All Time Avgolemono Soup
Submitted by betty.riordan
Greek lemon-egg soup with tender chicken and orzo in a silky, tangy broth. This avgolemono takes 40 minutes and tastes like sunshine in a bowl.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
25 minREADY
40 minIf you’ve never tasted avgolemono, prepare to fall hard for this Greek classic.
The magic happens when you temper beaten eggs with hot lemon juice and chicken broth, creating a velvety sauce that coats every spoonful without curdling. It’s technique and chemistry working together, and once you nail it, you’ll want to make this soup on repeat.
The chicken stays tender, the orzo soaks up all that citrusy richness, and the whole thing comes together faster than ordering takeout. This is comfort food that happens to be elegant enough for company.
Chef Tips
- Temper slowly: Rush the egg-lemon mixture into hot broth and you’ll get scrambled eggs. Add at least two ladles of hot broth to the eggs while whisking constantly, then you’re safe to add it all back to the pot.
- Orzo vs. rice: Both work beautifully. Orzo gives you more surface area to catch that luscious sauce, while rice makes it more traditional and slightly heartier.
- Dice small: Quarter-inch chicken cubes cook through in just a few minutes and give you tender bites in every spoonful instead of big chewy chunks.
- Serve immediately: This soup is best right after you add the egg-lemon mixture. The texture changes as it sits, losing that silky quality that makes avgolemono special.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the olive oil in a medium pot and sauté the onions over medium-high heat until they are soft and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. While the onions are cooking, bring another pot of salted water to a boil and add the orzo or rice.
When the onions are ready, add the chicken stock and water and bring to a bare simmer. When the orzo or rice is nearly done — firm, but mostly cooked — drain the boiling water and add the pasta or rice to the chicken broth. Add the diced chicken breast to the pot. Let this cook 5 to 8 minutes, then taste the soup for salt.
Beat the eggs in a bowl. Whisking constantly, add the lemon juice to the eggs. You will need to temper the eggs before you add the egg-lemon mixture to the soup. It takes both hands to do this. With one hand, whisk the egg-lemon mixture vigorously. With the other, slowly pour in a ladle’s worth of hot broth. Do this at least twice, and you can add as many ladle’s worth of broth as you want to the mixture.
Turn the heat off the soup. Whisk the soup with one hand while you pour the hot egg-lemon mixture in with the other. Serve at once, garnished with parsley.
Note:
Either rice or orzo pasta are fine here, so use whichever you prefer. And be sure to dice the chicken breast pretty small -- about ¼ inch cubes -- so the meat cooks through in just a few minutes.
Recipe from Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
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