Greek Lemon Chicken Rice Soup also known as Avgolemono is now one of my favorite easy soups to make! This is pure comfort food!
I know this yummy soup has been around for a very long time, but my first time trying this was a few years ago when I visited San Francisco. San Francisco is an amazing foodie city where you can find restaurants that serve food from all different parts of the world at any given time of the day.
We came across a lovely Greek restaurant in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood where I tried Avgolemono Soup.
My taste buds were bursting with every single bite. It was like the ultimate comfort food for me on a chilly San Francisco day after spending hours upon hours of walking the city.
When I got back from San Fran, I knew I had to try making this wonderful soup. After scouring the internet for recipes and finally tweaking this soup to my own liking, I was shocked by how easy this was to make!
What is Avgolemono?
Avgolemono is a Greek sauce made with egg yolk and lemon juice, then mixed with chicken broth until it’s heated through. That’s what thickens this chicken soup and gives it a nice aroma and flavor.
The addition of chicken, rice and dill makes this a totally satisfying soup!
Ingredients for Greek Lemon Chicken Rice Soup
- 2 Tbs EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 large Sweet Onion chopped
- 3 cloves minced Garlic
- 4 cups Chicken Broth
- 1 Bay Leaf
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 2 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
- ½ cup Arborio Rice
- Juice from 1 Lemon
- 3 Eggs
- ¼ cup chopped fresh Dill Weed
I used a 6-Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven to make this. It’s the perfect size and makes for easy cleanup because nothing gets stuck to the sides or bottom of this pot. I love it!
How to Make Greek Lemon Chicken Rice Soup
In a 6 Qt Dutch Oven or pot add Olive Oil and Onion. Sauté over med/high heat 5-6 min until Onions are translucent and softened. Add Garlic and sauté 1 minute.
Then add Chicken Broth, Bay Leaf, Salt, Pepper, and Chicken Breasts. Bring to boil over med/high heat, cover and turn heat down to med/low. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove Chicken and shred it up, then add it back to the pot along with the rice. Cover and simmer 20 more minutes or until rice is fully cooked.
Remove Bay Leaf and discard.
Next in a small bowl, whisk together Eggs and Lemon Juice. Slowly add in 1 ladle of the broth while whisking, then add egg mixture into the soup.
Toss in the Dill Weed and stir. Let it cook about 5 minutes before serving. Taste and add more Lemon juice if needed.
Garnish with Lemon Slices and more fresh Dill Weed if desired.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, the eggs are cooked when you slowly add in the broth, then add it to the soup.
Make sure your eggs are at room temperature. You need to add the broth to the eggs very slowly while whisking vigorously, this is called tempering.
Yes, you can use rotisserie chicken instead.
Yes, you can reheat this. I recommend reheating it slowly in a pan over medium heat on the stovetop.
Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also freeze this soup for up to 3 months.
It doesn’t taste eggy. The eggs just give it a nice silky texture.
More Soup Recipes
- Gluten Free French Onion Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Fajita Soup
- Curry Cauliflower Soup
- Spicy Sausage and White Bean Soup with Spinach
- Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Soup with Lemon
- Italian Sausage and Wild Rice Soup
- Creamy Tomato Basil Soup with Parmesan Crisps
- Lemon Chicken Quinoa Soup with Spinach
- Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup
- Potato Corn Chowder
If you try this recipe let me know what you think! Leave a comment, rate it, share it on social media, or take a picture and tag it #tastefulventure on Instagram! I LOVE seeing what you guys cook up.
Cheers!
More Chicken Recipes:
- Creamy Chicken Sausage and Spinach Pasta
- The Best White Chicken Chili
- Grilled Mojo Spatchcock Chicken
- Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Thighs
- Spinach and Provolone Stuffed Chicken Breast
- Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Brie and Rosemary
- Blackened Chicken Caesar Salad
Greek Lemon Chicken Rice Soup (Avgolemono)
Ingredients
- 2 Tbs EVOO extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large Sweet Onion chopped
- 3 cloves minced Garlic
- 4 cups Chicken Broth
- 1 Bay Leaf
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 2 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
- ½ cup Arborio Rice
- Juice from 1 Lemon
- 3 Eggs
- ¼ cup chopped fresh Dill Weed
Instructions
- In 6 Qt Dutch Oven add EVOO and Onion.
- Saute over med/high heat 5-6 min until Onions are translucent and softened.
- Add Garlic and saute 1 minutes.
- Add Chicken Broth, Bay Leaf, Salt, Pepper, and Chicken Breasts.
- Bring to boil over med/high heat, cover and turn heat down to med/low.
- Let simmer 20 minutes.
- Remove Chicken and shred.
- Add Chicken back to the pot.
- Add Rice.
- Cover and simmer 20 more minutes.
- Remove Bay Leaf.
- In a small bowl whisk together Eggs and Lemon Juice.
- Slowly add in 1 ladle of the broth while whisking, then add egg mixture into the soup.
- Add in Dill Weed and stir.
- Let cook about 5 minutes before serving.
- Taste and add more Lemon juice if needed.
- Garnish with Lemon Slices and more fresh Dill Weed.
- Enjoy!
Kelly says
Made this soup for my husband and mother. 5 STARS from everyone! The only changes I made were adding sautéed wild mushrooms to the onion and garlic mix. Also, I used long grain white rice instead of Arborio.
Sara says
Thanks for the awesome feedback Kelly! So glad you all liked it:)
Kim says
We did not have luck with this soup. The eggs are not worth any thickening they might give it. I’d try it again but definitely stay away from the eggs as they are definitely not needed. Wish I had known. Good flavor but now I have a pot full of soup that tastes like scrambled eggs.
Sara says
Hi Kim, Adding raw eggs to hot broth without scrambling the eggs can be a little tricky. Tempering is the process of adding a small amount of the hot broth to the eggs while whisking vigorously. You’ll slowly raise the temperature of the eggs enough to add them to the soup without the eggs curdling. Remove the soup from the heat before you being tempering and never bring the soup back to a boil once the eggs have been added. You can see in the video that’s attached to this recipe how I added a ladle of the hot broth to the eggs and then whisked, then added them to the soup.
Hope you give this another try!
Bernadette says
I love this soup!
I just have to say a quick “Thank you for sharing the recipe“ while the soup is simmering 🙂
Best wishes from Austria,
Bernadette
Elysia says
This soup is delicious! I discovered it last year and we’ve been making it *at least* monthly ever since! Even the kids love it! I always double the recipe so we have leftovers for lunch. I do find 2 chicken breasts to be too much in a single recipe, when I double it I only use two breasts. Maybe the chicken breasts at our local stores are just bigger? I’m not sure. Either way amazing recipe and everyone I make it for absolutely loves it!
Thank you!
Margi says
Absolutely delicious soup – I’ve made this umpteen times now and we love it! The only things I changed was I only add 1 egg instead of 3 and I add chopped carrots to the sauté onion stage – everything else is perfect! Thank you for such a delicious recipe!
Sara says
Awesome Margi, so glad you love it! It’s one of my favs! 🙂
Peggy says
Can I use already cooked long grain rice for this recipe?
Sara says
Hi Peggy, I have not tried this using cooked long grain rice, so I’m not sure the results would be the same. If you do try it please share how it turns out!
samara says
How many calories do you think are in this soup and what is a serving size?
I made this soup twice and I love it!
Sara says
Hi Samara, I’m working on getting nutritional facts added to my recipes, so as of right now I don’t have this information. Stay tuned!
Margi says
Absolutely delicious recipe, thank you. I’ve made this soup a few times now for the family and we can’t get enough of it! I only used one egg and I added diced carrots to the recipe (at the onion stage) and it gives the soup another dimension. Many thanks for adding it online, I’ll definitely check out your other recipes.
Scott says
This soup with German spaetzle is also the bomb! Had to adjust for more broth. 1 quart not enough for us.
Sara says
So glad you liked it Scott!
Danielle says
Ditch the dill and it’s perfect
Hunter says
I’ve been making this for years and had never used an egg before, it added a great new texture. I used brown basmati rice this time too and it really held up well. Also did not absorb as much broth over night. Thanks!
Sara says
Love your feedback Hunter, so glad you liked it!
Russell says
Dill flavor was too strong for me and not lemony enough. Will skip the dill and use 2 lemons next time. It certainly will help with cold symptoms in any case.
B friesen says
Delicious! Easy and fantastic!!! I use only one egg and 2-3 lemons. I also add a bit of thinly chopped carrots and celery. This soup freezes beautifully in a mason jar and has never curdled for me when reheated! This recipe is definitely a winner. Thank you!
Sara says
Thank you so much for the tip on freezing and re-heating!
Mark says
I used to work next to a Soup place that would make lemon chicken soup and it would sell out within an hour. It was the best soup I’d ever had. The place ended up leaving and I miss their soup, so I tried finding one online and came across this one. It came out SOOOO delicious! Even better than the soup place. I love it and will be making it again. But I have a question in regard to step #6. I assume this initial 20 minute simmer is to cook the raw chicken breasts that you added in step #4?… In my soup, I had gotten a rotisserie chicken, so the chicken breast was already cooked. If I do this again, would I be able to skip that first 20 minute simmer in steps #6-#8 and go right on to step #9? That would almost cut the time in half for me which might make this a lot easier to make during the weeknights after I get home from work. Thanks!
Sara says
Wow Mark, better than your favorite soup place?! Thank you so much! 🙂
Yes the 20 minute simmer is to cook the Chicken. You could certainly use a rotisserie chicken, but you would still need to cook the rice. Depending on what type of rice you use will depend on the cook time. Try tasting the rice after about a 10 minute simmer. Once the rice is fully cooked add in the cooked chicken and finish the rest of the steps. If you try this out, let me know how it goes, Cheers!
Mark says
I made it again tonight with a rotisserie chicken and it came out great again. I didn’t change anything because I didn’t realize the bay leaf probably needs the full 40 minutes total so I didn’t skip the first 20 minute summer. I like the rotisserie chicken because it adds another level of flavor.
Sara says
So great to hear your tips Mark! I’m going to try this with a rotisserie chicken next time! 🙂
Jessica says
I made this today and it was amazing! I even messed up he recipe, and it still turned out wonderful! I misread the amount of rice, and added two cups! Well, that rice soaked up all of the broth. I added water, and it soaked hat up too. We ate it anyway, and it was just as delicious. Next time, I will make sure to read the recipe better! Thank you for the recipe! 🙂
Sara says
Awesome Jessica, so glad it turned out for you!