Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
This Greek Lemon Chicken Soup is comforting, fresh, and nourishing! It’s made with fresh lemon, egg yolks, vegetables, and chicken.
“This was so good, I love the lemon flavor and all the veggies. Pretty quick to throw together as well!” – Lindsay
What is Greek Lemon Chicken Soup (or Avgolemono)?
Avgolemono is a Greek Chicken Soup that’s traditionally made with rice (or orzo), chicken, vegetables, eggs, and lots of lemon and fresh herbs! Not only is this soup crazy flavorful, but it is nutrient-dense and healthy! Tons of veggies, herbs, good quality fats, and nourishing chicken broth. All of these ingredients make it super filling as well.
This soup is also a great transitional recipe between summer and fall, as well as winter and spring. Because it’s a soup, it’s warm and nourishing by nature, but the lemon and veggies also make for an incredibly light and refreshing meal.
This is my take on the classic with the option to make it with gluten-free orzo, or grain-free with cauliflower rice.
Why you’ll love this Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
- It’s quick to make! This isn’t the kind of soup that takes hours on the stove or in the crockpot. It’s quick and simple to throw together.
- It’s rich and nourishing. Packed with veggies, chicken, and lemon, it’s just the most nourishing and flavorful soup.
- Customizable! You can easily make this recipe with orzo or with cauliflower rice.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken and chicken broth. You can make your own broth from a whole chicken and save the shredded chicken for the soup (which is my preferred method) or you can make them separately.
- Onion and carrot.
- Egg yolks. Egg yolks give the soup a big healthy fat boost, tons of added flavor, and some added yellow coloring. This really thickens the soup and makes it what it is!
- Kale. Kale adds a pop of color and nutrients.
Recipe Modifications
- Spinach. You can easily swap spinach in for kale.
- Cauliflower rice or orzo. You can make this recipe with gluten-free orzo, or with cauliflower rice to make it grain-free. Both modifications are in the recipe card below.
How to Make Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
Here are the simple steps, with photos, to make this recipe. Find full instructions in the recipe card.
Step one. Prep the soup base with the veggies and add the broth, lemon juice, and herbs. Simmer and add the chicken and kale.
Step two. Add the egg yolks to a bowl.
Step three. Slowly and carefully pour the cup of hot broth into the egg mixture while continuing to whisk. Your the yolk mixture into the rest of the soup and stir well to combine. Remove from the heat.
Step four. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use fresh lemon. It makes a big difference in the flavor!
- Save time with pre-cooked chicken. Using something like a good quality rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken is a big time saver.
- To make the soup with orzo.
- To make the soup egg-free. Omit the egg yolks and skip the egg tempering step.
Is Greek Lemon Chicken Soup Healthy?
Healthy is always a subjective concept, but this soup is super wholesome! It’s packed with veggies, healthy protein, and herbs.
Can you freeze Greek Lemon Chicken Soup?
You can easily freeze this soup it if needed! I recommend freezing for up to 3 months, defrosting in the fridge and reheating it on the stove.
More Greek Recipes to Try…
Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
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Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1 cup carrot, diced
- 2 cups califlower rice, see notes to use gluten free orzo
- 6 cups chicken broth
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 1 lb shredded chicken, precooked
- 1 tsp dried dill
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, reserve some for topping
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 cup kale, chopped
- 3 egg yolks, see notes
- Lemon wedges and lemon zest to serve
Instructions
- Using a large stockpot, heat the oil on medium-low heat.
- Saute the onions on low heat for 3-4 minutes or until lightly translucent. Add the carrots, celery, caulifllower rice and garlic and saute for an additional 5 minutes or until slightly softened.
- Pour in the broth, lemon juice, and herbs and stir well to combine. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes.
- Add the cooked chicken and kale and stir well to allow the kale to wilt.
- In a small bowl whisk together the egg yolks until fully scrambled. Scoop out about a cup of hot broth from the soup. Slowly and carefully pour the cup of hot broth into the egg mixture while continuing to whisk. This will gently cook the egg yolks and make a thick sauce. Pour the yolk mixture into the rest of the soup and stir well to combine. Remove from the heat.
- Allow the soup to cool and season further to taste. Serve with lemon wedges and fresh parsley.
Notes
Love this recipe so much!! Have made it a few times now and the whole family loves it. Toddler-approved too 🙂
Love this soup!! Great recipe made it easy & it will be a keeper!
Thank you so much!!
So delicious! We will definitely make again. A hit with the whole family! Thank you!
I’m making this soup again. We loved it so much. Thanks!
Yay! Thank you so much, Lorrie! So glad it was a hit 🙂
OMG. I made this and ate the entire pot in 2 days. I can tolerate GF grains so I used rice (just cooked in my instant pot and added at the end). Turned out perfect!!
Thank you so much, Heidi!! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
I’m making this tonight! I see minced garlic in the ingredients but no where in the directions. Please advise? Thank you!
It goes in with the onion 🙂
This is so good! I didn’t think I was a soup person, until now.
I’ve made this twice and can see this will be something I make regularly.
I add extra chicken, carrots and kale to fill it out a little more, and I also add extra lemon juice and a little zest.
Amazing!
Already shared this recipe with family and friends.
Thank you so much, Renai!! So glad you liked it!!
This soup was fantastic! I added frozen artichoke hearts.
Yum! Thank you so much, Kelli!!
This is my all-time favorite recipe. And I’m happy to report it freezes and thaws well.
I am also AIP, so instead of the egg, I took about 1/3 cup of the broth out and mixed it with a little arrowroot (instead of cornstarch) to make a slurry and then added it back to the soup to thicken it a bit and give it the velvety texture that the egg adds. Thumbs up from the family! Served with a greek salad (subbed Violife’s feta for the real feta on mine) and it was a pretty filling meal. Yum all round!!!
Yay! So glad you liked it, Pauline! Thanks for sharing your swaps!! 🙂
This soup is excellent. I can’t have eggs, so skipped that step and still is delicious.
Can this be made in abig batch and frozen?
I haven’t tried it, but I assume it would work fine!!
This soup is amazing!!!! It is my go-to soup in place of a traditional chicken noodle. I was suspicious of the dill, but it works really well with the lemon. You won’t regret making the soup!!! Delicious! Thanks for the great recipe!!!
This was soo delicious! I guess I missed some of the steps in it because I just added the eggs and the lemon to my regular chicken soup but YUM! I will try adding some of the extra herbs next time. That will probably make it even more delicious!
So glad you liked it Nadia! Thanks for trying it!
Made it for dinner tonight. It was so great. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks so much!!