The most popular Greek soup has to be the classic Chicken Avgolemono. It is made with an egg-lemon sauce known as avgolemono, homemade chicken stock, flavorful chunks of chicken, and lots of zesty lemon juice. We think of it as Greek penicillin, especially during the colder months.
Chicken soup is such a comforting food. The Greek version is silky, light, yet hearty a the same time. I add lots of lemon juice to my soup. You can control it and make it as lemony as you like.
Homemade chicken stock makes all the difference. It does take some time, about an hour and a half or more if you like yours with extra rich flavor, and it’s worth every bit of effort. I like to make a few batches at once, cool it then, I store it in the freezer where it keeps fresh for months.
If you’re craving this soup and are in a hurry, don’t worry! You can make the quick-weeknight version with some store-bought stock and either rotisserie chicken or any leftover baked chicken. This heartwarming soup can be on the table in under 30 minutes:
- Bring 8 cups of chicken stock to a boil.
- Add shredded/chopped chicken to the pot along with 1/2 cup rice or orzo.
- You may also throw some frozen diced carrots into the pot as well.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the rice/pasta is tender. 10-15 minutes.
- Juice the lemons and prepare the egg-lemon sauce.
- Add the lemon juice to the egg lemon sauce and temper it with some hot soup.
- Pour the lemon sauce into the pot and whisk together. Season with salt and pepper.
- Warm through for 4-5 minutes and serve!
There are 2 ways to make the lemon sauce for this soup: using the entire egg or just the yolks. Personally, I prefer the yolk only-method. The result is a silky smooth soup that is rich and creamy. Adding the egg whites to this soup creates a lighter texture but, it ends up not as smooth… I’ll leave it up to you and I will also say that both methods produce a very delicious soup. You cannot go wrong. Enjoy!
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GREEK CHICKEN AVGOLEMONO SOUP: LEMONY CHICKEN SOUP - 2 WAYS
The most popular Greek soup has to be the classic Chicken Avgolemono. It is made with an egg-lemon sauce known as avgolemono, homemade chicken stock, flavorful chunks of chicken, and lots of zesty lemon juice. We think of it as Greek penicillin, especially during the colder months.
Ingredients
- With the Yolks & Whites:
- The Stock Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken, about 3 pounds
- 16 cups (4 liters) cold water
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- ------------------------------
- 1-2 cups Arborio rice
- 1-2 cups diced carrots
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, or more
- salt, to taste
- 8 eggs, separated
- garnish: fresh dill or parsley
- For the yolk version:
- Same stock ingredients
- 1 cup orzo or rice
- 8 egg yolks
- 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 cup lemon juice, or more
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Garnish: dill or parsley
Instructions
- Make the stock: Combine all of the stock ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil.
- Skim the froth that rises to the top and discard.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the chicken is cooked. About 1-1 and 1/2 hours.
- Remove the chicken and vegetables from the pot and strain the broth. Discard the garlic and peppercorns.
- Allow the chicken to cool and chop or shred as much chicken as you would like to add to the soup. Store the remaining chicken in the refrigerator to use for chicken salad or for soup for another day.
- Pour the strained stock back into the pot and add the chicken, diced carrots, and rice into the pot. Season with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the rice is tender. About 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, juice the lemons.
- Separate the eggs into 2 bowls. Whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add the yolks and whisk together. Add the lemon juice and whisk together.
- Add some hot soup to the lemon sauce and whisk together. Keep adding the hot soup to the lemon sauce mixture until the bowl is warm to the touch.
- Add the egg-lemon sauce to the soup and mix well.
- Warm through over low heat for 5 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Serve with toasted bread, lemon wedges and garnished with dill or parsley.
- To make the yolk only-sauce:
- Pour the strained stock into the soup pot and add chicken, diced carrots, and orzo or rice. Season with a half teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 8-10 minutes.
- Prepare the egg-lemon sauce:
- Combine the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together until smooth. Add more water if needed.
- Add the egg yolks, lemon juice, and olive oil, and whisk together until smooth.
- Add some hot soup to the egg-lemon sauce and whisk together. Keep adding hot soup until the bottom of the bowl feels warm to the touch.
- Pour the egg-lemon sauce into the pot and warm through over low heat for 5 minutes.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Garnish with dill or parsley.
- Serve with toasted bread and lemon wedges.
This is awesome!!
It looks great. question, with only egg yolks you add olive oil but in the list of ingredients you don’t specify amount.
Sorry about that, I fixed it 🙂
hi Demetrius I’m allergic to onions can you leave the onions out of the soup the lemon soup
Yes, you may leave the onions out. All the best, Dimitra
You don’t say how much olive oil to use in the egg yolk version. I just guessed about a TBSP or 2 and went with it. This was delicious by the way. Everything that I have made from your web site has been great. Simple and elegant are the words I would use. Thank you so much for sharing. Keep up the great work. Caryn
Hi Dimitra!
I love all your recipes !
I love the chicken avgolemono soup recipe especially but you used to have another video posted before this one and I really would like to follow that one. Is there any you can put it up for me ? Thank you.
Sandy
Thank you very much!! That video is right here:https://youtu.be/uwDl2KTB9qo
Made the version with just the egg yolks and orzo. Out of this world
delicious. Best I have ever had,
The soup looks amazing, I want to make it for my friday birthday party and as I am going to have little time on that day, I wanted to do most of teh recipie the day before and I was wondering – at which step should I stop on thursday? Or can I do the whole recipe on thursday and just heat it for the guests on friday? Will the orzo be ovecooked then?
I will be vary grateful for every reply! 🙂
Delicious perfect consistency
Been looking for authentic avgolemono soup to try amongst family favorites. Quick & maybe silly question… if NOT making stock, how much broth to use with this recipe? Look forward to trying & happy to find your site!
I’ve made the quick version many times using store-bought broth. 2 quarts should be enough…. Enjoy!
I just want to say how much I love all your recipes.. I married into a wonderful Greek family 43 years ago. My husband was born in Greece 🇬🇷 My mother in law Eleni would always cook the most delicious food for us.. I would always try and cook the food the way she did but it never came out right. Trying to get a recipe from her was impossible..She would always tell me a handful of this a pinch of that..LOL!! She’s now 89 years old and has dementia.. I thought her recipes were lost 😞 Until I saw your website.. My husband is thrilled because he loves the way the food I make from your recipes tastes like mom’s.. Thank You so much ❤️❤️
Wow! This is a tremendously good tasting soup. It’s is going into my permanent ‘make this’ file. Thanks so very much for sharing your recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for all you do. Your recipes are fantastic.
Being of Greek heritage, but not having a lot of time with my family, these bring back memories from being very young.
Thank you
Greek Lemon has always been my favorite soup. Yours is a wonderful recipe! I’ve never put the chicken meat into the soup before. My roommates enjoyed it very much. I put in only 1/2 cup of rice and it seemed to expand to absorb nearly the whole pot of liquid! I simply added more of the chicken broth I had set aside.
If I make the yolk only version will the yolks “curdle” if I reheat leftovers in the microwave?
No, they’ve never curdled 🙂 Enjoy!
Your ingredients here and on Youtube are very confusing. Can’t be right. On one place you call for 14 cups of stock and here you call for 8 cups of stock. I want to make a combined orzo/rice soup for 24, using egg yolks only. Can you please give me the ingrediants/proportions for this. Thanks.
By far the best Greek lemon soup I have had . The egg yolks make all the difference