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
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
- 1/2 cup Arborio Rice
- Juice from 1 Lemon
- 3 Eggs
- 1/4 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
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
- 1/2 cup Arborio Rice
- Juice from 1 Lemon
- 3 Eggs
- 1/4 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!
jodi bowles says
First time making this soup. I substituted past for the rice and finely chopped some fresh collard greens to add for more nutritional value and it tasted great. Next time though I will use the rice instead of the pasta.
jodi bowles says
Sometimes when a soup calls for plain rice or pasta I will cook in another pot and add at the end then let it sit till it cools enough to eat.
Mindy says
This soup is delicious! I love lemon so I used 2-3 lemons and I had to use dried rather than fresh dill, which was still good. I used the recommended 2 chicken breasts, but the breasts were so large I may use less next time if I want to stick with the 4 cups of broth. Because I had so much chicken and the soup was too thick, I added an additional 2 cups of broth at the end along with some additional salt and pepper and that gave it the right consistency. Love this recipe!
Sara says
So glad you liked it Mindy! Yes I always add more lemon too, love the flavor!
Yosepha says
Obsessed with this soup! I am happy I doubled it. Can not just eat one helping. Will be made again next week and added to rotation.
Sara says
It is addicting:) Glad you liked it!
Ron says
I’ve made this about 6 times. An absolute favorite. I usually at least double it so we can enjoy it for 2-3 days. Makes a delicious supper loved by all.
Sara says
Thanks so much for the great feedback Ron!
Michelle says
This is my favorite soup recipe. I use a rotisserie chicken and I also use diced carrots and some sliced celery.. yuummm!!!
Do we know how this freezes? Its way too much for just me
Sara says
Thanks so much for the great feedback Michelle! You can definitely freeze and reheat this soup!
Katie says
I have made this recipe now 4 times and it is my favorite soup! The first batch my husband was blown away and asked me to please make it again 2 days later! Only thing I change is I use about 8 cups of chicken stock (2 cartons) and 3 lemons (2 whisked with the eggs and 1 lemon juiced at the end when I add the fresh dill. Has turned out perfect every time!
Sara says
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Katie! 🙂
Sheral Robinson says
This was delicious and I will make again but will use rotisserie chicken as my chicken was not tender enough. Flavor was perfect but will add a little more broth and lemon juice. Thanks for this recipe
Sara says
Hey Sheral, rotisserie chicken works well too! Glad you liked it:)
Jessie says
This soup was easy to make and delicious, but way too thick. Needs more than 4 cups of chicken broth.
Sara says
You can definitely adjust to your preference, I prefer it on the thicker side:)
Beach Mom says
Such a great soup!
Is there any chance that you would have the caloric and /or the nutritional information?
Sara says
I’m currently working on getting nutrition labels on all my recipes, they will be in hopefully be the end of this year:)
Kelly says
Excellent recipe. I love all soup and always order Avgolemono when at our little local Greek diner. It is pure comfort food with a lemon kick. This recipe is better than theirs!
I tripled it and make a few changes (14 cups of broth, 6 eggs, 1 cup rice, etc) so I could share with family and neighbors. For extra nutrition, I added 2 celery stocks diced and 4 diced carrots in with the onion, garlic and oil for 5-10 minutes before adding the broth. I also added the zest of 1 lemon and juice of 2 was perfect for this large amount.
***TIP*** Before tempering the eggs, I used an immersion (hand held-stick) blender to blend the eggs, lemon juice and zest until frothy, about 2 minutes. Then slowly added hot broth to eggs/lemon to temper before slowly adding the now warm eggs and lemon juice into the hot pot of soup. It had zero egg particles, and was smooth as silk. You wouldn’t even know there were eggs in it, using this method. It does thicken it nicely. And it only took a little more time, yet well worth it for uber silky results if you don’t want solid egg particles in the soup. 😉
I also froze 2 quarts for later and reheated Low and Slow and the egg did not scramble or break. It was as smooth and thick as when it was fresh. So, it does well the next day or month (in my case) if you want to make ahead and re-heat slowly, but I am certain the immersion blending of the eggs/lemon juice helped with this smooth texture. If you don’t have a hand held blender, you can do this in a regular blender.
I also added the fresh dill just before serving as a garnish, not to the soup pot or it is likely to brown the fresh dill.
Sara says
Thank you so much for the feedback Kelly! So glad you liked it:)
Patty says
Great recipe. I made a delicious stock with a stew hen and cut the recipe in half for just 2 bowls for lunch. Couldn’t have taken more than 25 minutes (I already had the chicken from the stew hen). And in a pinch I used risotto style rice so it might have been even a little creamier! Lovely. Thanks!
Sara says
Awesome Patty, glad you liked it!
Mike says
Was really tasty! Have you used reduced sodium chicken broth to lessen sodium? Wonder how that would taste? Also I’d say a half more lemon would be good. Thank you for providing the recipe.
Sara says
So glad you liked it Mike! I have used reduced sodium chicken broth, and honestly I think it tastes just as good.
Toi says
I made this recipe last month and it was absolutely delicious even though didn’t have any dill at the time. I bought some dill and I’m making it again today. The only thing I will change is to add more broth because last time it was quite thick. But this recipe it the Best! Thanks for sharing!
Sara says
Thanks for the great feedback Toi!
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:)