Avgolemono (Greek Chicken & Lemon Soup)
A beautiful medley of creamy lemon broth (without dairy!) and shredded chicken, Avgolemono is perfect for chilly nights — or days where you aren't feeling your best. Known as Greek Penicillin, a bowl of Avgolemono will heal you right up.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 10 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup uncooked rice
- 3 carrots chopped
- 3 celery stalks chopped
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 5-7 garlic cloves chopped
- 2 bay leaves*
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns*
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
For the Avgolemono Sauce
- 3 eggs
- 2 lemons juiced (or more if you want it to me more lemony)
- 2 laddles simmering stock
Instructions
- Add extra virgin olive oil to the bottom of a dutch oven. Add celery, onion and carrots and a pinch of salt and cook until soft. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about one minute).
- Add the two chicken breasts and then top with the stock and the aromatics (peppercorn, bay leaves, thyme). Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer, cover and cook for about 50 minutes.
- Remove chicken to a plate, shred and set aside.
- Bring the stock back up to a boil. Once boiling, add the rice, lower flame a bit and cook about 20-25 minutes or until rice is done.
- Add the shredded chicken back to the pot and keep flame low.
- Take two laddles of the simmering chicken stock and add to a bowl (you'll use this for the avgolemono sauce).
- Make the avgolemono sauce by whisking together the lemon juice and eggs. Once combined, slowly temper the mixture by whisking in the simmering broth a bit at a time until it all comes together.
- Add the avgolemono sauce to the soup and immediately remove from heat.
Notes
*If you have some cheesecloth available, add the bay leaves and peppercorns into a small square and tie it up with some kitchen twine. This way you can simply remove the little package when ready to eat rather than having floating peppercorns throughout the soup!