bit before adding to the eggs. Take the pot off the heat and leave uncovered for 10 minutes or use an instant-read thermometer and wait until the temperature gets to 80°C / 175°F.
• Add the hot stock very slowly into the eggs.

An egg tends to curdle if it gets heated too quickly. If you beat an egg and toss it in a hot soup right away then you'll have a lovely omelet soup.

TIPS FOR THE BEST AVGOLEMONO SOUP

• Skim the stock as it gets to a boil from any scum that forms on the surface for a refined liquid.
• Soak the rice for at least 30 minutes and then rinse. Soaking helps the rice release its starch, and it won't retain a bite in the core of the kernel. Resulting in a very creamy soup.
• Allow the soup to rest in the hot pot for 30 minutes before serving. It will get even creamier.

COOKING TIP. How To Whisk & Pour At The Same Time: In order to be able to whisk and pour at the same time (if you are not using a heavy glass bowl), place a dampened sponge cloth on your working surface and the bowl with the eggs on top. This way the bowl won’t move while you whisk and pour.

Storing + Reheating

You can store Greek egg and lemon soup in an airtight food container in the fridge for up to 3 days. To reheat, add to a cooking pot along with a small splash of water. Turn the heat to the lowest and put the lid on. Gently simmer for a minute or two.

To reheat in the microwave turn the heat to a medium so the eggs won't heat too quickly and curdle.

Can You Freeze Avgolemono?

You can, but... As you thaw and reheat the soup the eggs will curdle and the texture won't be as nice. If you don't mind that then store this Greek chicken soup in an air-tight food container in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Serve With

Add some freshly ground pepper when you serve this Greek chicken rice soup. And a few extra drops of freshly squeezed lemon. You can even garnish with some fresh finely chopped dill on top. Dill goes so well with egg and lemon.

If you don't know what to serve with chicken soup, here are a few really great suggestions.

Skordalia (garlic + potato dip) served together with some grilled bread.

Spinach Fritters, Cheese-Stuffed Zucchini Boats, a simple Greek lettuce salad Maroulosalata, Greek Lemon + Oregano Potatoes, Greek Zucchini + Filo Pie, Crispy Cheese Pie, Marinated Cabbage + Carrot Salad, Warm Potato Salad With Spinach + Feta, Spinach + Feta Filo Triangles, or just serve it plainly with some garlic bread!

Recipe