Greek Lemon Soup
As an Amazon Affilate, I earn commission on qualifying purchases.
Greek lemon soup is a heartier version of Greek Avgolemono soup recipe. With a creamy broth and tender spring vegetables, it’s warm and comforting soup. (This post was originally published on April 22, 2013. Updated on August 21, 2024).
Real Avgolemono soup is just rich, homemade chicken broth, chicken, lots of lemon flavor, egg and dill. Since I always tweak and add more vegetables to just about anything I make, this Greek chicken soup is no exception. I add fresh asparagus, along with carrots and onions, but fresh green beans would work as well.
Ingredients for Greek lemon soup
- 6 cups chicken stock or broth homemade or canned
- 1 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken (This is a great recipe for when you have leftover rotisserie chicken)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion diced about 3/4 cup
- 1 or 2 bay leaves
- 1/3 cup white rice (I like arborio rice)
- 1 large eggs
- Juice of half of a lemon
- 1 cup chopped asparagus
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup of fresh dill, chopped and divided
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- Fresh minced chives for garnish
How to make Greek soup
- In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onions until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup dill, chicken broth, bay leaf and bring to a boil.
- Add rice and reduce heat to medium-low heat, and simmer about 10 minutes. Add carrots and asparagus and cook an additional 10-15 minutes, or until rice is cooked and vegetables are tender. Add chicken and continue to simmer on low while preparing egg and lemon juice mixture.
- Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine egg, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of water.
- Slowly whisk about half a cup of the hot stock into the egg mixture, stirring constantly, to keep eggs from curdling.
- Slowly whisk the egg-lemon mixture back into the hot broth. Soup will thicken slightly. Turn off heat and remove bay leaf.
- Add remaining fresh dill, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Add additional lemon juice if desired.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to two days.
Love Greek cuisine? Try some of my favor Greek dishes!
Here are some of my favorite simple recipes that just happen to be Greek!
Classic Greek Salad with feta cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Greek Yogurt Pasta with fresh lemon
Mediterranean Rice Salad with fresh herbs
Greek Lemon Soup
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken broth homemade or canned
- 1 1/2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion diced about 3/4 cup
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/3 cup arborio rice
- 1 large eggs
- Juice of half of a lemon
- 1 cup chopped asparagus
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup of fresh chopped dill divided
- Kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste
- Fresh minced chives for garnish
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onions until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup dill, chicken broth, bay leaf and bring to a boil.
- Add rice and reduce heat to medium low, and simmer about 10 minutes. Add carrots and asparagus and cook an additional 10-15 minutes, or until rice is cooked and vegetables are tender. Add chicken and continue to simmer on low while preparing egg and lemon juice mixture.
- Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine egg, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of water.
- Slowly whisk about half a cup of the hot stock into the egg mixture, stirring constantly, to keep eggs from curdling.
- Slowly whisk the egg/lemon broth back into the stock pot. Soup will thicken slightly. Turn off heat and remove bay leaf.
- Add remaining fresh dill, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
I just stumbled onto your blog (a friend posted it on FB) and I wanted to say, as a teacher I can totally imagine your pain. Although I teach 5th grade now I used to teach kindergarten and I can’t imagine losing one during the year, like you did. You’re their surrogate mother at that age. So sad for you and Ernie’s family. Hugs.
Thank you Lori, yes, they are “my kids” for 180 days. Hard not to get attached! Welcome!
Welcome back. What a difficult experience. Be good to your self and try to eat properly and get plenty of sleep. Has Emma made her college choice yet? Our Duncan got his first (and as he always added second, third and fourth) choice of Olin College in Neeham, MA. It’s an Engineering school only and they took 76 out of an original 800 applicants. He also got his “official” second choice of Johns Hopkins. Olin is next to Babson and near Wellesley and they can use either school for non-engineering courses. After 4 years at Prep School in Hawaii, he’ll really feel the cold but then he’s young. Hang in there.
Thanks Jeanne! Yes, Emma’s made her choice! Indiana University. Go Hoosiers! She really wanted to be “back East”! Thanks for you thoughts. Best.
We saw the fb post about your student… Sorry to hear about it… Its just hard to understand sometimes why things like that happen to innocent children..
Hope you feel better soon…
Thank you so much!
So sorry for your loss Cynthia. My daughter is in kindergarten and at times you could have been talking about her. (quiet, shy) It is evident that you cared very much for him and I am sure that made a big impact on him and his life even though it was much too short. My daughter’s teacher has really helped to make her blossom and come out of her shell. I can just imagine how much your time and attention meant to his parents too. It is quite a gift to be able give like that!
Thank you so much Christie! I’m glad your daughter’s teacher was patient with her too!
So sad.
When do you add the chicken?
@Diane, since the chicken is already cooked, you can add it at the end, when you add the veggies…just to warm it up. I’ve amended the recipe, thanks!
This is a great recipe! I love Greek flavors and I can’t wait to try this!
I’ll be all over this soup when the weather cools back down in a few days!
This is the perfect Spring soup in my opinion. It’s light but comforting and hearty too ^_^ Mmm I would just LOVE LOVE LOVE a bowl of this!
love the texture of the rice in the soup. It had great thickness and richness while keeping the soup healthy and delicious
Can you make this recipe in a crock pot?
The whole dish takes around 30 minutes from start to finish, so I’ve never tried it in the slow-cooker. I guess if you were using raw chicken instead of pre-cooked, you could do it that way.
Delish!! Sadly, half my asparagus froze in my fridge. I cooked up the frozen part with some of the chicken stock then used my immersion blender to puree the frozen/cooked asparagus. I stirred that into the soup just before the egg step. Again I say: DELISH!
I love making something from nothing!
LOVE love love this recipe!! It was surprisingly simple once I got into it and I made it mostly vegetarian – substituted veggie stock for the chicken, a wild grain rice mix for the arborio and used cannelini beans in place of chicken. Holy cow is it good!!! The creaminess created by the lemon/egg addition at the end is heavenly. And… this was the night of making it – I can’t wait to have some tomorrow after an overnight of the flavors blending! Thank you Cynthia!! This will definitely be in the regular rotation. Yummy!! :-).
thank you so much! I love it when you make a recipe your own! Your vegetarian version sounds wonderful!